OK. I did some research. I asked the techies who run the KaBOOM! web site system if they had a ready-to-go chat module that we could just plug in. They don't. So I moved on to looking to see if there was some easy-to-set-up/easy-to-use system already on the web. You'd be surprised how much stuff is out there for free or for next to nothing. Unfortunately, the kind of chat you are talking about isn't among them. I found some services but they made it difficult to set up private areas and the other chat areas that were set up were sort of... ummm... very adult. I could have set up a system that allowed you to talk to me pretty easily, but nothing that allowed you to talk to each other.
The best thing I came up with was instant messenger.
There are several systems: AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft. Instant messaging allows you to keep up a list of people (people you know and want to talk to) within a little program that you run on your computer. You can just double-click on a person's name and a window will immediately pop up on their computer with your message in it. They type a message back and that answer immediately pops up on your computer.
Another feature of this software is that you can set up ad-hoc -- and very private -- chat rooms. Based on what I saw through a couple of hours of surfing on the web, this looks like your best option.
I'll keep looking for other options!
Amy
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