gay.com member help.

The gay.com Communication Suite is a service that allows you to send real-time instantaneous messages (or IM in common lingo) to other gay.com members, join a group chat room or send mail to other gay.com members.

Since gay.com is the world's largest LGBT online community with chat and mail there are plenty of people to connect with - either individually or in one of our many group chat rooms.

The gay.com Communication Suite consists of Messenger, Group Chat, IM and Mail.

gay.com Messenger allows you to view and manage your lists including: Friends, Hot List, Bookmarks, Favorite Chat Rooms, and - for Premium Members - Who Thinks I'm Hot and Who's Viewed Me.

gay.com Group Chat allows you to communicate with other gay.com members either in a group or in a one-on-one private IM session. To access Group Chat click on the Chat Rooms link in the top navigation bar. From Group Chat you can select from hundreds of different rooms based on topic or location. Once you find a room of interest, simply click on the room name and the room will open. Once the room is open you can see who else is in the room. To enter the room click on the enter room link.

Once you have entered a chat room, you'll have access to many great new features as well as easy access to member profiles and photos. To see a mini profile of other members in chat, simply click their member name or photo and a mini profile will appear. From a member's mini-profile you may view a member's full profile and other public photos, or send a private message by clicking one of the action links.

gay.com IM allows you to have a private, one-on-one, chat with another gay.com member.

With gay.com Mail you can send messages to another member even when that member is off-line. To compose a mail message click the Send Mail link from a members profile, mini-profile or search results.

Click here  to take the gay.com Communication Suite tour and learn more.

gay.com Messenger is what enables you to chat-either one-to-one or in groups. But what's really important is that the gay.com Messenger window lets you initiate a chat from one of your lists, whether that be your friends list or hot list, or enter one of your favorite rooms.

When you log in to gay.com , the Messenger automatically opens. If you do not want to chat simply close the Messenger window. Please keep in mind that closing the Messenger window will automatically close your Group Chat windows and any IM windows that you may have open. You will still appear as online, but will not be available to chat.

Basically, a chat room is a place where a group of people can chat. gay.com features lots of different chat rooms organized by place and by topic.

To use gay.com Chat you must be signed in, have Messenger open, and your 'Show me as' online status must be set to something other than invisible. Once those conditions are met you can use gay.com Chat all you want. If you're interested in Group Chat you can find a list of all the chat rooms by going to the Rooms tab in the Messenger Window and clicking on Chat Rooms. Or you can click Chat Rooms from the top navigation bar, which will open the Group Chat window. The Group Chat window provides a complete list of rooms by Topic or Location. Select the room you wish to enter and join others that are already chatting.

If you want to chat privately (IM) all you need to do is double click on a Member Name in a group chat room, you can click the Send IM link in a member's profile or mini-profile, or you can double click on one of the member names on your friends or hot lists.

Luckily the fastest way is also the easiest way.

Here's how:

• Sign in to gay.com . This automatically opens the gay.com Messenger window. If Messenger does not open, click on Messenger from the top navigation bar. Click on Chat Rooms in the top navigation bar or from the Rooms tab within Messenger click See All Rooms.
• Select a main chat room from the Group Chat window.
• Select a room within the main chat room that you'd like to enter.
• Click the Enter Room button.
• You're in! Chat and enjoy!

gay.com Group Chat can be accessed in two ways - either from the Chat Rooms link in the global navigation or from the Chat Rooms link within the Rooms tab in Messenger. When you sign in to gay.com the Messenger Window will automatically open. If Messenger is not open, click Messenger from the global navigation to open the window.

Ignore is available to all members. Ignoring another member:

- Blocks incoming IM requests from ignored member
- Hides group chat messages from ignored members

Ignoring another member does not delete that member from your Friends List, Hot List, or Bookmarks. You will still be able to receive gay.com mails from members you have ignored.

To Ignore another member, click on the ignore link in that member's mini-profle within Messenger, Group Chat, or IM. The member will be added to the list of people who you will not see in Group Chat or IM. Members you have ignored are identified in the communication suite by an Ignore stamp and appear shaded in room lists.

Adding a member to your Block List automatically Ignores that member in chat. You must be a Premium member to add someone to your Block List.

To remove Ignore for a specific member, click on the "Remove Ignore" link on that member's mini-profile within Messenger, Group Chat or IM.

If a member is on your Block List, removing an Ignore will also remove them from your Block list.

Removing a member from a Block list will also remove the Ignore for that member.

To enter a chat room, first select a main chat group, such as Topic, Interests & Sports or United States. Next, use the toggle arrow to view the specific rooms within each group. Once you select a room, click the Enter button to enter the chat room. Your name will appear in the "Who's In This Room" window at the right side of the main chat window along with other chat room participants. You'll see scrolling text in the main chat window.

