Tonights Chat with Jonas

[Killthesmiley]

Just wanted to post this in both threads:

So I decided to go and ask the experts on how we can take over the channel:

Killthesmiley> An official web site is currently looking into usin IRC for their chatroom instead of their flash program. However the channel name is already taken by a former fan, and all the Operators have disbanned and have stopped returning to the chat room. We are in desperate need to take ove rthis IRC channel though. Is there anyway to make operators without the original op's, or are we completely stuck?

Njan>Killthesmiley, if you've got a claim of some sort to the name, you can file a Group Contact Form and gain control of the channel that way.
[16:58] <njan> http://freenode.net/group_registration.shtml
[16:58] <njan> Killthesmiley, You'll need to talk to a staffer either way, though, and freenode has a 60-day-idle-period for channels too, it's just enforced in a strange way.
[16:58] <njan> http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#gettinghelp

So what it comes down to is either the Creators file this form for us, OR we abandon those chat rooms (#lonelygirl15 and #lg15) for 60 days

OPEN LETTER TO GREG:
Even if you guys don't like the IRC idea, can you please still file this form with them? We do need to get operators in the chat and there is no realistic way possible without this.

[raigne]

BTW I like your avatar too

Flattery will get you everywhere. And thank you


Sooo. I'm just gonna hop into the chat and see if I can figure out who makes it and what they charge. And then scout around for some other options.

Edit: Yeah...

Chat room is made by http://www.flashcoms.com/
I don't know which package the creators bought, so I don't know how much they paid for it, but it was at least $200. It was a one time fee, which I assume was the appeal.

Not much luck finding applications you don't have to pay for monthly, although I did come across http://wwwm.meebo.com/ which got a good review here. BUT, it's ad supported and you don't have to have a name to use it, AND there's no mention anywhere of how many people a room can support.

I'm starting to see IRC as being a better option, just because of the flexibility and the fact that it's free. Although I still dislike the unfriendly UI.

[Skunkwaffle]

well I don't think anyone would be upset to see the current chat room stick around if it did what it was supposed to do, ie. work. But as it is now, that's not happening, and since the C's don't seem to have the resources (understandable) or the interest (unacceptable) to make the necessary changes to it, then IRC is a perfectly viable alternative.

[The Creators]

Hey everyone,

Our programmer is looking into fixing chat. If he can't we will look into IRC. Sorry our chat sucks, it bumbs us out too. We will do the best we can to fix it.

Thanks for your understanding,

Greg

[dixiemccoy]

Our programmer is looking into fixing chat. If he can't we will look into IRC. Sorry our chat sucks, it bumbs us out too. We will do the best we can to fix it.

Thanks for replying in here.

You have probably heard by now that I've kind of taken it upon myself to test our some IRC server software - not just for here, but for some of my own side projects as well...

Basically, I wanted to have some good solid suggestions to pass on and I'm getting close to a solution if you end up deciding to make an in-house IRC system, including software that works and suggested configurations, as IRC servers are a royal pain to configure. (They're rock solid once they are running right though.)

Earlier this evening I got my first test server running and had a few people log in and kick the tires. The good news is that most of the comments and frustrations I got were about the client interface, which I take as a good sign - The server side of things held up well. Clients are a dime a dozen and I'm sure I'll find a couple that are really easy to use.

If you or anyone else here would like to put it through its paces and try things out, PM me or catch me in one of the unofficial Freenode chats. Also if there are any solid requirements you're looking at, please let me know. At the moment I',m looking into MySQL integration for user authentication against a phpBB or WordPress user database and IP masking.

I'm working with a few others to draft a workable proposal which should be available mid next week if you don't come up with something first. Again, feel free to contact me with comments and suggestions.

[milowent]

Hey everyone,

Our programmer is looking into fixing chat. If he can't we will look into IRC. Sorry our chat sucks, it bumbs us out too. We will do the best we can to fix it.

Thanks for your understanding,

Greg

greg, thanks for responding. your programmer could always contact some of the whizzes in this thread.

