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The Chat Room is designed to be used with two different mediums. As one of these mediums is fairly new to the realm of real time chat, there are a few problems that might exist in its use. We hope that this page might help some of you that are having trouble with the Java based web chat.

Entering the Server through the Web!

  1. Java takes a while to completely download, understanding that you might want to get your chatting started as soon as possible we ask you to be patient and let the chat window completely load before trying to enter a room.
  2. Java was not designed to run on older versions of Netscape or MSIE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) you will need a browser that is at least version 2.02 or above, since most of our site is built assuming that most people have upgraded it is preferred that you use a version of 3.0 or higher.
  3. If you have problems getting the Java window loaded before you send out an email or anything please try the following procedures.
  • Hit your back button to the main home page.
  • First empty your cached files. In Netscape this would be under Options/Network Preferences, in MSIE it is under View/Options/Navigation/Clear History.
  • After you have completed these procedures then reload the page preferably from the front main page, and rejoin the chat page, letting it completely load before entering the chat server. Hopefully this will help solve your problems.
  • Java web chat has also been known to have difficulties on older machines with small amounts of storage space. Rest easy there is another way to access the chat room besides through the web!
  • If you are having trouble seeing the writing on the window please check your options and make sure that you haven't chosen to override the page colors. Our background is black if you can't see your typing it is probable that your have your font color black. (The default on most browsers is set not to do this.).

To connect though Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Before you can enter this type of chat you must have a separate piece of software, provided by third party vendors.
The most popular software for this is called:
mIRC
Click on the above link to go to the site to download this software. After you have downloaded and installed this software you can access the harbor of refuge chat through it. To add the Harbor-of-refuge server to your mIRC program follow the instructions below:

In the mIRC Options you will want to add a server.

  • Description: Harbor of Refuge
  • IRC server: irc.harbor-of-refuge.org
  • Port: 6667
  • Hit ADD button.
  • You will then find yourself back to the first window and you will then hit the Connect to IRC server button.
  • When connected type in the bottom bar /join #bipolar

And start Chatting!

Any questions or suggestions contact
Harbormaster