Hi everyone! I have seen and heard a comment or two about "face-to-face" chatting having advantages over the mailing list as a means of exchanging ideas and problem solving, and I would like to suggest an interesting alternative... Internet Relay Chat (or IRC) This is a much neglected part of the Internet, probably due to most people thinking of www as Internet, and E-Mail as E-Mail, but nevertheless it's all part of the same service. IRC enables a bunch of people to get together on a channel, and to "talk" in real-time. All that is required is an IRC client, just another program to go in your Comms folder, and an Internet connection (if you can use a www browser, you can use IRC, basically 8-) I have already created, and registered a Private channel (#isogeochem. Imaginative, huh?) in preparation, but would like a bit of feedback first, obviously: I am already a Channel Operator for a software support channel, and I have found that the biggest problem is getting everyone together at the same time. The number of times people have said "I was on at 8:30, and there was no-one there", when at 9:00 there were half a dozen people chatting, you wouldn't believe. An added complication is that most people will have to access from work rather than home, so we have to cater for UK/US users. This could mean that the best way of operating would be to set a time and date, once a week(!), or fortnight(?), or month to get together (most small channels work this way). And to cater for time zones, we could use a latish GMT time. I can't do the sums for west coast USA during British Summer Time, so HELP!! It should work, I hope. Half and hour a month? Deserted labs and corridors? Should be good! I have pinpointed the places on the web to get Mac and PC clients, but I'll leave that bit for another time. It _is_ a piece of cake to get set up and get chatting! Here's a site you might want to look at for the basic info: http://www.cris.com/~Jmjames/IRCABC.html <-Remember that the IRCABC.html _is_ case sensitive. VERY well informed site. Have a look even if you aren't interested in using IRC... The Gulf War stuff was an eye-opener for me. OK, I'm finished with the promo! If anyone is interested, dis-interested, or thinks I'm trying to disrupt the worldwide Geochemistry labs, could you please get back to me on my own address? I don't want to clutter the M/L with stuff that only I will be answering. I will post a message to the M/L letting everyone know how I'm getting on.... Arrabest and thanks for reading 8^) Andrew Tait (IRC NICK: Totty, always on #NetConnect from 9-11pm GMT [note the use of GMT, Britain. Not BST!]) Home e-mail: [log in to unmask] Work e-mail: [log in to unmask] Place of work: SURRC, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF. SCOTLAND. Quote of the day from one of my IRC friends: "Totty... He knows stuff :)"