7:25:37 PM EDT
Where Oh Where Has My Favorite Chat Gone?
Some time ago (and I apologize for not updating in some time!), AOL removed the various communities' chat schedules, which also contained links to our chat rooms.
Does that mean that chats have gone away? Heck no!
One of the community leaders in another area put it much better than I ever could, so I reproduce her post below:
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Subject: Hosted Chats
Date: 6/20/05 8:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: The Cepheus Star
Someone wrote to me last night for some help, knowing I was a former AOL host. I wanted to let you all know that if you used to have a favorite chat that you went to, just because the community leader program is ended doesn't necessarily mean your favorite chat or board host is gone.
Tons of hosts have stayed on to continue leading their rooms. Many have made up names like EX hst or X host or other names with part of their former host names in them. So take a chance and enter your normal chat to see if your host stayed on.
I know many of the computer and help hosts are continuing. A lot of the pet hosts are still here. Quite a few of the hosts who ran support chats are still here.
Also if you check journals using the search term "host", you'll find journals by hosts listing the chat schedules for the different communities since in many cases aol took down chat schedules.
If you look at the member created chat rooms you will also find rooms created by former hosts to continue their chats.
We may not have our fancy names anymore but many are dedicated to their community and are still present in play names. You don't have to have a fancy name to "lead" a community.
We're here <g>
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Let me add a couplemore suggestions:
1. Most former AOL community leaders who have chosen to continue in some sort of leadership position, be it in a chat room or a message board, have incorporated into their new screennames the abbreviation for their respective communities. For example, the former HOST HLTH Song (that's me) is now known as HLTH Song. HLTH is our community's abbreviation; no doubt you know the abbreviation for the other communities that you frequent. So, if you're looking for a chat that's going on right now, you can find the leaders who are online right now through a search of the AOL Member Directory. Again, for example, if you're looking for a leader in the Health Community, enter "HLTH" in the Search field.
2. While the communities' official master chat schedules no longer exist, several leaders have stepped up and created Journals that contain updated schedules. For the Health Community, just go to Health Community Chat Schedule.
We're here! Come chat with us!
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hlthsong
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6:39:34 PM EDT
Feeling Loopy
The Story Thus Far
In case you feel a case of deja vu coming on, don't worry. You have seen this before!
The end of the Community Leader Program means that the original Red Ribbon Roundup can't be maintained anymore, so we're moving it to its new digs over here. Unfortunately, AOL doesn't provide a means to lift the whole durned thing off its foundation and truck it over here, so I have to do it myself. The results won't be perfect, there may be some cracks here and there, but it will still feel like home. <g>
For starters, we repeat below the entries in the old Red Ribbon Roundup. There will be new stuff once we patch the cracks and count all the silverware. Welcome back!
Saturday, May 28, 2005 1:00:13 AM PDT
Feeling Chillin'
A Bend in the Road
Some of you have already heard about a big change on AOL: We received word on Friday, May 27 that, effective June 8, the Community Leader Program will come to an end.
What does that mean? It means a lot for some of us, and not much at all for many of us. Let me explain.
Several months ago, chat and board hosts lost certain hosting tools. While we were, quite frankly, not happy about this, we really did the best we could under the circumstances. AOL's intent and direction was to empower all its members to control their online experience, so empowering some members more than others simply was no longer in the cards. Therefore, we've been encouraging our fellow members to make maximum use of the tools they've had in their hands - the Ignore feature in chats, and Notify AOL just about everywhere.
We Community Leaders, while no longer a level above our fellow members in terms of our powers, still felt a strong responsibility to lend our influence to the flow of chats and to encourage members to be civil and relevant in their posts to the boards. We had a lot to give in terms of our subject-area knowledge, our familiarity with AOL, and our desire to be of service to our communities.
It shouldn't take too much of a leap to understand AOL's subsequent logic: If the members had the power, why is there any further need for Community Leaders? (I'm neither endorsing nor attacking AOL's decision in this regard; y'all know by now that I want to be level-headed about these things and focus my energies on the community's needs going forward.)
