Losing My Job

Where have all the chatters gone?

[Chat Room]

I used to be a host in this room, the Kids' WB! Chat Room. It was a lovely place for the 12 and under crowd, though I allowed older kids in if they were "12 and under at heart!" My responsibilities included entertaining kids, supervising the chat, and ratting on those who broke rules too often or too severely. "Please don't ask people to press numbers in answer to questions. That's polling and not allowed," was one of the things I had to say most. Also oft-spoken phrases: "In order to run a game, you MUST ask me first! In here we get in line," and "We can't do age/sex checks here because lots of people answer. It makes the room scroll, sorry!" and "We can't do ALL CAPS here 'cause it is considered yelling. Please only use it if you need to emphasize something, once in a while!" and, of course, "Welcome to the Kids' WB! Chat Room!"

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I was the host who was famous for my braids (pictured above in ASCII format, as I portrayed them in the chat room). If I may say so I was very well liked and I got loads of "fan mail" from adoring kidlets, though there was the occasional threatening letter from someone who was deeply offended that I'd blocked their chat for cursing explosively in a 12 and under room. Go fig. It got to the point that during hosting I had to turn off my IMs during hosting shifts 'cause too many kids wanted to IM me to chat. I developed a very good relationship with many of them, some to the point that I could even talk to them under my "play" screenname without worrying that they'd give away my name to the less mature kids. (That woulda been a bad idea considering my homepage was not exactly something I'd want young'uns to see.) I had a special homepage just for my KWBF Ivy name, just for the kids' amusement. And they were amused! I was thinking about reconstructing it but since there IS no more KWBF Ivy I decided putting a lot of work into making her page would be a little pointless. Instead, I have here the bio that I had as a host.

Here's what it looked like:

[ivy's old bio]

You can click on those Yakko-face buttons to see what they used to go to.

And if you have AOL, you can still see it here, believe it or not, except the buttons don't work anymore.

I also had a killer profile; it was so long that I had to screen-capture both bits of it so you could read all of it. :)

[profile #1]

[profile #2]

Even though hosting took up a lot of my time and I didn't get paid for it, I loved to do it. So when I got the notice that the Kids' WB! Chat Room was being CLOSED DOWN, I became very upset. No more chat room?

I'm still not sure of all the reasons why. The Kids' and Teens' areas were restructured and we were told we were no longer needed. I hosted for a year and a half and a lot of the other hosts had hosted longer. (I hosted the most hours a week, at least according to the schedule, but I'm sure others had put in just as much time as I had.) We were told that we had about a month to delete our names, but the end came much sooner . . . we were okay for a couple of days, and then AOL removed our door from the Kids Only! entrance, meaning that only kids who weren't on parental controls and could get to keyword: Kids wb could come to visit us. THEN they took away our access to the feature that let us open the chat at all, only a week after we were even given the news. :*( We were told we had to delete our names within 48 hours of that, which gave us so little time to even scramble for each other's new addresses and tell the kids . . . it was all so sudden! And it was the end of such a wonderful thing! There was a LOT of uproar and a LOT of protest over this. For instance, here is a little scrapbook some kids wrote about how much they liked WB.


        Hi! We are all sad WB Closed. I decided to make a scrapbook,
 For the hosts, About WB. I hope you like it. :) We will all miss it 
very much! 

******************Bkrj1*****************

   I have never been in WB before
Screename: Bkrj1
Comments: I wish the chat good luck!
***************Cnaman7510*****************
   I have been in WB before
Screename: Cnaman7510
Comments: I think this chat has a BIG influence on kids by following 
the rules and making it a better chat!!! =)

Favorite thing: Well my favorite thing I ever done in the WB chat room 
was talk to the hosts and play SCRAMBLER When the hosts let 
you---------and chatting with different people-

Why I went in there before: Well I went in there before just to check 
it out and see what it was like and it was GREAT!!!

What will I miss: Well it's pretty obvious on what I will miss but it's 
not a matter of what it's a matter of who- and I will miss all the 
intelligent hosts!!!! They were all so GREAT not just one not just 2 
not just three but all the hosts were mighty dity GREAT!!!!!!

Favorite quotes: Well my favorite quotes were probably:: Woudl anyone 
like to chat?!?!?! =) Hosts, Can we play SCRAMBLER?? =\

P.S. I will miss the chat room so much I don't know how anyone can live 
without it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANX

******************PetzGirl30***************

     I have been in WB Before.

Screename: Petzgirl30

Comments: It was a great room. I liked it a lot.

Favorite thing you did in this chat: Um, helping out.

Why you went in there before: I was finding a chatroom cause I'm always
 looking for a good chat and I came across Kids WB and I thought it was
 just a chat but when I went in that room, I realized that everyone was
 nice and kind. Then on, I loved that room and it's going to be hard to
 say goodbye. :(

What you will miss: All the fun things I used to do in that room.

*************************Cuti47Pie**********

    I have been in WB Before.

Screename: Cuti47pie/ M9ase

Comments: I loved the room. It was great. I wish it could stay around 4 eva!

Favorite thing you did in this chat: Play games learn about the other 
chats. Have FUN! 

Why you went in there before: I heard it was fun, and I liked what 
other people told me about it. 

What you will miss: Every Thing and Every 1.

Favorite quotes from the room: There is so many I cannot name 1!

*****************Thetis001************

    I have been In WB before.

Screename: Thetis001

Comments: The WB is the coolest chatroom online! :)

Favorite thing you did in this chat: Talk to the hosts, and just havinf fun.

Why you went in there before: Because I wanted to talk.

