New Chatserver Software

Well, sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't. In 1998, AOL made some changes to their way of connecting to the Internet. The effect of this was that some AOL users may sometimes get a Name in Use error when trying to enter WEBMAZE chatrooms.

For those with a technical background, the error is caused by the way AOL caches the results of HTTP queries. Normally this is a good thing to do, but a chatserver relies upon a connection all the way back to the chatter's PC. This connection is broken when an intermediary server caches the result of a request.

This is a serious issue to WEBMAZE. Several of our members access the Internet through AOL, so we are doing everything we can to resolve the problem. The chatserver software developers are hard at work attempting to overcome this problem.

In the meantime, there are some steps you can take to try and enter WEBMAZE more reliably. The first thing to do is to make sure you are using either Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. The browser supplied with AOL seems to have some problems with the chatserver. The next thing to try is to disable any AOL proxies you may have enabled in the browser. Instructions on how to do this may be found here. If this does not work, there is yet another alternative which may sound at odds with the last suggestion. And that is to select a proxy outside of the AOL network and set up your browser to use it. This will "fool" the chatserver software into accepting your connection, as long as no one else in that room is using the same proxy. Other than these suggestions, the only thing you can do is try to enter another room for a while.

We hope to have the solution to the AOL problem by sometime this summer. Until then, please bear with us. If you are accessing the Internet through AOL and you are considering using WEBMAZE, then please test out whether you can access WEBMAZE.

• Netscape Communicator, version 4
  • start Netscape Communicator
  • click on Edit in the menu bar
  • click on Preferences in the pulldown menu
  • doubleclick on Advanced in the popup menu (changing the plus sign to a minus sign)
  • click on Proxies in the popup menu
  • select the radio button labelled Direct connection to the Internet
  • click on the OK button
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4
  • start Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • click on View in the menu bar
  • click on Internet Options in the pulldown menu
  • click on the Connection tab on the property sheet
  • select the radio button labelled Connect to the Internet using a local area network
  • uncheck the check box labelled Access the Internet using a proxy server
  • click on the Apply button (if not grayed out)
  • click on the OK button

Any images to be displayed must reside on a web server somewhere on the Internet. They can not be displayed from your own hard drive unless you are running a web server (this is not the same as a web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer). In general, it is only usefull to display images which are in GIF or JPG format. Suppose the image you want to display is named bannermaze.gif and it resides on the machine www.webmaze.com in the folder images To display the image type the following HTML command into the message window in your chat session
<img src="http://www.webmaze.com/images/bannermaze.gif"> Please note that avatars may be no higher than 150 pixels.

• Click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your screen.
• Click on Run on the popup menu
• Type winipcfg into the Open text area
• Click on the OK button
• Read the IP Address from the popup menu

• Netscape Communicator, version 4
  • start Netscape Communicator
  • click on Edit in the menu bar
  • click on Preferences in the pulldown menu
  • doubleclick on Advanced in the popup menu (changing the plus sign to a minus sign)
  • uncheck (check) the check box labelled Enable Java
  • uncheck (check) the check box labelled Enable JavaScript
  • click on the OK button
  • click on View in the menu bar
  • click on Reload in the pulldown menu
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4
  • start Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • click on View in the menu bar
  • click on Internet Options in the pulldown menu
  • click on the Security tab on the property sheet
  • select Internet zone in the Zone field
  • select the radio box labelled Custom (for expert users)
  • click on the Settings button
  • scroll down to the Active scripting section
  • select the radio box labelled Disable
  • scroll down to the Scripting of Java applets section
  • select the radio box labelled Disable
  • click on the OK button
  • click on the Apply button (if not grayed out)
  • click on the OK button

WEBMAZE staff is appointed on the basis of a few criteria. It is the responsibility of the staff coordinators to appoint, train and support moderators.

• What's a mod?
  Most chatsites see moderators as chatroom cops, we don't... and perhaps this in itself sets WEBMAZE apart from the rest. We feel very strongly that our staff is our image and for that reason we see no point in putting goons in charge. You may have noticed we have moderators assigned to rooms, the reason is simple, we want the mods to have a home, and we feel that assigning the moderator to the room where he/she chats is ensuring a presence. We don't want our staff to feel like they are forever wandering and have no place to call home. Of course the mods are expected to answer calls for help outside their assigned room, that goes without saying, however, the main role of WEBMAZE moderators is to make chatters feel welcome and safe. Boots are simply a means to rid the room of those with whom all else has failed. Some rooms have rules and guidelines of behavior that are specific to a theme and it is only good sense to have a mod who can explain to newcomers how they are expected to behave in that particular room. Most of our mods have actively participated in setting up the room they live in and have an interest in its growth and survival.

• How do I become a mod?
  Send the Webmaster ameeshia a short message, make sure to include your chat name and the room where you live. The coordinator will likely spend time observing how your fellow chatters respond to you, what your general attitude is in the chatroom and how you handle conflict among other things. Of course there is also a matter of whether or not the room of your choice needs another mod, there really is no point in having 4 mods in a room that has 6 chatters in it ~L~. As rooms grow, we assign more mods to ensure proper coverage; monitoring this is also the responsibility of the staff coordinators.