@Sue, so how did you decide re. the fly traps?

Hi, everybody! This is my first message here. Let's see what this button does.

@AlinaMitroi Welcome!!!! You are so awesome, especially with voting. We love having you here. If you have any questions about how chat works, let us know. Someone will help you.

Well, I have noticed you don't understand why new users don't reply comments and my guess is that they don't get notified by mail.

Ok, it was me with the votes for bstpierre.

@Stephie Hi! Are you still around? I told my daughter not to get that silly kit! How are you? How's you're new job?

@AlinaMitroi Me too! Thanks for doing that!

It's about voting for questions, especially older ones, so they get some attention.

@AlinaMitroi In order to reply to a specific message, click on the left side. It will give you some options, including "reply to this message." That way, it automatically puts our name in your reply.

If you just want to say something to someone, not necessarily answering a specific message, put the same @ in front of it as you do with comments. Don't leave any spaces though. For instance, the message you wrote here wasn't addressed to anyone, so only the next person coming into the room would have seen it.

@Sue I have to admit that I'm voting out of curiosity. I have begun to read all the questions starting with the oldest and all of them are interesting. The problem is I don't have the time to read all the answers and that's why the questions get more votes than the answers.

@SueLet's try without space.

@AlinaMitroi Hey, you got the reply perfect! And you are so right about voting on those questions. I wish everybody thought like that!.

@SueTest

I can't reply properly.

I guess I'll read the help and faq page and come back later.

@AlinaMitroi I'm here! What I meant about the space is that if you're using the @, don't leave a space between that and the name, but do leave a space after the name. Like, this will call to you @AlinaMitroi. This might not @AlinaMitroihow are you, because it thinks your name is @AlinaMitroihow.

@Sue Well, that's how I did the first time, but your name doesn't get coloured like I see mine.

@AlinaMitroi It should have.

Sometimes the chat features get weird.

Even if reply doesn't work, the @Sue did.

@AlinaMitroi If you see a little left arrow beside your name when there's a message from someone, that means they've hit reply to a message of your. Also, if you hit reply to this message, what shows up in your box is a number, rather than a name.

I understand if you're frustrated and just want to come back later. I'm sorry if I'm doing a bad job explaining! Definitely keep doing your voting, I had almost no competition till you came along, and you've made a lot of people vote, which makes the whole site better.

You're setting an awesome example, and I'm so glad I got a chance to tell you. Also I love your own posts. You're smart and really helpful.

@Sue Haha, don't worry, I'll make more tests until I figure it out. I have noticed the numbers when hitting reply, I just thought there's an error. LOL

@AlinaMitroi I thought that for months!!!!

@Sue test

@AlinaMitroi That was perfect!

OK, so it works. Thanks.

Hi, both of you!

@Stephie Hi, Stephie!

@AlinaMitroi, you are rather new here, right? Welcome!

@AlinaMitroi My pleasure. You can also @ more than one person. Like @AlinaMitroi and @Stephie!

@Stephie Hi! It's awesome to see you!

@Sue likewise! I just decided to leave a message earlier.

(close to 10pm here)

@Stephie Thanks. I now changed my username in order to be shorter. In my profile it is now "Alina". I see that it did not change here, in chat.

@Stephie I thought so.

Should I exit and return?

@AlinaMitroi hmmm, I'm not sure about that. Why don't you try it?

@AlinaMitroi no, it can take up to a day for all profiles to adjust.

I'll wait here.

Usually just a few minutes.

Ok, then I'll wait.

And sometimes chat does funny things with the pictures, but it'll sort itself out sooner or later.

@Stephie See, you had Stephie to help you. I'm so glad! She's way cool, but everybody in here is.

@Sue, I just love my new job. I've been practically grinning from ear to ear for days. Don't know why exactly, but I haven't had that much energy in a long time.

@Sue Yeah, I noticed. I already like you all. Reading the comments on questions, I can now say who's the author without looking at the name. It feels like I know you all almostfrom kindergarden.

@AlinaMitroi Stephie's right about chat. It seems to have a slower catch-up time than other parts of the site.

@AlinaMitroi You're doing so great. Our system's hard to learn after other kinds of forums, but you've got it down!

@Stephie Yay! That's so exciting. To do a job you love is such a blessing, and unusual!

@AlinaMitroi most sites / chats have a more or less closely knit group of regulars. (Not necessarily the same group as the main posters, though.) And every chat has it's own "tone" or "climate". This is probably the friendliest and most benevolent one around.

