Just a Thought

[cloth_kitten]

Is there any chance (if its wanted) in having a chat area on caudata.org.I'm sure it would help unclog the message boards a little.Any ideas?

 

[john]

This idea has been bouncing around for over a year and we haven't made any firm decision on it, to be honest. The problem is thate Nate and I can't agree how to implement it :/. If the demand is there, I don't have a problem with putting the service in.

 

[swan]

If you want to chat about newts and salamanders, come on over to the Newt MUD chat room at http://newts.org:4196/
Obviously, you may have to wait until someone else comes along, because not everybody logs in at the same time. Hopefully it will become as lively again as it once was.

See you there!
Swan

 

[cloth]

Hi Swan,everytime I go its empty! Thats why I thought it would be a good idea to get one going here.

 

[swan]

I don't see the advantage in setting up a new chat room instead of going to one that already exists.
Maybe we should set up a meeting time, so that people show up together. Any suggestions?

 

[nate]

As all forum posters know, without moderation, the content of forums can get diluted very quickly with abusive, hostile posters who would rather ridicule and harrass people then post anything worthwhile. I feel this is even far more evident in chatrooms.

One of the problems with the Newt MUD, in my past experiences, is that it allows full access to any person who wishes to harrass other chatters. Though a wizard (when present) can "kick" the person out in the MUD, they can immediately return in an endless cycle...which has happened to me there several times. Another problem is that the chat format itself was designed for old role-playing games, not simple, user-friendly chatting. It's an odd and cumbersome system to use, especially so for the not-so-computer-savvy caudate hobbyists among us.

It would seem to me to be more practical to have a setup where:

1) ISP addresses can be permanently banned if neccessary by a moderater or even better, automatically by the program.
2) a username/password system
3) private chat or "whispering"
4) a relatively familiar chat format (names of users present on side of chat screen, big window for chatting, etc.) such as one would find on a group Yahoo Messenger or AOL Messenger system.
5) program can be hosted by Caudata.org

I think the demand for a chatroom is there, we just need to find it...anyone know of a suitable program? John probably has other more technical criteria and could add a lot to this. I'm all for a chatroom here though.

 

[aaron]

there is only one major problem with your thinking, Nate. If you have a dial-up ISP, you get a new IP address everytime, so it would be impossible to actually prevent someone from getting back in if they wanted to.

~Aaron

 

[kai]

I have to admit that I don't care much for chatting.

However, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank John for providing this forum - it's the most comfortable way to operate a forum I know of. I often wouldn't be here if not for one of those emails motivating me to respond. Also nice for keeping a concise archive.
Did I mention that I'm a die-hard mailing list nut?

Best wishes,
kai

 

[nate]

Aaron, that's true. But similarly on chat systems like IRC chat, a person's ISP can be banned from a chatroom, even if they change nicknames or have a dial-up ISP. How do they do it there?

 

[swan]

I think, they just ban the whole ISP, i.e. all the IP addresses within a domain.
But I don't think that would be a good thing to do, because then, if, let's say one user using aol is banned, then all the others using aol will not be able to access the chat either. So you deny thousands or millions of people access to the system by trying to ban one.

I don't see any other way to control who has access to the chat room in a fair way, than manually giving out user IDs on an individual basis and having no guest accounts/ unregistered users if you want to prevent annoying/banned people from coming back in.

 

[nate]

Having used IRC for years, I know when they ban a user, another person using the same dial-up service can still enter the room while the banned person cannot. I'm not computer literate enough to know how this is achieved, but it is achieved. The ISP is not banned, but somehow, the user is still recognized even if they change nicknames or reconnect to their dial-up and get a new IP. But anyway...I think swan's right, all that's really needed is user IDs.

 

[aaron]

It could be some type of program that is modified on the person's computer that would allow IRC to recognize them, no matter what the IP address is.

~Aaron

 

[keegan]

To throw in my 2c:
I like the idea of having a set time to be in the chat room - once or twice a week at a set time, for example.
That way you have a better chance of getting a "critical mass" of people for a good chat session, and you don't have a chatroom that always has 0-3 people.

As fer that technical stuff.... I'll leave that figgurin' to someone who knows better...

 

[admin]

You don't have to ban an ISP. You can usually use wildcards to ban just a small range of IP addresses from an ISP, not the whole ISP. This usually deals with dynamic IP addressing caused by modem dialups.

I agree with Nate about the newt mud and I think he covered most of my requirements for a chat program. I like the idea in theory but it would mean work for me . Some of you would have to volunteer as moderators as well.

I'm not trying to take over the world with Caudata.org, nor am I trying to edge out the newt mud, in case you're wondering. Personally I don't think a chat room is necessary on Caudata.org, but I have had more than a few requests for one in the last 18 months. Keep talking about it and we'll see.

 

[cloth]

Oh dear I seem to have started an argument,that wasnt the idea.I mentioned the chat room as before Admin changed the layout if you requested emails,you ended up with a mail box full and most just read "yes" or "I agree" and it took ages to sort out.With the new layout you have more choice.I dont think a "set time" chat would help at all,as there are lots of different countries represented here,time zones make it difficult (look at the saturday axolotl chat).
I thought it would be good to just drop in and see whos about.I also agree that only registered users could use it.
Anyway speech over

Cloth