Live Chat Room?

[Been-Jammin']

I think that a live chat room for the members to use would be fun for all of us, and a good way to interact with each other (like one big happy family)
I dont know how available this is concerning taking time setting up/money, etc..but, hey, it seems like a decent idea!
Anyone else interested?

[saxfree]

Go for it!

[Pete]

As saxfree says, go for it: open one.

We do have the technology, here at SOTW, to do that -- and this request comes up about every six months. Neither I nor any of the Mods/Admins want to set one of these up and run it (I shouldn't talk for Bill: he's been a Mod for less than 6 months).

And I really don't care for additional techie work. I've got four or five things I haven't even gotten to yet, here.

If you can find a volunteer to run it that's acceptable to the SOTW staff, I might be able to be convinced to ask Harri to let me set this up.

[DaveKessler]

Problem would be moderating it all the time. Live chats can get really ugly really quick. I think that there would be way too much potential to errode the harmonious atmosphere of SOTW.

My vote is against it unless there was someone willing to monitor it 24/7.

[jazzbluescat]

I vote nay. If I need to talk to someone in particular private messages and email suit and serve my purposes just fine. I mean, I won't belly-ache if we have one, as long as it doesn't interfer with the message board.

[CMelodyMan]

Wouldn't you need around the clock mods for that to work?

[Pete]

To work, no, for it to be moderated, like the Forum, yes.

It looks like the Chat software we have available to us can ban people, etc. It doesn't have the ability to "share" the user list from this Forum, but that's not a terrible big deal.

What would have to happen is if $undesireable starts posting on Chat, the folks that are on the Chat woiuld have to tell us Admins and Mods that $undesireable needs to be booted -- and that could be LOOOOONG after the fact.

$Undesireable could do a lot more damage quicker than he could here.

... and, based on some experiments here, I do know that folks generally carry their arguments from one medium to another.

IMHO -- OK, I haven't been humble in years, so IMO -- the Forum is superior to Chat because it's a) better categorized, b) permanent and c) gives you more of a chance to edit yourself before OR after your post.

[Brendan Muse]

Set up an IRC room, and have someone appoint a list of people who aren't mods to act as moderaters of the room.

[Been-Jammin']

ummm, i don't exactly know what an IRC room is, but I have another idea too. We could set up an "official" sotw chat area on, say, msn messenger. It wouldnt require any moderation really, so it would be easy to control. And since there isn't that much activity going on on the forum at all times, there'd probably be even less activity in the chat room.

[jimmehMarkVI]

The voters seem to be split 50/50.

I think a live chat would be great but fairly unrealistic. A big problem will be people hopping in the chat for the sake of stirring people up, and that have never posted on this forum.

Will be a big mod job.

[Pete]

Now, if someone wants to do an occasional live chat, we could set up something. That might be more palatable.

Heck, y'all could arrange it yourselves: say that you're gonna open a thread on a topic at a specific time and tell everyone to join in at that time.

[Jbroad572]

The voters seem to be split 50/50.

I think a live chat would be great but fairly unrealistic. A big problem will be people hopping in the chat for the sake of stirring people up, and that have never posted on this forum.

Will be a big mod job.
Then ignore them. Maybe even make a chat a privelege after so many posts have been made? I think it could be beneficial. I personally would love to read real time conversation from some of the vets and even be involved in some of the conversations.

[Sigmund451]

Id be ok with that....I would hope it wouldnt overtake the forum and lower the quality and quantity of posts recorded for later viewing. Being granted priveledge may be a good idea or not. In the past it had been "voted out" but Im always open to something different....maybe run it as an experiement?

[jazzbluescat]

.................. I personally would love to read real time conversation from some of the vets and even be involved in some of the conversations.

Why, I 'member the 'combat zone' in Bahston back in '67, battlin' the hordes in the Golden Nugget and Intermission Lounge with only James Brown, Otis Redding, et al as ammunition....

[AG]

remember the discussion place at the old forum......and what happened there? you had best put on a fire proof suit before going in or at least take your fire extinguisher with you; I recall some very heated discussions by some very formidable participants. it would be a chance to see if history really does repeat itself though.

[Chris S]

This fire is still burnin' check out this thread (http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30612).

Chris S

[Pete]

I'm talking with Chris "offline" about this. There is a newer product for vBulletin that does "pseudo chat" (it's got a short delay). You can read about it at http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93097.

(The chat software offered by our website provider has been discontinued, so alternatives were needed.)

Don't count on it being implemented anytime real soon. While it doesn't take long to install, we've gotta set some guidelines, first, and it's not going to be implemented without Harri saying "OK" and having a full-time moderator for it.

And it'll be pulled if it doesn't work out.

I'm not violently opposed to the idea, I just think it's an awful lot of work for very little benefit.

[saxymanzach]

Now, if someone wants to do an occasional live chat, we could set up something. That might be more palatable.

Heck, y'all could arrange it yourselves: say that you're gonna open a thread on a topic at a specific time and tell everyone to join in at that time.

Perhaps slightly (okay, really) unrealistic, but perhaps we could hold live chat sessions every now and then with some accomplished sax players where we could debate popular topics and get a professional's point of view.

