Hey Julie, I used to be a chan-op on an IRC chat room dedicated to the old TV show Dark Shadows. The show still has a huge following with conventions, meetings and parties. Since new people discovered the show during it's last couple year run on the Sci-Fi channel, we had set up chat nights specifically for newbies where we had some of the most knowledgable fans host it. We also had official chat days at specific times, but the room was always open to anybody at anytime.

I guess what I'm trying to say is why don't have some set days and times that folks can get together and maybe somebody from the board will volunteer to sit in on a newbie night.

I don't know much about Java-Based chat programs, my specialty was mIRC, but I'll try to help you out if I can. Having been a chan-op for over 5 years, I've seen alot! Expect some Wierdness!

==Mike==