It has been very, very busy! WilRat, Red, and I would like to share some numbers with everyone. One night last week we looked, just for the heck of it, to see how many hits (log-ins) there had been to chat.  Over 500  in one day! And that was from around 7 Am till 7 PM. It has been busy, with over 2,000 log-ins in the past week.  If you visited us when we first joined our chats, and were very confused by all of the new chatters, please try it again.  In addition to the fine folks from the Goodwill chat, we've had a large number of folks visiting from some of the other chats.  Some curiosity seekers, some tossed out of other chats and looking for a new home.  In this, we have seen many MSers reunited in our chat after many years. So often folks lose touch with MSers who they chatted with for a real long time. Health troubles, computer troubles, relocations, whatnot.  We have been here for many, many years, and we're not going away. Most of all, we enjoy all of our chatters. 

We have had lots of newer chatters drift off for long times. Some don't come back for hours, some get lost on other Instant Messengers, some multi-task into a parallel universe, and some just don't know how to, or forget to, log off.  Please, if you need to be away more than 15 minutes, log out using the Door with the 'Invisible Green ' Arrow, or the big ' X ' in the top right corner of the Chat Window.  and come back when you can chat.

We have asked chatters to host in the past. And we're again asking if anyone would like to help us out in hosting.  The best way for everyone concerned seems to be 2 hosts or RA's at a time. One can always be ready to help a newbie out, and say hi. Another to act as a RingMaster, directing people to the new rooms we have constructed to reduce the confusion.  There are now 10 rooms - please use them !  Just say "Come join me in the whatever room.   The main room sure gets busy, we all know that.  The CoffeeHouse can be a real sanctuary just down the hall from the Main Chatroom Lobby.

Above all - Have fun & relax! 

Wednesday is Halloween! Everyone wants a Party! So we will have a Party. By popular demand, we will open a Halloween Room - Just for one night! Come is with any name you want as long as you use the Halloween Room! Have fun !

What's With All The Rooms ?

Who's Chatting Where?  Plus Signs to the left of room names click-expand to show who's in there !

Who's logging in and out ?  Regular users should only see those logging into and out of a particular room.  RAs see all  entry-exit so they can greet newcomers.

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Chat Coordinator!

Norma is coordinating all chats.  Please contact her for any changes. All you have to do is look at the schedule for and find a place that fits  when hosting is good for you.  If somebody is already hosting then, pop in to support them, and let them know you'll back-up, or buddy host with them.  Just let her know what you choose! Norma's email is NORMAJJOHNSTON@SBCGLOBAL.NET  

Or contact us at PWMS@PeopleWithMS.com  if you'd like to host on a regular basis.

Chat Hosting Schedule                                                                                                      

The Chat Schedule breaks things down by day, and show the equivalent times in different time zones.  Hopefully this will make it a bit clearer how an Eastern Standard Time relates to your personal timezone or country.    

Reading the schedule is easy: Just click on the day of the week to jump down.  and then look down from your local time zone on top to the time you are interested in => bold times are when hosts have volunteered to be present.  

Knowing someone is available to provide support at dependable, specific local times makes a chat more successful.  

Please, if you go in chat and a host does not answer you right away, please wait,  Our hosts do a 2 hours stretch and need bathroom time and coffee time.  So if they're away right at the sec you arrive, be patient, they will come back.

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Click Here  to enter our new chat

Click Here to enter  our new chat

Trivia Night in the PeopleWithMS Chat

Thursdays at 8 pm EST 5 pm PST     Saturdays 9pm EST 6 pm PST

Marlene & Red  have are the hosts for our Thursday Night TrivialChat.  Trivia Thursdays continues as the always wacky and entertaining Bring Yer Own Night Everyone brings 5 or more questions and answers, ready to copy and paste into chat. The questions need to be multiple choice or true or false   We'll take turns tossing out questions, round-robin.    I found a great site http://www.funtrivia.com/ that among other things, has an Encyclopedia of Trivia. With a gazillion categories of questions to choose from. Marlene also found a great Trivia site http://www.123facts.com WELCOME ALL The next Trivia on Saturday will be November 3RD we have to skip a week.   Gerry & Shimmie & Scottie host our Saturday Night TriviaChat! Trivia Saturdays, where the hosts ask the questions. Shimmie Keeps score. Sit back, relax.  It's Saturday night enjoy! For the East Coast chatters, it's like a night out! WELCOME ALL

Check it out on our inspirational Poetry Pages

Please Email us with any poems you would like to share with us PWMS@peoplewithms.com

OUR MISSION

Our objective is to provide an informal, supportive site for people seeking on-line information about  Multiple Sclerosis.  We aren't doctors, we aren't experts.  We just live it everyday.  We formed this site to share what we have learned, provide a focal point for exchange of information,  and give back to the community. 