[Killthesmiley]

Greg, sorry to bug you about it again. But would it be possible for you guys to file the group registration form with Freenode, so we can set up some moderators?

[Pallidity]

I don't think I saw this suggested, but there is always the possibility of using a messenger, such as msn or AIM, for the chats. =D

[Taig]

"C's" good for you! Just do what you can, do it when you get the time and do it when there aren't more important things to do, for heavens sake!

oh and btw stop calling yourself "The Creators"? How about
"The Producers" it ifts one so many levels

Thanks for putting up with "it all" and still GIVING us ALL of this to play with. Mostly...thank you for your incredible sense of humor and your never-ending efforts. LG15 most times good, sometimes not so much but you guys...awesome...all the time.

I am grateful and probasbly every one else is too (intentional bad grammer there) they are probably just having too much fun to say so. Hang in

[milowent]

Hey everyone,

Our programmer is looking into fixing chat. If he can't we will look into IRC. Sorry our chat sucks, it bumbs us out too. We will do the best we can to fix it.

Thanks for your understanding,

Greg

greg, thanks for responding. your programmer could always contact some of the whizzes in this thread.

any progress on this front? the official chat still officially sucks. i cannot follow my happiness in that chat.

[VanillaFlava]

I don't get why this is still an issue.

Running a chat with several hundred concurrent is not really a challenge, well if you're not opting for an off-the-shelf solution that is also bound by the limitations of the various flash streaming servers (i.e. concurrency problems).

IRC would be one obvious solution. It is a bit awkward to handle for inexperienced users, however, and relying on the established networks has its drawbacks, as pointed out above.

There are also issues of eliminating all possibilities of spoofing and name hijacking etc. The question really is whether you want to stay with a fixer-upper like you have right now, want something proven and genric like IRC, or wether you want to go pro and integrate a real messaging solution into your site.

My suggestion would be to set up a Jabber server. http://www.jabber.org/

Immediate benefits:

- It's open source and completely free

- One of the most established and robust real-time messaging technologies out there right now

- Jabber servers work just like email for authentication, so if you set it up for your domain, nobody else could claim 'bree@lg15.com', etc. You could integrate it with your existing DB and every user would have his forum name immediately, no spoofing possible

- A whole lot easier to handle for your userbase compared to IRC

- Jabber is the technology behind GoogleTalk

- Jabber is also an IM, and people could connect to your server through whichever client they want to (there are plenty out there, including GoogleTalk, Trillian, Miranda, etc.)

- You could have a web-based client embedded into your site as default, exposing whichever functionality you choose

- Jabber has many extensions allowing for voice, video, etc

- In effect it would be an IM, chat rooms, etc for your userbase


Only requirements:

- Minimal, dedicated infrastructre at your disposal

- Competent techs setting it up, some coding to integrate it into the site, some recurring maintenance

[milowent]

the more i focus on the chatroom, i forget all other lg15 worries. something about mod rules? don't know WHAT you're talking about. but Vanilla's post above looks AWESOME.

[Broken Kid]

I passed along the tip about Jabber to the web guy. The new version of phpBB that we hope to unveil someone soon has some minor integration with Jabber, so you get your notices of messages and such via that if you choose. So maybe it will provide easier integration with Jabber's chat ability.

Then again, it's important to note that the chat is on the list of things that need to be changed, but there are some bigger changes in the works over the next couple of weeks, so it will likely have to fall after that. That's just my feeling, not any official word...

[milowent]

it's always just around the bend. we await it eagerly.

[dixiemccoy]

I passed along the tip about Jabber to the web guy.

Jabber is a wonderful thing. I know one of the original developers (went to college with him and still party with him) and I use it at work. It is not quite as easy to use as IRC but it has much more functionality.

My IRC test server is a success, including locking it down from unauthorized channels and nickname registration. The whole thing I got to run in user space, so there is no need for an IRC server admin to have any special privileges on the box it runs on (just a login and the ability to open a port to listen on). I even found a web-based user interface that is on a Playskool level of easy yet also has advanced options for those who know what they are doing.

I'd even be willing to volunteer to install it and run the server side administration part time.