@Sue still (re-)learning a lot. My personal first goals:

@Sue Well, I'm not accustomed to forums or chat, I'm more of an introvert. Usually I enter sites, read and leave.

a) learn the abbreviations (my company is insane in that regard)

b) learn the names and build a network.

@Stephie What abbreviations?

@AlinaMitroi In a case like this, that's a good thing that you don't come from a lot of forum use. We spend a lot of time teaching people how we're different from forums, and it can be really hard, especially for new users.

@Stephie I agree - what abbreviations??

@AlinaMitroi the ones used in my company / branch / departement. They have kind of the policy of "Why use words when letters will do?".

@AlinaMitroi By the way. In case you want to edit one of your own messages, you have up to five minutes. Just click on the left side and hit edit and the message will open up for you.

@Sue ok

Here, everyone (ok, most somewhat seasoned users) knows that SE stands for Stack Exchange and OP for original post(-er).

@Stephie Geez, for two months I was wondering what OP means, even googled it. SE I noticed.

@AlinaMitroi I'm an introvert too, and don't like forums. In fact, this is the only place I've ever done anything except read. Plus, lots of forums use language that I don't like, swearing, etc.

I also like to read directions, which obviously you do too.

@Stephie How are the minors doing with seeing less of you?

@AlinaMitroi Minors refers to @Stephie's two children.

@AlinaMitroi Do you know how to leave the room, in case you don't want people to think you're still here?

Not that I want you to leave!!!! :)))

@Sue So if I just close the tab on my browser people will still see me here?

@AlinaMitroi yes. For hours.

@AlinaMitroi They'll see you here for a few hours. Then your profile picture, which is up on the right hand side, next to mine and Stephie's at the moment, will fade away.

@Stephie And how do I change it? Is there an exit button?

@AlinaMitroi Clicking up there on the word "leave" will remove you right away. That's what I like to do.

@Sue Oh, thanks. I see it now.

@AlinaMitroi as you can see, @NiallC. "In the room", but has been inactive for quite a while. The paler the avatar, the longer the passed time (or vice versa).

@AlinaMitroi Cool! Now you can either say good bye or just leave! Did you know you can also read what people are writing without having to come into the room? Nobody knows you're doing it, but you get to see what's been going on.

Does anybody know what to do to get comment notification by email? I have to enter here from time to time to make sure I don't have people waiting for my answers.

Do you use the app or a computer?

On settings I checked the notifications mark and selected "every 3 hours"

@Stephie Computer.

@Alina Can you tell me where those settings are? I think you found something I never heard of.

Are they part of SE, or do you mean your own computer settings?

If it's just your computer settings, then I get what you mean.

In SE, the notifications should show up in your inbox at the top of any regular page (not chat) within 20 minutes. You can see how many there are by a red number.

I keep my notification noises off most of the time, and have to watch up there.

@Sue I click on my profile, and there's a tab there. It's called Edit profile & settings. In it there is an option "Preferences" (the second one from the top). There I checked all marks.

@Alina Hey, you're name changed!! I'm going to go look at those in my profile... I wanted to make sure you know how to read the transcript without coming into the room, because it's important for people like you and me who don't always want to talk a lot.

@Sue You can shorten that time. Just found out.

@Sue I noticed the unread ones coloured in red, by I want email notifications because it's easier for me.

@Alina That makes sense. I don't pay enough attention to my emails, so this is easier.

@Stephie How do you shorten the time?

@Alina btw, people won't mind if you take your time.

@Sue Ok, how do I read the transcript?

@Alina There are two ways.

The easiest is click on the word Stack Exchange on the top left of a regular page, not chat. Then you'll see "chat" and "log out" as options.

@Sue go to the SE chat page (easiest: click on your avater in this chat), go to the "prefs" tab. (2nd from left).

Click on "chat", then you'll see this room as if you're not here. Click on "info" and choose "view transcript."

Just changed it myself.

That will show you what people have been saying. They won't know you're here. You can come in and chat if you want, or just click out of it or close the tab.

@J.Musser, would you please do screenshots of these things so @Alina can see better? I don't know how to do them and it makes everything easier. Thanks!

@Sue I just tried it and it works.

Thanks for all the info.

