Let's say we're in a group of about twenty people at a party. We're mingling and talking - maybe two or three different conversations occuring in the room at the same time. Maybe just one, or possibly it's a quiet moment when everyone's enjoying their cheese crackers and punch.

Would it be socially acceptable for someone to come into the room and, without a moment's pause, start talking about something completely unrelated to what has been going on in the room? If no one is talking about anything at that time, might we still expect the consideration of a wave or a nod in greeting?

Obviously chat is different from a real life situation like that. I know that some people feel that the conversation is interrupted with five people saying hi at once and more than one person coming in around the same time. But at a party, we wouldn't talk to the walls of the room, but the people in it. A parallel is drawn because in chat, a lot of people seem to come in and, least at first, just talk *at* people instead of *to* them.

I think that instead, people should be considerate. Considerate of chat as a whole - what is going on in chat at the time of their arrival and what they might be interrupting if they don't wait a minute to find out before saying what they want to say - and considerate of the individual people whose day might be made by someone asking how they are doing.

To be clear, I have been at fault myself at times. It's not always easy to do what I just proposed; simply being aware of it is a good first step. I think many people at Rinkworks take pride in the community because it is different from many others online. I hope that our chat manners, so to speak, are something we can take pride in as part of what makes us a good community.

-Gahalyn