Using Cigather Messenger

Cigather Messenger has direct chats, group chats and open chats. The kind of room decides who can join it and how far back you can read.

In a group chat you only see messages sent after you joined. Open chats are the exception — once you are in, you can read what was said before.

• Joining a channel's crew puts you in that channel's crew lounge automatically
• In a crew lounge the streamer and the managers choose the chat mode — group mode lets everyone talk together, fan mode shows each fan only their own conversation with the streamer, and announcement mode lets only the streamer and managers post
• You cannot leave or delete a crew lounge. Leaving the crew is what takes you out of the room

Use Find friends to look someone up by nickname or channel handle and send a request. You can add a short greeting, and once they accept you become friends and a direct chat opens.

• If you have both sent a request to each other, you become friends right away with nothing left to accept
• Requests you receive are accepted or declined in the request inbox, and the menu on the friend list removes a friend
• Turning off Accept friend requests in the menu rejects new incoming requests. People who are already your friends are unaffected

You can also create an invite link and send it. When the person opens it and accepts on the confirmation screen, you become friends and a direct chat opens. A link expires one week after it was created and stops working.

While Accept friend requests is off, opening an invite link will not make you friends either — turn the setting on and try again. Anyone the link is forwarded to can use it, so do not accept links from people you do not know.

An open chat is a room anyone can join, friend or not. You open one by giving it a title, and people find it by title in the open chat list. Links go through a confirmation screen that shows the room first.

• A room with a password is kept out of the list — only people with the link and the password get in
• You appear under an alias used only in that room, not your nickname. The alias differs per room, so it cannot be tied to you in another room
• Any member can copy the room's invite link from the room menu

In open chats emoticons are left as the text you typed instead of being turned into pictures, so the emoticons you own cannot hint at who you are.

The owner of an open or group chat can remove a member and keep them out for a set period or with no end date. Blocked people can be released from the room's block list, and until then they cannot be invited back either.

• The + button next to the input adds photos, files and polls
• The emoji button opens emoji, and emoticons you own sit in the My emoticons tab beside them. They go into the message as :name: and render as pictures
• You can react to a message with an emoji, and tapping the same emoji again removes your reaction
• You can delete your own messages, and edit the ones that are text only — a message carrying a photo, a file or a poll cannot be edited. A deleted message leaves a note in its place

A poll has one question and 2 to 8 options, and you can allow multiple choices. Results come in live and show only the count per option and how many people took part — never who picked what. Only the person who made the poll can close it, and until then you can change or clear your choice.

Message search takes a phrase of at least two characters, or an author's name. Pick a date instead and it jumps to the first message of that day. Selecting a result moves you to that message, with a button to come back to the latest ones.

Export saves the conversation as text, a web page or data, over a range you choose: everything, the last 7 days, the last 30 days, or from a date you set. Sharing something from the portal or a game opens a screen where you pick the room or friend to send it to.

• Pinning keeps a conversation at the top of the list. Pins and per-room muting apply only to you
• You can mute each room separately
• Even in a muted room, a message that @mentions you still notifies you. Set the notification mode to Off to stop those as well

Leaving a group chat ends your access to everything said in it, and being invited back does not bring the old messages back. An owner deleting a room wipes its messages and polls for good. Direct chats can be neither left nor deleted.

A report cannot be taken back once submitted. You write a reason and only moderators see it. Both messages and members can be reported, and you do not have to be the room owner to do it.