FWR is organizing such chats sessions on what is hoped will be a regular basis. The topics will vary from week to week, whatever people feel would be most useful. People from all over the country will be able to share information on current issues, and help each other deal with them in their communities.

(Note: As of now we have NOT been able to get America Online users into the EFNet chat sessions, apparently due to technical incompatibilities. This message will change when (if) we solve the problem(s). If you are an AOL user who has been able to get into an EFNet server, please email FWR, preferably with your phone number, so we can find out how you did it! Thanks.)

For now, sessions will be on Wednesdays at 10pm Eastern/9pm Central/8pm Mountain/7pm Pacific. We will be using EFNet, which can be accessed through several servers, such as irc.neosoft.com, irc-2.texas.net, or any other EFNet server you are familiar with. You will have to have an IRC program installed, like mIRC, and have a basic familiarity with its use.

If you have never used irc, email FWR and arrangements will be made to help you get set up. It works best if you can email your phone number and you can be called to talk you through it. If you would rather not do this, click on these instructions and you may be able to set it up yourself, or if you know a techie, they may be able to help you.

For those of you who are familiar with irc, connect and /msg WayneW for an invitation. You can then join the channel, which will tentatively be #OBE.

If for any reason these details have to change, i.e., a different time, network, channel, etc, those changes can be found on the current details page, so please check before you attempt to connect, and if you have trouble connecting, please check again for the most recent details. If you still cannot connect, email FWR at the address on the home page, and we will try to resolve your problem.

These conferences will continue as long as there is interest. It is hoped that people will find the sessions useful enough to justify their continuation. But that will depend on how many people participate, and the usefulness to the participants. So please consider joining us, tell a friend, and bring whatever information and questions you feel would be beneficial to others.

I look forward to chatting with you!