On WebCamNow, you cannot tell how many people are watching your cam. You're best guess would simply be how many people are responding in open chat with comments directed at you. Generally, it works like this: one or two guys notice your cam, then start speaking to you. When others see that someone is interested in a particular cam, they tune it in and check it out. If they are interested as well, they may start talking to you. If a single cam gets a lot of people's attention, even MORE start looking to see what the fuss is about, so the end result is cumulative. Not all will stay tuned in, obviously, if you aren't their type. Also, not everyone will speak -- some guys just watch quietly. It also seems that sometimes the silent guys will say a few words if you cum on cam, like "Thanks," or "Hot," or "Nice load," or whatever, but they may not get into the dialogue the whole time.
It probably goes without saying that you can also draw attention to yourself by talking first. You can talk to another guy on cam and folks will check to see if YOU are on cam as well, or you can just announce to the room: "Hey, guys! Hot dick here!" And they'll tune in!
A few more tips for WCN:
Sign up and pick a name to use. Try to pick something that will get people's attention when they see it in the list. If you create a name like "GWT8567" or something very generic, it won't catch anyone's eye when they scroll the list. So go for something you think might attract the kind of guy you are looking for or who would be into YOU, such as "TruckerSucker." I know I would look at a guy with the handle of "TruckerSucker!"
Still, as you probably know, cams can be previewed as thumbnails first, so names don't have to be perfect. If someone likes your preview, they'll look anyway.
As far as previews go... if you want to attract attention, the majority of guys seem to go for images which include a face, but it's understandable that most men do NOT show their faces. I do. I don't give a shit. If you are ONLY showing dick, get it in there nice and close. If you include chest, or just chest, that is usually a good draw, too. Images that are way far back lose clarity and get boring.
Previews can be deceptive. Images shrunk as thumbnails may appear crystal clear but be fuzzy and off-color when viewed full size.
For me, I personally have no interest in poor cam images. There's only one or two dudes who have poor pictures that I'll watch anymore. I prefer a crystal clear video, so even the hottest guy doesn't get my attention if his cam sucks. I think a decent amount of guys watch me because my image is very clear.
As you also probably know, the WCN broadcast software starts up when you join the chat. Once your cam is hooked up, just click the button that will start the software running. Type in your user name and password, then click LOGIN. Next, click PREVIEW WINDOW, as Gar mentioned. This will bring up your cam image. You can adjust it as you see fit. Once your cam is adjusted, click BROADCAST VIDEO and your cam will appear in the list online in one or two minutes. This way, your video doesn't show until it is situated exactly as you want it.
You will only need to login with your user name ONCE on WCN, provided you don't change names. The software will load with your name and password ready to go every time after, so you just click LOGIN and you're done.
There's a checkbox on the software window for COMPRESSION. Check the AUTO setting, this seems to work best. You can fiddle with the slider if you want, but most guys use AUTO.
Adding text doesn't need explanation, it's very simple. If you put your email address there you will get "fan mail," I'm sure.
BEFORE you sign in to WCN, or any other broadcast software, check your cam settings using the software that came with it. Set your resolution for 320X240. Smaller is annoying, especially on WCN. I can't be bothered with smaller images myself. WCN doesn't support larger. I have no idea if Yahoo, MSN or NetMeeting support higher res. Probably they do, but you may lose quality when broadcasting a larger pic online. Just a guess, though. You have a newer, faster PC and I imagine you have broadband, so probably your image will come out nice.
You can turn your cam off at any time by just click the BROADCAST VIDEO button again. It will change from green to red and you'll be offline. The light on your cam will go out at this time. You can remain logged in, though, and turn it back on whenever you want.
Also, a nice feature of the Logitech cam that I have which I forgot to mention: a privacy shutter. Most higher quality cams have this; the cheapies do not. It's handy to just drop down the shutter and cover the lens if you want to go to a black video for some reason.
You may have seen folks on WCN bitch about cams "freezing." This happens. No big deal. Sometimes your video will lock -- you'll see that your preview isn't moving anymore. The video can unfreeze on its own, or you may need to turn off your broadcast and reload it. If this doesn't work, you may need to sign off and start over again. Watch the green light on your cam. If it does NOT turn off AT ALL, your cam is stuck and you may need to reboot. Also not a big deal, unless perhaps you were just about to cum!
Don't jerk off TOO fast ALL the time. It creates just a blurry shot of a hand streaked over what may or may not be a dick! Stop now and then and let the cam pick up a few frames of a nice, hard dick with little motion if you want to show off!
IGNORE the assholes; there are many, as you'd expect and have probably seen. Most times, the jerks on WCN are transitory: the room gets pissed at them and they leave quickly. But if one of them decides to pick on YOU because you are "new meat," bad luck, man. I turn off my cam at this point and give them nothing. They go away. After doing this a couple times, they know not to bother with me anymore since they won't get any satisfaction, so keep that trick in mind if anyone is an asshole to you.
I imagine you also know that Room 8 is the gay room, since you have been there, but thought I'd mention it anyway. And yes, people in ANY room can watch you, but you won't see if they are talking to you unless they are in the same room as you.
Finally (really), if you find that the text chat scrolls WAY too fast, upgrade your Java as I mentioned in the first response. This slows it down, at least it did for me.
One caveat to the Java upgrade: chat within a major gay website also runs on Java. If you use this chat, you may find it takes longer to load once you have updated your Java. This is not a big deal, and it might just be the fact that I'm using an OLD PC. But if it loads slowly a new XP system as well, you can always use a chat client. You can get it at:
www.gayboi.org
Personally, I am not a fan of this software, but it's useful for getting into a full room quickly since it will hammer in for you.
Again, have fun.