During the down time here at bonsaiTALK Matt was kind enough to leave the chat section of the forum open for use. During that period and after, there has been a regular group of people popping in to chat.
Matt has added a file share feature that allows us to show pics quickly to the chat participants which is being used quite a bit. Thanks Matt.
It has been quite the experience in a number of ways. First and foremost it allowed a few people to get to know each other on different levels than just simply posting. Mixed in with all the general fun were some very serious discussions, critiques, and question/answer sessions. There were times I was laughing so hard that I was crying and other times where I had to seriously rethink previous notions I had about what is bonsai.
At any given time there we had skill levels from rookies to masters, all talking, thinking, and sharing thoughts together. Sometimes the text was flying so fast there that you had to use the scroll feature to back up...other times you could here the birds chirping.
So what are the lessons?
The text you are reading anywhere on this forum comes from a real person.
People are not the way you perceive them to be based on text alone, nor do they look like you think they do
Chat is as close as we can get here to a real face to face conversation.
It's okay to laugh.
Tips on chatting...
Try to use a different text color in chat than the others, it makes reading easier for all. Black text is impossible as most people use a black background.
Be patient when there's a lot of people there, it may take a minute to see your words.
Announce when you are going to share a file so the other folks know what is coming.
Be yourself.
Will Heath