The goal of all interactive pages within the Bipolar World community is the comfort and safety of all who choose to participate.  Within these pages anyone diagnosed with bipolar disorder may speak without criticism and be accepted for who they are. With this in mind, the following guidelines are enforced.

  Disclaimer: None of the individual chat operators here is a professional counselor and their posts are made entirely from their own experience. Chat operators are simply individuals with Bipolar Disorder who are volunteering their time to help educate people about the illness and support those who seek support. We are not professionals. We can not give professional advice, medical, pharmaceutical or otherwise. Each individual must see his own physician or psychiatrist for medical support. That said, we invite you to share with us, and in so doing grow in knowledge, make new friends and become a part of our bipolar family.

Entering the Chat Room

The chat room may be reached by one of three ways.

For the java chat room go to Bipolar World and choose Community Support, then the Bipolar Disorder Chat Room.

Bookmark the Page Directly to the Chat Room

After the page has been reached scroll down.  It will take a short time for the chat room to load, then will give a choice of "light chat" or load chat.  Light chat is the same as regular chat but with fewer "bells and whistles."

Unless you have registered your nickname you will enter the room as a guest followed by a number.  You should change to your nickname by typing the following into the text space and hitting enter (or return).  

/nick followed by your nickname   for example   /nick collie  

For those unable to use a java based chat room the room is available through IRC/mirc.  This requires the download of a small program or client.  To read more about this or to download the client go here.  

Log onto irc.webmaster.com and choose the channel #bipolarworld

Chat Room Hours

The chat room is open 24 hours a day.  You are free to arrange to meet bipolar friends for a chat at any time.  There are regularly scheduled chats every evening from 8 pm - 11 pm EST with extended hours Fri thru Sun evenings 11pm - 1am EST.

Chat Operators

Chat Operators are volunteers who coordinate chat.  If you have a problem in the room at any time contact the operator.

Operators are Collie, Allie, John H, Kaycee, Allen, Brenda, Christine, George(Gigglesnort), Mike, Rednut, Rich H, Terry and Wink.

(I am actively looking for more operators to expand the hours and days...if you can volunteer some time please contact me (Colleen) here

General:

1. Treat each other with respect, i.e. as you would like to be treated yourself
2. Every member is entitled to privacy if he/she chooses
3. While a “light touch” – joking etc is an important part of sharing and support if someone needs special support please make it a priority
4. Suicidal ideation and discussion is permitted, with the caveat that anyone who is actively suicidal calls 911.
5. Disagreements are permitted…arguments are not.  If you have a personal issue with someone discuss it by private e-mail.
6. No foul language permitted.  An occasional “slip” won’t get you banned but be aware of abusing it.  Many people are offended by foul language.
7. You are encouraged to make friends with people you feel safe and comfortable with.  Exchange personal e-mail addresses.
8. Disruptive topics and discussions will not be tolerated.
9.  As non-professionals we can not and must not give medical advice

Register:  If you wish to register to the Chat Room and password your nickname (ensuring you will always be able to use the nickname you've chosen)  this is how to do it.  Once you have entered the room and chosen the nickname you wish to use,  type   /msg NickServ REGISTER mypass myemail into the text space.  This must be exact...Capital letters where shown ....(where mypass is your chosen password and my email is your email address).  An example of a registration might be:

/msg NickServ REGISTER bluefeather bluefeather@yahoo.com  

Each time you enter the room after using the same nickname you will be asked for your password.

A few commands

Message someone:  /msg nick your message
Quit (Leave) and reason:  /QUIT your reason
Change Nickname: /NICK newname
Away from Keyboard” /AWAY reason
On return /AWAY says no longer away
Action Message: /Me followed by action word and statement

Some Chat Abbreviations You May See Used

 

bbl = Be Back Later	bbs = Be Back Soon
*bol* = big old laugh	*brb* = Be Right Back
*g* = grin	*kotc* = kiss on the cheek
*L* = laughing	*LMAO* = Laughing My A** Off
*LOL* = laughing out loud	*ROTF* = Rolling On The Floor
*ROTFLMAO* = (comb. of ROTF + LMAO)	RTI = Real Time Interruption/Interference
*s* = smile	TTYL = Talk To You Later
TTYS = Talk To You Soon	*weg* = wicked evil grin
*wg* = wicked grin	*ws* = warm smile