@Alina Yay! It feels good to be able to teach people. I'll tell you truthfully, without the help of people in here, I wouldn't have even stayed with SE. If you ever have a question about how to do something, how policy works, or anything you can think of, bring it in here.

@Sue which reminds me: how's your computer?

@Sue I'm glad you're so helpful, Stephie included. I'm now downloading apps on my phone to see which one is the right SE one.

@Stephie Finally better, thanks, needed a new keyboard! I can't seem to find how to change that setting.

@Stephie Found it!!!

@Alina SE has apps for android and iOS. They work differently than the computer, so don't be surprised to see different things.

They have some limitations, but they're also cool.

I prefer the computer, but I have all of them.

@Stephie That setting is excellent. I'm not usually in a chat room for any length of time, but am sometimes still on the site, and would like to get notified more quickly. That way I won't miss messages from someone like you, who has just popped in for a quick minute also. For some reason, I don't get all my chat messages anyway. I just found something from @J.Musser from weeks ago that never made it into my box.

@Stephie You on your way to beddy-bye?

I have to go do some voting. I wasn't here at all yesterday, and my new friend @Alina's going to get ahead of me!

@Sue they don't see that much less of me. But yes, there have been a few rather spontaneous changes to the daily schedule.

@Sue sort of. Was talking to hubby.

@Stephie Ha ha, I was just talking to mine too! He's at work, but sent me a text message which I was just answering. I assume your hubby's at home.

@Sue yes.

@Stephie He must be really happy for you about your new job.

@Sue we even get to have lunch together occasionally! (For a few more months.)

I guess I'll leave now, I have a few votes to cast myself. Is there a statistic with voters?

@Stephie That sounds nice. What happens in a few months?

@Alina Like wanting to see who's voting?

@Sue Yes, I'm curious about how you knew I was the one voting.

Go to the regular page. Click on "users" then on the tab that says "voters" and you'll see who's voting by time period.

@Sue his departement moves to another site. Actually closer to our home, which is nice, but we won't work at the same site any more.

@Alina Right now's hard because it has week, month, quarter, year, which are mostly the same because we just started a new year. Choose all to see ever since the site started.

@Sue I see there are people with more votes than me, which is odd because I always use my maximum 40 votes each day.

(And find Sue!)

@Stephie haha

@Alina 40 votes x a long time...

@Stephie No, I looked for one week, not month.

@Alina Click on week and you'll see you're ahead of everyone except me! Yikes! I'm so very proud of you!

@Alina I try to use all my 40 votes each day too, but I slacked off and you got ahead!

@Sue :You are right, I forgot to click the voters tab.

@J.Musser can make a graph for us that shows voting for time periods in between year and all. I don't know how, but he does.

This meta post meta.gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/773/… has activity graphs, but not by person.

Bedtime here! Was nice to see you! G'night!

@Stephie Night, back, Was nice to see you too. Have an awesome tomorrow!

I'm trying to get the sportsmanship badge, since there are only a few that have it, but it's tough. I have answered only a few questions, so I don't have much to upvote for my fellow users. I guess I'll get this badge next year or something.

@Stephie Good night, Stephie!

@Alina Sportsmanship's way hard, because you have to ask 100 questions.

You already have a ton of badges, especially for the amount of time you've been here!

Check out a user named Zaq in the voting page. All he does is go around then network upvoting.

@Sue Yes, I've noticed it is a hard to get badge. :))

@Alina We'll have to ask the statistics guys again, but I'll bet you have the most badges for your length of time here than anybody!

I wish I knew how to write these query things, but I don't.

@Sue It's strange. I always shy away from badges and awards. On this site I act like I'm some other person.

@Alina I was always the same way. I think the difference is that the badges are more fun because they're about helping other people. And you're SO good at that..

Oh, thank you, you're too kind. Now I'm going to leave, it's almost midnight here and I'm sleepy.

I'm so glad you're doing a lot of editing too. I love editing, especially bringing old posts forward so new people get to see them. As you've noticed, there's so much great stuff on the site that people need to know is there.

So good night and thank you for everything!

@Alina Before you, go, where do you live??? What time is it?

In the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It's 23:53 EET

It should be on my profile I think.

@Alina Cool, I have Romanian ancestry. I was too lazy to go look at the your profile! Thanks so much for hanging out with me, and for being a huge asset to the site. I hope you know how great you are, and I'm not just being nice. Now click on the leave button and go to bed! I'm out of here too.

Ok, good night1