AOL Members have been having difficulty accessing our chat and bulletin board system on our web site. Members have had the experience of getting a member ID and password and then attempting to log in. After attempting to log in they find themselves facing yet another log in screen. Consequently, they are unable to get beyond this screen.

We have been working with AOL and Ichat to resolve these issues and provide a working solution. To get around this we recommend that AOL members get the latest version of Netscape (AOL Keyword: Netscape).

For our readers who are using a PC, please keep in mind, if you are using the 16 bit version of AOL (for Windows 3.x) you MUST use the 16 bit version of Netscape. If you have any confusion about whether or not your version of AOL is the 16 or 32 (Win 95) bit version we recommend that you call AOL technical support at the number given below.

After getting Netscape we recommend that you go to Ichat (www.ichat.com) and get the appropriate plug in for Netscape and install it. Should you wish, once you have Netscape, you can enter our chat area by selecting "HTML" from the drop-down box on the log in window. However, using the HTML version of our chat does not provide the full functionality that you will get if you have the Netscape plug in.

This process sounds long and complicated but is really rather easy, if taken step by step. Should you continue to have problems with Ichat, you can receive support by sending email to Ichat. If you are having trouble getting Netscape to work with your AOL connection, we recommend that you contact technical support for AOL at 800-348-1211 (PC) and 800-265-8007 (Mac).

-- By Andrew McGibbon