How to Use the Comet Chat System!

[Peter Walker]

How to Use the Comet Chat System!
Updated: August 5, 2018

It is often useful to be able to have a live chat with other members that are online. Facebook members are already familiar with their messenger system, but we wanted a system that does not require you to be a member of an external service in order to preserve our members privacy. We have therefore installed the Comet Chat system that runs on our server, the messages are stored on our server and can only be used by our members, only.

You will find it in the form of a blue "Chats" blue bar at the bottom right of the screen, while you are logged into the Rife Forum. If you do not see the blue bar, you are either not logged in or you have not activated this feature (see below), yet.

Activate or Deactivate the Comet Chat System.

If you are logged into the forum, yet cannot see the blue "Chats" bar at the bottom right of the screen, then it has not been activated for your account, yet (or you have previously deactivated it). Before May 2018, all members were automatically activated to use this service. Due to new privacy rules in Europe, this automatic registration had to be switched off and new members will need to specifically switch this service on to use it as follows:

Go to Settings (top right) / My Settings / My Account / Permission Groups (or click here)
Then under Comet Chat, select "Join Group"
Finally, click on the "Join Group" button.
This will add you to the Comet Chat usergroup and the Chats bar will automatically appear on the bottom right.

If you want to opt-out of the Comet Chat system, do the same as above and select "Leave Group" and press the "Leave Group" button, instead. You can rejoin at any time in the same way.
Note: If you just do not want to be disturbed for a while, you can make yourself "Invisible" so that other members will no longer see when you are online.



Starting a Private Chat

After clicking on the Chats bar, it opens up displaying two tabs: Recent and Contacts.
Recent lists the five most recent chats you have had (if you are just starting, it will be empty).
Contacts lists the members that are currently online and available for chat.

To start (or continue) a chat, click on the name and a chat bow will appear. Just type your message and press enter.
Smilies and even a handwriting tool are available. If you click on the name of the user in the chat window, additional options are available.
Your message will appear on your partner's computer within seconds.

If you want to leave a message with someone who is not online, find a post they have written and then click on the "Chat with me" button under their name on the left.

When you receive a chat message, you will hear a short tone to make you aware of it.


CometChat Options

After clicking on the Chats bar, it expands upwards and on the top line, you will see three dots and a bell symbol:

Clicking on the three dots will open the options with a number of useful features:
You can set your own status message
Set your online status:

• Available: This says you are online and open to receiving chat messages from other members.
• Away: Shows that you were online recently, but have not done anything for a while.
• Busy: Thiy means you are online, but do not have time to chat right now, perhaps later
• Invisible: This is your personal "Do Not Disturb" sign. When you set yourself to be invisible, other members will not see you listed as someone who can be contacted via the chat system (e.g. as if you were not online). You can however still see other members who are online and start a chat with them.

Set your notification settings: Sound, Popup, Last Seen
Blocked users
Home (displays the forum home page)
Single Player Games - A selection of free online games to play)
Share this page: Allows you to share the current forum page via social networks.
Scroll To Top: Shows the top of the current forum page
Translate Page: Translates the forum into a language of your choice - Very useful for non-English speaking members.
Facebook Fan Page: Takes you to the Rife Forum page on Facebook.

The bell symbol will show you any announcements available.


Security
The personal chat system is much more secure than email when exchanging messages with other members. Like the pm (personal message) system, your messages remain within the forum system and are not sent via any public email systems. The forum runs on a secure server in Germany where privacy rules are taken seriously.

I am pleased to have been able to add this new functionality to the forum and hope you find it very useful.