[altoman50]

Yes,live chat would be fabulous

[kavala]

I think we almost have that now with the 'say anything random' thread.

If we had a live thread, some amongst would do no practise whatever,
and would soon be on the wrong end of a divorce.

[Martin Williams]

I think we almost have that now with the 'say anything random' thread.


Closed!!

We have it on another forum I read, trumpetmaster.com

The Live chat is great, very civil. Unmoderated, but if mods get a complaint over the commentary of anyone, they just get martysaxed from the chat for a while.

[rs1sensen]

Some time ago I did an indepth look at several options for online chats. I found most of the free or low cost ones to be absolutely terrible. Although many of them offered a plethora of features, many of the interfaces were so ugly and inefficient as to be unusable.

There was one which I found to be far ahead of the pack in the low-budget chat room arena, however. It's called "flash chat." I used it on a website for a Model UN and Foreign Policy debate group that I was working with, and it worked really well and was a lot of fun. I like the interface, and it has all the moderation features you'd need. It can also integrate into your vBulletin software and databases so that we would already have usernames, and banned users on the forum could be banned in the chat as well. I'm not certain about this feature, but I believe it also had the capability for a moderation "bot" who could at least keep swearing down. All for $5

http://www.tufat.com/s_flash_chat_chatroom.htm

[Grumps]

It don't always have to be open.

[Jonathan C.]

Grumps makes a great point. Maybe 1-2 days a week.
Say Tuesday and Wednesday?

[CountSpatula]

Some people have church Wednesday, Carbs. Why not weekends?

[hakukani]

Some people have church Wednesday, Carbs. Why not weekends?

Only in Texas.;);););)

[Jonathan C.]

Some people have church Wednesday, Carbs. Why not weekends?
Cause more people have church on Sundays:twisted: .

Friday Saturday?

Sunday is when all the Football is on, and we can't mess that *rolls eye's*.

I'm cool with whatever the Admins. decide.

[CountSpatula]

Only in Texas.;);););)

Hellll yea. 8-)

[Martin Williams]

The good football is on saturday!!

Weekends are generally bad, gig times for many

[Jonathan C.]

The good football is on saturday!!

Weekends are generally bad, gig times for many

I was thinking that just didn't want to say that, becuase I have limited expierence with Gigs.

[hakukani]

There's a bit of a problem with time differences, too. For example, gary is 12 hrs. ahead of me. Central time is either 4 or 5 hrs. ahead depending on DST.

And DP, Kavala et. al. down under are pretty much tomorrow, compared to Hawaii.

[bluesaxgirl]

Live chat can get ugly very fast.

[hakukani]

Live chat can get ugly very fast.

That's okay, I'm already ugly.:twisted:

[Martin Williams]

Nice beret though!

[hakukani]

Nice beret though!

I always like to grin and beret.:D

[Martin Williams]

heeeeey what sound does a drum set make when it falls off a cliff?

[Grumps]

Weaver of Sound, now you look like Dick Martin...

[hakukani]

Weaver of Sound, now you look like Dick Martin...

It's the laugh wrinkles, right?

[SAXISMYAXE]

Footnote:
That's Dick Martin of the comedy team Rowan and Martin (the 60's TV show Laugh In) for all you kiddies out there.;)

[hakukani]

You bet your sweet bippy!
Sock it to me!
Veeeely Intelesting...but not funny.

Say Goodnight, Dick.

[Grumps]

Goodnight Dick...

[Chris S]

Not to interrupt the comedic nostalgia....

I've taken a look at a few different options that we have.

1) vBulletin plugins. These are fine, except that chat will shoot our bandwidth usage through the roof.

2) Something via IRC. Problem here is that everyone would have to either install an IRC client (mIRC being my preferred), or use a web portal. I know of a few, but if you're not more than a 3 or 4 on a 10 scale of computer savvy, this might get a lot of people really lost really fast. Plus someone on the admin team would have to be signed in all the time to avoid hostile takeovers (yes, those happen in cyberspace also). Moderation would be difficult, if not impossible. Having a set time or two per week seems trivial, the membership could organize this yourselves. And if someone wants to take that on, feel free. Bonus is that we'd not be using Harri's bandwidth.

3) Find a third party client on a separate website to do this. Pretty much the same issues as with option number 2.

If any of you use AIM/MSN/ICQ/Yahoo Messenger/Google Talk.... this could serve the same purpose.

Just my thoughts for the moment.

[Sigmund451]

Wow, we are still kickin this around?

This just might be the oldest thread still alive!

[SAXISMYAXE]

Wow, we are still kickin this around?

This just might be the oldest thread still alive!

No kidding!

I dunno, it's hard enough to break away from the forum as it is. I certainly don't want to have to invent new and varied ways to gracefully sneak away from real time conversations talking my ear off at 4am.8-) That is a major reason why I DEPLORE chat rooms and instant messaging. Everyone who has dabbled in this knows what I'm talking about.;)

This would be very handy for the staff, as we need it for daily management of the board, but if it goes live for the whole forum, I'm just saying.......be prepared.:confused:

http://content.barewalls.com/preview/roc043p.jpg