What you will miss: Having fun

Favorite Quotes from the room: Dunno of any quotes.

**************Rugratwiz1*********

    I have never been in WB Before.

Screename: Rugratwiz1

Comments: I never got to go in, but I wish it could have stayed longer!

*****************SprkleGlow**********

Screename: SprkleGlow also known as Baby856428 and MistSplash.

Comments: That is one of the best. Too bad it has to close.

Favorite thing you did in this chat: When they had a birthday party for
 me at the end of the chat on October 24th, 19998.

Why you went in there before: All the other rooms were full,...so then
 i decided to try that and that was full so I waited.

What you will miss: Ivy, Loco, Wink, Bun E., Kitty, Toes, Hype, Smile, 
Roo, Mint, Alien, Anvil, Oak, Star, Peach, Toon and all the other hosts
 and my friends!

Favorite quotes from the room: "Polling is when you ask or tell the 
room to press a number or letter which is not allowed." "If you'd like
 to run a game, ask me and I will put you on the list." "Loco backwards
 is cool!" "I don't need a car, I know how to fly!" Kid: KWBF Ivy, a/s?
 Ivy: I don't tell my age online, kid." "JOKES? Did somebody say 
jokes?" "Smile Pie Makes You Smile --=-=-[}-=-=[}-=-[} "

*****************Perdita 75**********

    I have been in WB before.

Screename: Perdita 75

Comments: I will miss WB. It was one of the best chats ever. I can't
 believe AOL Is closing it. It is just no fair. I am bad luck. Every 
room I get to like, it closes. It is noo fair. WB Should stay open 
forever!

Favorite thing you did in this chat: When I organized a 4th of July 
party, And it was really fun. It included Flying plains, Cool Stunts, A
 little party, and FIREWORKS! While this: A fire accured, bad 
turbulance, me falling out of a plane, and planes almost getting hit 
with fireworks. :D Ivy and Stew and Oak should remember this.

Why you went in there before: I was upset because all the chats I liekd
 were closed. I saw this was open, and entered after awhile, and found
 out it was one of the best in the world!

What you will miss: I will miss all my friends, the great happy smiles,
 The calm safe room, the parties, the role playing, and all the great
 hosts that made this room happen!

=)

Favorite Quotes: Observr10: I took of this big plane, and I am gonna 
land it! Me: No Fox, DO NOT Eat all the seats! Cnaman: Oh No! The Plane
 is on fire!!! Fox: ::Eats Fire::

Ivy: So, I press teh red coated button? I mean, what if I mess up!!! 
Fox: Eats red coated button. Kid: The plane is clear for landing! 
Perdita: Shooting off fireworks now. AB: Watch it! You almost hit the 
plane! Oak: I don't like planes, but since it i s for fireworks, I will
 go on it! Stew: ::Waving a Bright sparkler out the window::::: Ivy: 
You got me to come in and mourn with you guys.

******** =) =)

I hope you liked our scrapbook. We are all really upset WB is closing.
 :( We will always remember it!




Bkrj1, Thetis001
Cnaman7510, Rugratwiz1
PetzGirl30, SprkleGlow
Cuti47Pie, Perdita 75
=)
=)
:)
:)
=-)
=-)
:-)
:-)

So, yes, WB closed rather abruptly and sadly, with all attempts to save it meanly squashed by the Foot of AOL. One child who posted in our message boards said it best:

Subject: A story
Date: Tue, 27 July 1999 11:04 PM EDT
From: AW Lalak

One Day, a place called Kids' WB! opened and brought kids of all ages and ultimate destination for Kids' WB! and fun. Then, one day, this mighty place had evil shadows covering it untill it died a slowed death. Heroes like the ones called Wink and Star tried to fight the evil, but it was to late, Kids' WB! Online was lost forever. Tne children let out tears trying to rebuild the place they once called home, but it was far to late. The evil King AOL had destroyed all hope of rebuilding it.

Kids' WB! Online
R.I.P.
1995-1999

::sniffle:: So . . . I . . . I . . . I . . . had to delete my screenname!

[delete]

No! I don't want to delete it! I like hosting!

[sure?]

NO, I'm not sure! I'm sure I DON'T want to! Wahhhh!

[which?]

No! Not my host name! Does it HAVE to be that one??

[it is DONE]

It's . . . it's gone????? ::stiffens and dies with the name:: Oh, horrors. . . . ::cries::

Last words:

KWBF Ivy: See you on SwankiVY2. . . . ::cries::
BunkySatch: good bye, KWBF Ivy
KWBF Ivy: Bye.

That's all folks!

Any comments left here are PUBLIC. If you are not comfortable with that, mail me directly.

Name:
Email address:
Comments:

Comments from others:

MiddleBlood: That really sucks what just happen, isn't there another way to get it back. I hope so,I really want it back now. Please get it back.

[Note from swankivy: I can't do anything about "getting it back," sorry, MiddleBlood. And it didn't "just happen," I'm afraid this was years and years ago.]

Mikey: It is sad that some things that bring us such good times in life sometimes have to go in the name of technology or for whatever reason, but on the plus side the buttons do still work cool, braids of fury. (cool)

mary: i really used to like watching this channel until it wasn't the big thing anymore. now you barely see any reruns of the old-fashioned cartoons.

oldteenwhiz: Its crazy that this has been so long ago. I do remember playing scrambler. What fun. My dad was temporarily a host here.

I eventually got to be a host in the TVFF areas myself. Wish I could track some of my old co-hosts from that area down.

I can't believe how the internet has changed since then.

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