Hi. I'm a guest/an enthusiast (I guess that's the term?)

I don't have an S because I am still putting myself through college and I'm not financially ready SO I mostly go on here to lurk and live vicariously through other peoples' cars LOL

But anyway, creeper status aside... I was just wondering about the chat feature. Does anyone know how it works? There's always someone (not sure if it's the same person) who's trying to chat with me. The thing is, I think since I'm not a paying member I'm not allowed to use chat.

And what's aggravating is that I cannot even view who it is to pm them to let them know I can't chat. I don't want them to think I'm being mean by not responding to them.

Went through about 30 pages in addition to using search; I couldn't find quite the same question I had.



Questions are:

1. Is there a way to let members(that CAN chat) know who doesn't have chat? Because whoever it is just kept sending me IMs and it seems like they didn't know that I couldn't talk back since they kept sending more.
2. Or, is there a way to make the people who aren't able to chat invisible somehow?
2.5 ^ I know signing in as an anonymous user can fix that, but I like reading other people's sns who are currently viewing whatever it is that I'm viewing and I'm sure there are a few of you out there who are the same. Trying to feel connected through the internet </irony>
3. Why can't I chat anyway

 

The number beside the chat is the number of users in the chat app. As a guest you do not have access to the chat portion of the site. The chat is not connected to people trying to communicate with you. The PM feature is used for private communication.

 

AHHHHHHHH I see. I guessed that much. But I don't understand why it shows up when I don't have access to it.

So I assume there's no way to deactivate links/gray them out.

TY