In many ways, therefore, the biggest change on June 8 will be felt by the Community Leaders, because on that day we lose our CL screennames. On that day, my name, HOST HLTH Song, will vanish along with several thousand similar HOST and LDRS names. AOL will no longer recruit, train or organize new volunteer Community Leaders. Even our Journals will either go away or be transferred to other new screennames.
What doesn't change, however, are the communities we serve. The resources are still there. The chat rooms and boards will still be there, as long as the members use them. And so is the commitment that many of us feel to our respective communities. Chances are you'll still see us former Community Leaders around in our "civvies" or in new screennames, doing many of the things we've done all along. Yes, we may still be hosting our chats, but we won't be wearing the fancy uniforms. <g>
For years we've worked with you, our fellow AOL members, to empower you to find for yourself the answers to your questions, to take control of your online life, to reach out to another member who needed support, information, or a hug or a shoulder to cry on. I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed members doing just that in a chat that I was hosting, and, while I never told you at the time, that's when I sat back, watched it as it unfolded on the scrolling chat window, and smiled a great big smile. :)
Now, in many ways, it's truly up to you. Hosts and Leaders are no longer even nominally in charge, YOU are. I expect you to carry on because we've trained you damned well. <g>
This is not goodbye by any means. I do not speak for any other Community Leaders other than myself, but I'm here to say that y'all haven't seen the last of me on Monday and Friday nights. While my hubby might insist that we now get ourselves a life <g>, it's mighty hard to tear myself away from doing the most important thing I've ever done for the better part of ten years.
Will my fellow Community Leaders do the same? I think it'sfair to say that not all will. Some will decide that this is as good a time as any to call it a day and move on to other things. This is their right and I give them all a standing ovation fortheir years of service. They are all heroes in my eyes. I do hope that some of us will soldier on. And, quite frankly, since there are no such thing as a formal Community Leaders Program with specific service requirements, there's no reason that our fellow members cannot step up to the plate once in awhile and serve in a leadership role, by example and practice in chats and boards.
When my service to the HIV/AIDS community through onQ ended several years ago, I implored our members to find a way to stay together as a community. When I remember back to that final e-mail from On Q Song, it seems that much of it was written out of desperation and concern that our community would dissolve into cyberspace. Indeed, many of us did go our separate ways, but many managed to stay together and we gained more members, friends and even loved ones along the way.
And so we reach another bend in this long road. On June 8, we will be leaving you as Hosts and Leaders, but we will still be among you as members and friends. The journey itself is far from over. :)
COMMENTS:
Song. I am so happy to see that you are staying and working as you always have to help the AOL members who need the help and support. I know that we are no longer going to be Community Leaders, but that doesn't mean we can't continue on as a leader for our Community and Chat room and or message board that we have worked with for so many years. I am another Community Leader who is not going anywhere. I will lost my HOST name as the rest of us all will, but I will stay with the Chat I have worked for these past few years and stay here to help members who need the support and a place to come and chat in comfort.
Michael
Comment from hosthlthfroggy - 5/29/05 7:44 PM
{Song}
Your eloquence leaves me in awe and practically speechless.
I would like to echo your words and sentiments. Still a bit in shock myself.
My cohost and I talked and have decided to continue our 7 year old chat too.
Not sure of all the details yet; just not going to desert our chatters either.
Thanks for your inspring words.
HOSTHLTHMEAGAN
GREAT PAIN ESCAPE CHAT
PS: To hiFive...thanks for the new name idea....ya think we can slip in "Hosty" somewhere? :)
Comment from hosthlthmeagan - 5/28/05 3:05 PM
Song!
Once again you've managed to state a case with great wisdom and what I feel to be incredible logic. I, as well, hope that our communities will remain intact for the good of those members that are in such dire need of support, assistance, help, a shoulder, and just plain old camaraderie.
I've been a proud member of the Health Community for a mere 3½ years, but I intend to stay as long as the members will have me. You can count on me to stand side-by-side, shoulder-to-shloulder with you and all of those that decide to stay and help a community in need.
