Marty Howard's HIV/AIDS Support Group and Mailing List.
This is a project I'm doing off of my HomePage. It is an online group with a private and secure Mailing List. You can find more information about this group if you Click Here.
PLEASE NOTE: Updated 11/18/01 - AOL UpDate.
A few nights ago I decided to reactivate my AOM membership and have, among other things, looked to see what HIV/AIDS Support they have online at this time. Remember, the following is available strictly on AOL and you have to be signed onto AOL to access it. Also, I don't vouch for the information with respect to the welcome you may or may not receive in the various areas discussed, some are certainly better than others.
In the totally open, non-hosted, chat room area under the "Public Rooms" Tab there is a heading called "Special Interests." Click on that will bring up a list or chat rooms on the right, two of which are "Health AIDS" and "Health HIV." Remember, these two chat rooms are totally open free chats, not hosted, and you are likely to find just about anything going on in them from people crusing for dates to very foul language to some good credible HIV/AIDS information. Enter at your own risk and take everything you see there with a grain of salt. Make that the whole salt shaker!
There are two primary areas on AOL that conduct hosted chats every evening. They are Planet Out which hosts the "Positive Living Room" every night from 8PM to 10PM Pacific and possibly later on Friday and Saturday nights. If you use KeyWord "aol://2719:3-1832-Pozitive%20Living%20Room" without the quotes you will be taken directly to the Positive Living Room.
The other Planet Out Hosted Chats take place in the "Positive Circle" but I really cannot say when. The Chats in the Positive Circle are more support oriented than the Positive Living Room where the chat can range from the news of the day to humor to serious HIV/AIDS conversations. KeyWord "aol://2719:3-4905-The%20Pozitive%20Circle" again without the quotes will take you directly there.
The other area of AOL that has HIV/AIDS Related Chats is AOL Health. They have hosted Chats every day from 8PM to 10PM and 10PM to Midnight every night. These chats are hosted in the Health III Lobby and Keyword, without the quotes, "aol://2719:3-5203-Health%20III" will take you there. The chats, like those in the PLR (Positive Living Room) can be frivilous in nature or about serious HIV/AIDS concerns. AOL Health also has topic specific chats such as HIV Positive/Negative Relationship Chats at 10PM Mondays, HIV/AIDS Caregivers Mutual Support at 9PM Wednesdays, and seem to take place in the Helping Hand Cafe, Keyword - again without the quotes - "aol://2719:3-1453-Helping%20Hand%20Cafe"
If there are other Hosted HIV/AIDS related chats on AOL these days I've not yet been able to locate them.
Many of the chats hosted in the Health III Lobby Keyword "aol://2719:3-5203-Health%20III" (without the quotes) are hosted by the old On Q Hosts. They are a good group of hosts who are rather knowledgable and do their best to maintain order and see that accurate and reliable information is given while always reminding users of the chat room to consult with their physicians before taking anything learned there as absolutely valid. Having been an On Q Host, and a GLCF Host for a total of some 13 years before AOL kicked On Q out I can say that you will find these Hosts who continued on in the Health Channel to be delightful people. I did not continue on after On Q was booted from AOL as I had some issues with what AOL did that could not be reconciled. At this time I'm no longer in hosting for AOL or anyone else.
I hope that this is enough information for those of you either new to AOL or considering joining AOL to find your way around to the HIV/AIDS chat areas. Thank you, Marty
Michael Davon's Web-Depot.com hosted many HIV/AIDS Related Mailing List Support Groups for many years. Two of the most popular of these groups were "HIV-Support" and "GayPoz."
Michael passed away on Saturday, August 19, 2000 from complications due to AIDS or more specifically as I understand it a complication due to one of his medications. Part of his legacy lives on and the mailing lists he provided on a pro bono basis continue to exist though hosted else where.
|Click here HIV-Support WebSite and/or to subscribe to the HIV-Support Mailing List.|
|GayPoz lives on and click here for the GayPoz WebSite.|
|Click here for the GayPoz Membership Application WebPage.|
There seems to have been some dispute as to who would host Michael's lists so there is another site that what is purported to be Michael's HIV-Support List and all the rest of the lists that Michael hosted with the exception of the GayPoz List. The WebPage for that site is at>
|Click here for the Support-Lists.Com WebSite.|
There is a channel on ChatNet that is quite active and there seems to be someone home most of the time. The channel name is #aids/hiv+2 and I have found it to be very friendly and they are quick to welcome new arrivals.
They have a WebPage you can visit.
ChatNet's #aids/hiv+2 HomePage
There is a channel on the UnderNet with the same name as the ChatNet Channel. That is, #aids/hiv+2. I have only found someone on that channel a couple of times, however they also seem to be a friendly group. It is my understanding that the channel is quite active from about 8 or 9AM to about Noon Eastern Time. Considering I live on the West Coast, I'm not even thinking about waking up at that hour to see :^) If you are up, give it a try.
There are a few IRC Groups on WebMaster including:
irc.webmaster.com using port 6667.
Gene Chance, gene316@yahoo.com, is the person to contact about these three channels.
Gene has set up a WebSite with instructions for setting up IRC Clients to work with these channels. If you are not already familiar with mIRC or Pirch you will want to check this page out.
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/1862/chatinfo.htm
#hivfriends:
Another channel on WebMaster for discussing HIV/AIDS is #hivfriends. There seems to be a nice diversified group of folks, both HIV+ and HIV- there to talk to. Give it a try.
Last revision - November 18, 2001