When new members enter a chat room, a message will appear notifying others in the room. You will not see your own entrance alert notification when you first enter a chat room.

Each gay.com chat room accommodates up to 100 members. Once there are 100 members in a chat room, a new room for that same geographic area or topic opens automatically when the next chatter tries to enter. For example, when the San Francisco room reaches 100 members, the next member who enters will automatically create a second San Francisco room. However, you don't have to be in a room in order to chat with people in that room. You may send a private IM directly to another member. But, if you're a Premium Member you can enter a chat room even if it's already full.

Become a gay.com Premium Member today. Subscribe Now!

Become a gay.com Premium Member today. Subscribe Now!

You must enter a chat room in order for your Member Name to appear in the "See who's in the room" window. To enter a room, click once to select the room you'd like to use, then click the Enter button. New chatters will appear at the top of the Who's in This Room list. Once there are 100 members in a chat room, a new room for that same geographic area or topic will open automatically when the next chatter tries to enter. Premium Members, however, are allowed to enter full rooms.

To send or receive messages in a chat room, click to position your cursor in the white text box in the lower right corner of the main chat room window. You may then enter the text of your message. To send your comments to the chat room, hit the Return or Enter button on your keyboard, or the Send button just to the right of the text box. All other members in the chat room will be able to read your message. Likewise, messages sent by other members will appear for you to read in the main chat room window, with the user's Member Name at the beginning of the message.

Yes, you'll need to be a Basic Member to use gay.com Group Chat and Basic membership is free.

Become a gay.com Member today. Join Now!

No. All you have to do is become a Basic (free) Member of gay.com . As a member you'll also have access to other features including the ability to send and receive messages, view profiles and view some member photos. Plus, Basic Members are allowed to enter one chat room at a time.

Become a gay.com Member today. Join Now!

The IM Shield lets you create a challenge question and answer which someone who wishes to chat with you must answer correctly before you can receive their chat request. You set your IM Shield from the IM window or Messenger.

The question and answer you set in your IM Shield is completely up to you. However, keep in mind that the harder your question and answer the fewer IM requests you will receive. Possible question and answers might be:

• What's my user name?
• Do I have a picture in my profile?
• What is the last word in this sentence?
• What year is it?

Yes. You can turn your IM Shield on or off whenever you like. You can access your IM Shield controls in both the Messenger and IM window.

IMs (or private messages) are sent only to the member you wish to contact and will appear in a separate window from the main chat room. To send a private message, double-click the Member Name in a chat room, or click once to highlight the Member Name and click the link to Send IM at the bottom of the mini profile window. Then enter your message into the text field on the new window and click the Send button, or the Return or Enter button on your keyboard. Remember, you can only send an IM to another member when that member is online, and available for chat.

When you receive an IM Request from another member you can take one of two options - Yes or No.

If you say "yes" you will start chatting with that member right away. By saying "no" the request will be denied, but that member can send you another request later on in the session.

Yes, Messenger must be open for you to receive an IM Request.

Yes, you can have multiple IMs at the same time and all your private IMs are managed in the same window.

The IM window will contain a list of those members you have open IMs with. The member who you are currently chatting with will appear as your primary IM and the member's info will be highlighted with an orange frame.

If a message is sent from one of the other members you are having a private IM with, that member's photo will be highlighted in blue and the New Message indicator will appear.

To add a friend or potential Hot List candidate directly from chat, simply click the Send Friend Request or Add to Hot List either from a member's mini profile or main profile. If the member approves your friend invite, that member will automatically be added to your Friends List and you will be added to the other members Friend List. When you add a member to your Hot List no approval is required.

In the past gay.com allowed member created chat rooms. Unfortunately, we no longer offer this feature due to high numbers of complaints and reported terms of service violations from other members. Instead, we made the most popular member-created rooms permanent. To find them, click on the Rooms tab in gay.com chat. You will see a list of room categories. The new rooms appear under the Topics category, and are listed in alphabetical order. Have suggestions for other chat rooms we should add? Please go to our form and send use your thoughts.

Typically a favorite room is one you go to frequently. By designating a chat room as a favorite you have faster more direct access from the My Rooms tab in Messenger.

Simple! You can mark a chat room as one of your favorites from the main room list window or from within the room itself. Just look for the Add to My Rooms link within the Group Chat window.

You can have as many Favorite Rooms as you want! There is no limit to the amount of rooms you can mark as favorite.

Nope! All gay.com members can use this feature.

Click on the My Rooms tab in the gay.com Messenger, and click the [x] to remove it from your list of favorites. You can also click the Remove From My Rooms link while inside the chat room.

Premium Members have the option of disabling some advertisements on gay.com . To disable ads, click the "Turn Off Ads" link in Group Chat.

Currently gay.com Group Chat can't be customized. However, we will be adding additional features to chat in the future.

gay.com has decided to discontinue support for video chat at this time.