[DISCUSSION] Handling Drops in the Chat

tiltingwindward · Post by **tiltingwindward** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:00 pm

As MANY of you know, there were almost 70 people in the IRC chat during the last drop (Dec. 11: Petaluma Revisited). Although IRC as a program can certainly handle that many people and more, I'm sure those of you who were there will agree that the chat was chaotic, confusing, and not as useful as it could have been. This made it harder for Horcruxes to report what Luv and her brother were doing, and for people to get their good ideas and questions heard.

This thread is to discuss this growing problem, because we, the chat operators, foresee that more and more people will want to come to the chat during drops. We think that's great. However, the chat should still be a place where work can be done efficiently, especially during crunch time. Please post your ideas here for ways that we can improve chat procedure during drop time. Ideally, we'd like to come out of this with a clear protocol for the way drops are run in the chat that everyone understands.

This is NOT a thread for the chat vs. forum debate. Although you are welcome to post and idea here even if you do not use the chat, we are specifically looking for way to make the chat run more smoothly by itself. If we can achieve this, then one of the benefits will be that information gets from the chat to the forums more quickly and coherently. PLEASE refrain from opening up the chat vs. forum can of worms again.

Thanks, and we look forward to your comments!

Sincerely,
tilting, acid, pill and shifty
(the chat ops)

NillaWafers · Post by **NillaWafers** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:01 pm

I really think devoicing and sending questions to Op's is the only way to maintain order.

hagbard celine · Post by **hagbard celine** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:05 pm

discussion in #operationaphid

and a mod or two plus the operator in #droprecovery or (something like that)
with everyone who comes in devoiced

or just do drop recoveries at 3am

Scalare · Post by **Scalare** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:06 pm

What annoys me the most is that every time something happens, people start yelling to others in ALL CAPS that other people shoudl be quiet. It kinda drains the community aspect of this all, as I don't really want to be in a room where everyone is yelling at eachother and being generally in a violent mood.

A simple solution is to give the operator and drop retrieval guy voice, and have him/her request the channel to be set +m when something important is happening. I also suggest kicking anyone from the room who uses all-caps

Watch Keeper · Post by **Watch Keeper** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:18 pm

There is a way to maintian order in which only Mods and Ops can post visible chats, others must submit suggestions which will be posted AS THEY GET TO THEM.

Or, standing rule. That is, we choose 5 people on line at the moment of drop to stand in the chat and communicate. We all send suggestions to one of five people.

Send to person one if it has to do with code
Send to person two if your suggestion has to do with the pictures
person three if it has to do with any cards / other stuff....
etc.

Sad Panda · Post by **Sad Panda** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:47 pm

Well, chew on this for a second --

Last time we did what ya'all are suggesting .... devoicing the peanut gallery and leaving talking to the mods and the Operator.

This was a good strategy before when there was just 20 of us in the room.

But lets remember last time ... 70+

As such, the poor mods could not handle the PM traffic. They had SEVENTY different people PMing them thier questions/answers/suggestions.

And I know Poor Horc, who was trying to deal with PMs AND the phone almost had a panic attack.

So, while PM's/devoicing does seem like the obvious choice, the end result was ultimately as chaotic as if we didn't regualte the drops at all.

So what the chat Op's are looking for is a solution that will accomodate everyone. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let them know.

Watch Keeper · Post by **Watch Keeper** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:06 pm

Ok...never used chat during a drop...but what if we opened the drop only AFTER the pick-up has been made?

tiltingwindward · Post by **tiltingwindward** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:20 pm

Watch Keeper wrote:Ok...never used chat during a drop...but what if we opened the drop only AFTER the pick-up has been made?

The chat is always open, and there are always people in it. The issue is when exciting things are happening, everybody wants to talk at once, and things get chaotic and impossible to follow. The issue is not the way drops are conducted (I think we have that down to a fine art), but the way drops are handled in the chat.

sphinx · Post by **sphinx** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:32 pm

I think devoicing the "peanut gallery" is the only way to go when it comes to the actual drop retrieval.

