Secret Friend

Secret Friends were the precursor to True Friends and SpeedChat Plus. Toons became Secret Friends by exchanging a code (called a "secret"). Once they were Secret Friends, toons could chat with each other by typing instead of using the SpeedChat. Secret Friends' names showed up in blue on a player's Friend List and on their Secret Friends' nametags. Toons who were not secret friends would only see animal noises (like "meow mew mew meow" for cats) when non-Secret Friends were using chat. There was no open chat until SpeedChat Plus was introduced.

A toon could generate Secret Friend codes by clicking on the blue circle in the upper right corner of the Friends List. If another toon typed in the code within 48 hours, the two would become secret friends.

Exchanging Codes
The Secret Friend system was designed for people to exchange codes in real life. However, many players found ways to exchange codes with people they didn't know, even though it was against the Toontown Online rules to exchange codes in-game.

Online Forums
Fan sites, such as MMO Central, had forums where posters could exchanging Secret Friend codes.

In-Game
To communicate to non-Secret Friends that they wanted to become Secret Friends, players would use the SpeedChat phrase "Please be my friend!" and then type into the chat, which would show up as animal noises to the non-Secret Friend. If the other player understood that the animal noises represented chatting, he or she would say, "OK."

There were two methods of telling other toons codes in the game: SpeedChat and Estate.

Using SpeedChat
To communicate a code using SpeedChat, toons would say a SpeedChat phrase that began with the same letter as the letter in the code. They would communicate numbers by jumping a certain number of times. For example :

"You are awesome!" [Y]

"Rats!" [R]

Jump twice [2]

"Great!" [G]

Jump seven times [7]

Jump five times [5]

The other toon would then understand the code was yr2 g75, input the code, and become Secret Friends with one another.

Using Your Estate
Another way to communicate codes was to buy many paintings (or other furniture) and use them to spell out letters and numbers on a wall in your house.