Chatrooms versus irc channels

Chatrooms are like singles bars...people looking for companionship gather in an area to mingle
IRC channels are like cb radios...as long as you have a cb you can chat with whoever is also using a cb as long as you are both on the same channel

When you use IRC...it is easy to find an ip...when you use a messenger program...you can find an ip...most likely the one of the server hosting the chatroom...not your friend's ip...

To find your friend's ip using Yahoo Messenger...initiate a conversation with your friend...open a command prompt...run netstat -a >> somefile.txt (precede somefile.txt with a location you'll remember

While netstat is running ... initiate a IMViroment and wait awhile...when you're ready (don't wait too long) stop netstat and open the textfile that was created. Search through the output until you see your friend's ip...if you're a geek you'll have no problem determining which is the ip you are looking for...when you open IMViroment...it makes a peer-to-peer connection with your friend...bypassing yahoo's server and showing your friends ip...of course this all depends on their computer prowess and their isp...no real reason to do this other than boredom however....

Hope someone finds this helpful or something