Pianotech Live Chat

[John Musselwhite]

Hello Everyone:

I realize you've all seen this before, but... <grin>

Piano technicians have our own live chat channel on the Undernet called
"#pianotech". The Undernet is part of "Inter Relay Chat" (IRC) and is
available to most people with internet access these days. All you need to
join us is an IRC chat "client" such as mIRC or Netscape Chat and a ppp
(graphical) internet connection. Unfortunately, users of Compuserve  may not
be able to access the channel due to their connection type.

We have set up Tuesday evenings from about 21:00 EDT to midnight as a time
for us to meet. All are welcome at any time as you never know who may show
up on any day or any time. The room is open at all times (Saturday mornings
seem to be a good time to find people there as well) and if no one is there,
wait around a bit and someone usually shows up.

To join us, load up your chat client (there are many IRC clients out there
for all computers) and if you're running it for the first time, answer the
questions it asks. Choose a nickname (it will tell you if the "nick" is
already in use once you connect and then let you change it), and connect to
a server such as "us.undernet.org" or "ca.undernet.org". When it connects,
use your software to "Join" the channel called #pianotech  (all IRC channels
have a pound sign # in front of the name).  Most software comes with a list
of servers installed already and you can choose any Undernet server to
connect with #pianotech. If you encounter slow connections or have problems
connecting, keep trying. IRC has a tendency to be a little unstable at
times. If you have problems send me EMail (I should get it within a couple
of minutes) and I will do my best to help.

So far, we've had participants from England, South Africa, Australia,
Mexico, Argentina, Portugal and of course, Canada and the United States.
Some have been interested piano players but others have been technicians as
well. It's been fascinating hearing about unusual piano problems and
situations in far-away places!

If you do join us, one of the "nicks" that you will see there is "@X". For
those unfamiliar with it, X is not a participant, but a program (called a
"bot") which keeps the basic information about #pianotech and a number of
other registered channels. "X" will not respond if you attempt to converse
with it, so just ignore it and wait a while for someone else to show up.

If anyone has any questions, just EMail me unless you feel the group might
be interested. Live chat is a great way to exchange ideas or just spend some
time in friendly conversation with like-minded people.

We're hoping to see some of you there on Tuesday evenings (or ANY night!)
in  #pianotech !

			John

John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com