Thank you for all of the words ... and years of inspiration.
Very Respectfully,
HOST HLTH HiFive
hopefully soon to be "HLTH HiFive"
Comment from hosthlthhifive - 5/28/05 2:38 PM 
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 5:51:03 PM PST
HIV/AIDS Support Chat Schedule
HIV/AIDS Support Chat Schedule
in Chat Room Health III
(All Times Eastern)
Monday
8-10 pm: HOST HLTH Angel
10 pm-12 Midnight: HOST HLTH Song
Tuesday
8-10 pm: HOST HLTH Yogi
10 pm-12 Midnight: HOST HLTH Plus
Wednesday
8-10 pm: HOST HLTH Merlyn
10 pm-12 Midnight: HOST HLTH Spirit
Thursday
8-10 pm: HOST HLTH Spirit
10 pm-12 Midnight: HOST HLTH Jim
Friday
8-10 pm: HOST HLTH HiFive
10 pm-12 Midnight: HOST HLTH Song
Saturday
9-11 pm: HOST HLTH BenuSC
COMMENTS:
Hello
I just would like to let all my fellow hosts know that I am now hosting on Wednesday nights at 8 PM EST. If you could let the guests in the room know this maybe I won't sit alone for 2 hours.
Thanks
HOSTHLTHMerlyn
Comment from hosthlthmerlyn - 4/15/05 6:04 PM
Thursday, March 17, 2005 3:44:15 PM PST
Feeling Hopeful
Small World
"Hiya!"
The above is a word I never used in real life until I became a member of AOL. I also never used "y'all," "prolly" or "lemme," my spelling was always exemplary, and I tended to sit quietly in the corner at social gatherings.
Then I becamea member of AOL. ::shrug::
To become a member of an AOL community, you often need to thinkfast, and type faster. You always need to think harder, because once you hit that Send key, your words are out there for all the world to see and perhaps misunderstand. For the most part I've been pretty lucky in that my words haven't hurt folks too hard yet.
Once a member of an AOL community, doors open, connections are made, and life becomes complex in a very good way. As an AOL member I've made many friends, some of whom I love dearly. As a Community Leader I've had the honor to serve thousands of members, every one of whom (OK, there are maybe a couple of exceptions <g>) I keep in a special place in my heart.
The wonderful thing about getting to know people online is that there are no physical impediments to hide behind. Here, our interactions are all through words, and in the course of exchanging thousands of words you eventually get to know people very well. Stripped of the physicality, the words can be, and often are, the portal to a person's soul. I've been privileged to have a peek into some very special people's souls, and they into mine, through our interactions on AOL.
I've found that, in the grand scheme of things, we're all pretty much in the same boat. Which brings me to the main point of this entry: We're all - every one of us - part of the HIV/AIDS community. Either you're INfected - by HIV itself - or AFfected.
INfected is self-evident, and there are far too many people who are better qualified than I am to talk about what that means for them. Because, you see, I'm one of the AFfected.
Who's AFfected?
- Anyone who has a friend, relative, or loved one that is INfected.
- Anyone who is on the front lines of HIV/AIDS research, or a caregiver or caseworker for those who are INfected.
- Anyone who wears a red ribbon in solidarity with those who are INfected.
- Anyone who pays taxes or health insurance premiums, which in turn pays a small fraction of medical treatment costs for those who are INfected.
- Anyone who has to take on additional burdens at work or at home to compensate for the lost labor of a person who is either sick or deceased dueto HIV.
In short, anyone who is not INfected is most assuredly AFfected.
Because we're in such a small world, in coming entries I'll post the chat schedule for our HIV/AIDS community, links to our discussion boards, and crosslinks to the Journals of fellow Community Leaders whose dedication makes the lives of the members that they serve that much better.
Welcome to our small world, and thanks for reading. Until next time, keep a smile on your face and a Song in your heart! :)
Written by
hlthsong
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