Time and again I have tried to join the discussion but when I check I am the only one on line. I see the posted times but glean from reading that some writers are in United Kingdom...I do not know if the posted time is local to the writer, Greenwich Mean Time or translated to local for the reader. Is there a secret? I want to participate, my qualifications are : I love words and I have over 40 years in varied aspects of the writing business. Please pity the Stranger knocking on the door and offer any advice you can/may. I do think "stranger" is a good name for new people because, trust me in this, I feel strange, the chat board is a strange new world to me and all the rules are strange. Here, I would use an icon of a confused face if I knew how to insert one in this message... Any and all help greatly appreciated. Aloha

this isn't meant to be [real-time] chat, although sometimes it seems that way -- chat formats allow you to see instantly what is being typed and usually looks like stream of consciousness. this format is more like the old pre-web BBS, and is meant to foment (dare I say) more thoughtful discourse (or not). so just post away and await the unpredictable gallimaufry.

Thank you for the welcome...and clarification of time thing. Want to know how much a stranger I am? Here goes : what is "pre-web BBS? Or do I even need to know that? Have you guessed that my writer-life started with hot type and progressed from there to word processing stories. My most advanced computer experience was doing newspaper production on a Mac. When I see how-to once or twice I've got it but reading the manuals leaves me dizzy and disoriented and (as a writer/editor) frustrated. Thank you again - and yet again -for your time and courtesy. WOW

Wow, I'm probably the "best"-qualified person to address someone not knowing much about computers. It didn't even occur to me that part of your confusion might be in thinking this was a real-time forum. The way to think of this that makes the most sense to me is to think of it as an
actual bulletin board, maybe in a hallway of a classroom
bldg., and people put up questions or comments, then come back by later to check for responses.

I haven't a clue what BBS is, either, or even "hot type".
The best advice I can give you is, when you make a post,
to go up to the top of the screen that has the window for you to write in, and click on You May Use markup in your post. This will give you a whole set of instructions which look complicated, but can't be all that bad if I can figure them out (as I eventually did,
with some kind personal instruction--thanks, tsuwm).

The other best piece of advice I have for you is to click on
the FAQ (frequently asked questions) button at the top of any screen.

If you want to respond to a post, click on the golden box
at the top right of that particular post, and you'll be given an "In response to" screen. (You can go to markup in your post from here, too.) Note: on your own posts, you should see a second golden box next to the one at the far right. Click on that one if you want to change or delete your post.

>think of it as an actual bulletin board... I haven't a clue what BBS is, either...

Bulletin Board System/Service -- amazing coincidence, eh?

Hello there, WOW

Glad to make your acquaintance. I empathise with your confusion over how this place works - it took me a little while to suss it out - and I am relatively computer literate.
(one thing we have in common is a background in the printing industry. I wrote programs for one of the first computer type-setting machines, called a "Lumizip", of all names! - but I well remember the old hot-type machines)

One of the big advantages of this board not being in real-time is that you have a chance to sit back and consider what your response should be, which ought to save you from making horrible errors. Not that really seems to work for me
I look forward to seeing more of your postings - don't worry - you'll soon get the hang of it, and the natives round here are really friendly - they growl a bit sometimes, but I've never known them to bite.