Support is a very big word when it comes to MS.  Doctors can only tell you so much during an office visit.  Leaving unanswered questions, concerns and issues.  People with any disease can often learn best from each other.  To this end we provide a chat forum to share information and suggestions, posting of the latest news, and links to authoritative sources of information. 

There are many informative sites out there.  Visit them all!  You can never have enough information.  We do not intend to compete with any other sites.  Like coffee shops, each has it's own unique atmosphere and clientele.  There can never be enough of them.  

Our chat is open for anything that has to do with MS. Some topics are not pleasant. But need to be talked about. If you have a problem, no matter what it is, chances are there is someone in chat that can help you. The one thing that PWMS will not accept is being laughed at for any MS problem. We expect all chatters to be considerate of others. 

We have appointed Norma, Marlene, Debby, MS_Kitty, Sae What, Linda-NV, JackIL, and Spikers  Marineswife, Shimmie, Joly. room administrators. They have been using the chat.  They can help you if you need help. 

 

Chat Etiquette Reminder Please make a point to welcome any new chatter that comes in our room. Introduce yourself.  Ask if there is anything special they want to ask about, know about.  Don't ignore the new chatter.  Offer them coffee and a muffin.  Make them feel at home.  Don't keep chattering about peripheral MS stuff with others, or off-topic stuff. Just keep in mind the one rule we have:  nobody gets to play Doctor in chat.  What we mean by that is;  don't go diagnosing chatters ailments or recommending medications.  Share your experiences, and what any of the drugs have done for you.  Don't encourage the idea that any medication is a miracle cure. Or dismiss any, or all, medicines as doing nothing.   Even the well known medications have a wide range of effectiveness.  The effectiveness of non-traditional and alternative medicines is even less certain.  So talk about your experiences, factual studies and medical trials.  Offer your opinions with care, and never recommend.  Third hand medical testimonials from a friend of your auto mechanic's wife aren't welcome, unless they are really funny. Also keep in mind that Laws and Health Care options also vary widely both within countries and across the globe.  So be sensitive to the personal situations and tribulations chatters face.  Don't rub in how great things are for you.  Between the laughs, a serious note:  We are a support chat. With that said, we can only help by listening; none of us are professionals. In our years of chatting with MSers online, one of the most common problems is depression.  This is a very serious problem. We do feel sometimes just being a good friend, listening, and kidding around can help. And sometimes is just the right thing to turn the a bad mood around.  But when things just don't appear to be getting any better in a reasonable amount of time, and chat is just a temporary fix, it is time to get professional help. Many times it's as simple as a medication change.  Or something else. I have not told many, but when my daughter was dx'd 12 years ago, I had to learn as much as I could. I wanted to know what is the worst case scenario, and what is the best with MS.  What courses could it take? How likely one versus the other? I wanted no more surprises.  Having my one and only daughter dx'd with MS was enough of a surprise. I went to Gaylord Rehab for a very long seminar on MS. It was the mental problems that really got most in a lot of troubles, because they were not ever taken seriously. I have seen this many times in my years online.  If you see someone in chat that seems headed down this road, try to cheer them up, focus on the positive, and give them some suggestions. If they come back just as bad off, try again.  If they keep coming back, let them know that they might be in need of some support beyond what any of us can provide in chat.   So, About Our Chat:  We try to maintain a positive, upbeat attitude.  We may have MS, but MS doesn't have us.  It's not the focal point of our existence, it's just one part.  So if there's a problem, no need to moan and groan - it just needs solving.  Go over it, around it, blow it up, or joke about it.  We won't ignore somebody's problem because it's gross, unseemly, or offends somebody else's sensibilities.  We'll help figure out a solution.  If somebody want's to wallow in their problem, we're not going to be too sympathetic.   Don't feel bad if you visit our chat and don't like things:  The folks in it, what's talked about, the limited avatars and emoticons, the sounds, or anything else.  We don't have room for every MSer in the universe, and don't claim to cater to every taste.  If you want something different,  we encourage you to search out another chat room.  There are chats for those that want to wallow in pity, moan and groan. sing songs on a voice chats, fantasy-date, or do whatever comes after that on web cam chats. If you don't find what you need, or think you can do better, we encourage you to go buy your own web server, start your own website, and run your own chat to cater to that unmet need.  Please let us know about your site and chat, so we can direct any like-minded folks your way.