AboutVena McGrath Expertise As the author of a novel about my life online in chat rooms specifically, and a few adventures into online dating, I can answer almost any question anyone could ask about chatting online. The excitement, the adrenalin rush, the manipulation of the mind, the corruption of morals, the danger of stalking and harrassment online and offline, the lies, the secrets. The reality of this `fantasy` is frightening. My book tells a story that hopefully will make anyone who reads it more wary and chatwise than I was when I stumbled upon chat in late 1999 as a naive woman who didn`t have a clue what a chat room on the internet was. I have spent many hours online counselling men and women with broken hearts, wounded pride, and yes, very real fear. My passion is to try to help eradicate the not so good factors out of chat rooms and make them once again fun places where people feel safe.
Experience My experience commenced in June 1999 in international chat rooms and then a move in late September 1999 to chat rooms in Australia. I am still online, have my own chat room, and my first novel titled 'Secrets, Lies & Chat' was published by American-Book Publishing in 2005 and is now available from my website www.secretslieschat.net.au for a very competitive price. I have also released on my website an eBook which is a revised version of Secrets, Lies & Chat and only costs $4.95 5o download in either word or pdf format.
Organizations I belong to many writing organisations online and I belong to the chat room community of BigPond.
Publications Communique - a monthly newspaper produced by the NSW Government Department of Commerce
SMH ICON liftout 'The Net Effect' April 2004
Numerous articles in PoynterOnline
Numerous letters to the editor, SMH
My profile and short stories and articles are all online at AuthorsDen.com and some are posted on my website.
Education/Credentials High School Educated
TAFE Secretarial
Numerous OH&S certificates
Numerous Computer related courses
Question Hi Vena, just wondering if you know where everyone from BigPond Chat are chatting now, seems no-one is around the networks i know of, please do you know of any where they might be?
Answer Hi Quinton
Seems that we both have the same question and I am disappointed to have to say that I don't know the answer. I have been chatting in BigPond since 1999 and I can't believe how the numbers have diminished to an almost not worth the effort number.
If you have been chatting in Bigpond for a number of years then you will remember the days when the main rooms - such as 40s, 50s, Brisbane etc., had so many nicks in the nick panel that you had to scroll down to find the bottom of the list. The screened rolled so fast that newbies couldn't stand it. I remember carrying on conversations with maybe 5 or 6 people at the same time in the public room and keeping up with no drama (after being online for a while of course).
When Bigpond became afraid of a backlash and huge fines for copyright from the big gun music companies they disbanded the music rooms and made it impossible for us to share music using DCC in our scripts. This was the beginning of the end of chat as I knew it. Many people left because their main interest was the music. Others left in disgust. Then came the era of the hosts with big boots and narrow minds and they wielded the death knell on chat. This is when I began to lose my addiction to chat. After being banned from the 40s room for daring to ask 'why' of the hosts when I felt another chatperson was being victimised, I became very disheartened with the scene. The 50s room where I began to chat in 1999 had long since become just a room where a few people with their own agendas met and it wasn't where I chose to spend my time. I drifted to the 60s room and that's where I go when I do go online irregularly.
I wish I knew where all my friends of days gone by have moved on to. Perhaps they all found lives away from the computer and perhaps they felt as I did that chat had indeed run its course in Bigpond. I tried other IRC servers including the breakaway one from Bigpond but nothing appealed to me. I don't think I have the inclination anymore to try and fit into the clique of another room which is something you really had to work at to achieve happily. Chat is really no different to reality because if you don't fit then you're not wanted. However, the anonymity of chat does give people the courage to type hurtful things to others that they wouldn't have the backbone to say to someone's face.
I'm unsure about Bigpond chat. I have a feeling that it's on its last legs and probably will be phased out due to indifference of the majority. As with most things in life, the minority don't count. There has been talk online as to where we could relocate to and set up a room on another server but I haven't seen any options discussed. All I can say is that the 60s room isn't too bad if there is a good mix of people online and the hosts in the main, do not intrude on the chat. After all once you reach 60 surely you can chat without supervision? There are people in that room of differing ages and sometimes it is a total yawn and a bore but then other times, depending on the mix, you can actually get a good conversation going that is worth having.
If you should chance to drop by my nick is megasec and I would be pleased to say hello to you if I'm online when you drop by.
We are lucky to have good memories of chat when it was a great place to spend some idle time. I always recommended Bigpond rooms to other people because I truly believed it was a cut above the other servers I had visited. It's a shame that it was killed off by Bigpond and by the people that have been allowed to rule over the rooms - frustrated control freaks.
