f.running = true;
    Chat._isBatchLoading = f.isFirstCall;
    if(true===f.isFirstCall){
      f.isFirstCall = false;
      Chat.pendingOnError = undefined;
      Chat.ajaxStart();
      Chat.e.viewMessages.classList.add('loading');
      if(1) setInterval(
        /*
          We manager onerror() results in poll() using a
          stack of error objects and we delay their handling by
          a small amount, rather than immediately when the
          exception arrives.


          This level of indirection is necessary to be able to
          unambiguously identify client-timeout-specific polling
          errors from other errors. Timeouts are always announced in
          pairs of an HTTP 0 and something we can unambiguously
          identify as a timeout. When we receive an HTTP 0 we put it
          into this queue. If an ontimeout() call arrives before this
          error is handled, this error is removed from the stack.  If,
          however, an HTTP 0 is seen in this stack without an
          accompanying timeout, we handle it from here.

          It's kinda like in the curses C API, where you to match
          ALT-X by first getting an ESC event, then an X event, but
          this one is a lot less explicable. (It's almost certainly a
          mis-handling bug in F.fetch(), but it has so far eluded my
          eyes.)
        */
        ()=>{

          if( Chat.pendingOnError ){
            const x = Chat.pendingOnError;
            Chat.pendingOnError = undefined;
            afterPollFetch(x);
          }
        },
        1000
      );
    }
    let nErr = 0;
    F.fetch("chat-poll",{
      timeout: Chat.timer.pollTimeout,
      urlParams:{
        name: Chat.mxMsg
      },

      },
      onerror:function(err){
        Chat._isBatchLoading = false;
        if(Chat.beVerbose){
          console.error("poll.onerror:",err.name,err.status,JSON.stringify(err));
        }
        Chat.pendingOnError = err;

      },
      onload:function(y){
        reportConnectionOkay('poll.onload', true);
        newcontent(y);
        if(Chat._isBatchLoading){
          Chat._isBatchLoading = false;
          Chat.updateActiveUserList();