Instead of using PMs for questions, we could utilize the forum for posting questions in one place. An Op for the chat could post an "Ask Questions Here" thread, and it could be used by everyone.

Yes it would mean Ops would have to check back and forth on the forum, but everything would be in one place, it would be chronological, and using c&p would be easy. Most importantly, everyone could feel included in the drop retrieval.

tigerlilylynn · Post by **tigerlilylynn** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:35 pm

sphinx wrote:I think devoicing the "peanut gallery" is the only way to go when it comes to the actual drop retrieval.

Instead of using PMs for questions, we could utilize the forum for posting questions in one place. An Op for the chat could post an "Ask Questions Here" thread, and it could be used by everyone.

Yes it would mean Ops would have to check back and forth on the forum, but everything would be in one place, it would be chronological, and using c&p would be easy. Most importantly, everyone could feel included in the drop retrieval.

Maybe the Ops need operators

Mintgurl · Post by **Mintgurl** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:56 pm

This is the only idea I can come up with...
On drop nights certain Op/Admins are appointed to take questions and ask the operator, while everyone else is muted.
Maybe even have more Op/Admins in the room, JUST for drop events?
Maybe that will be able to avoid the chaos, and still be able to get questions and ideas across.

ladron121 · Post by **ladron121** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:04 pm

I can give a different view on the "chat during drops" situation.

When you are out on a drop, trying to receive information from your Operator, you can tell how chaotic the chat is. Having to wait five minutes for an answer to a question because all hell has broken loose. And oh the answers that you get

I love you guys and all, but asking someone to scale a 60 foot windmill to see if the drop is at the top of it...

Anyway, maybe this would work: isolation of the Operator.

Use the chat, with chat Ops all there (and maybe some others deputized for the event) to go through the chaos and get the good suggestions and answers. Meanwhile, the Operator is in a separate room, communicating with the person on the drop and receiving information from chat Ops only.

Once the drop is found, one of two things can be done:

1) The chat Ops can devoice everyone, the Operator comes in and lists the drop details; or

2) The chat Ops report information as it becomes available to the main chat.

The chat is going to be chaos, one way or another. The focus should be on keeping the person getting the drop and their Operator as focused as possible, keeping the information flowing. Lets not turn it into a police state when the drops come in, but at the same time lets not stress out the people who are taking their personal time and energy to go get those envelopes. Anyway, thats my two cents on the issue.

ladron121 · Post by **ladron121** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:05 pm

Mintgurl wrote:This is the only idea I can come up with...
On drop nights certain Op/Admins are appointed to take questions and ask the operator, while everyone else is muted.
Maybe even have more Op/Admins in the room, JUST for drop events?
Maybe that will be able to avoid the chaos, and still be able to get questions and ideas across.

<3 Minty, she thinks like me

romanceismusic · Post by **romanceismusic** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:01 am

I never really liked the idea of devoicing because I like to say what i'm thinking when I am thinking it... But after sitting throught the last drop, and seeing the confusion, I quickly changed my mind. The color thing, was an awesome idea. It was very easy to distinguish the Operator and the information the operator was relaying, by using color. Heres my idea. Feel free to flame away or whatever if it sucks

In #operationaphid:

-devoiced.
-Operator in color
-information listed as it happens

have a second room like #dropquestions or something:

-people can freely relay their ONTOPIC ideas/questions. (make sure if its been stated not to state again)
-kick anyone who is spamming with 'be quiet' or all caps or whatever
-rules posted in topic
-operators colored

Having a second room for this...that is open for VIEWING only, may be very beneficial.

I dont know. Thats all I can come up with

Noava22 · Post by **Noava22** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:14 am

- decide on one operator at the beginning, and stick with this operator without fail
- voice operator immediately so that +m can be set instantaneously
- +m the chat (devoice)
- add mods to handle questions (5-6 mods instead of 2)
- open second room for chatter
- make understood protocol for all to follow
- institute welcome message when drop recovery is in progress