Neocolours IRC / chat room

[Iggy]

I remember, back when we had the older forums, we had a link/widget/applet/something like that for a chatroom.

Does the room still exist? And, is there still a interest for a NC IRC, or chatroom, or something that doesn't require MSN or AIM, really?

Because I remember sheer lulz from like, 2 years ago, and I miss the lulz. It's harder to have them on a forum, really

[Jessi]

I believe Jazzy never set up the chat applet because it was very buggy or not compatible with the version of the forums we're using now, though I could be wrong. But I remember her specifically mentioning that it just wouldn't work out with the version of phpBB we're on.

I would have interest in a chat room, but not on iRC. I've never really liked iRC as a chat program, and I know I would never log in on it to join a chat, heh.

[Cranberry]

I use Chatzilla to connect to IRC. It's a Firefox add-on and is very easy to use. I prefer that over any kind of java chatroom or something using MSN or whatever.

[Jessi]

I've seen and used Chatzilla, and honestly, I'm not that fond of it - i think it's extremely ugly, heh. I used to use iRC all the time - a looong time ago - and I always used miRC and it was fine. But that was back before I hung out on LJ or forums or pet sites *shrugs* Just my two cents.

ETA - I'd also like to add that from my own personal experience using the chats last time... they weren't always fun. A lot of rules that are kind of assumed on NC (like basic politeness, heh) were ignored in the chats, and some of the conversations were kind of inappropriate. Now... I don't care about inappropriate topics, I'm as immature as the next person when it comes to that stuff, but even some of the things being talked about made -me- feel uncomfortable, and... well, that takes a lot. I think if we were going to have an 'official' NC chat, be it here in a java applet or on IRC or whatever, there needs to be some kind of general agreement about what's appropriate and what isn't.

[Rah]

I use Linkinus and it's AMAZING. Brilliant program. I'm totes up for another irc to visit! It's great for bonding with multiple people.

[Seerow]

I'm also against an irc room, they confuse me to no end. And I have a grudge against them. A loooong time ago I tried to get on to join the Subeta chat room. I couldn't figure out how so I went to the forums to ask for help. They basically told me I was an idiot and that if I couldn't figure it out I didn't belong there. So yeah, no irc for me.

Though I would like to have a chat room in AIM/MSN/whatever sometime. I talk to a few people on AIM but it would be neat to talk in a group once in awhile Though like Jessi said, basic ground rules are a must!

[Foghawk]

In-browser applets can be a bit buggy, yeah - I've installed a few myself - but even so, I would much prefer an IRC channel to any other form of chatroom; unlike most other forms of room-based chat, IRC isn't 'hosted' in one particular place, so I'm free to use any choice of in-browser or app clients to connect (my allegiance is to Colloquy - extremely usable GUI plus best display customization ever), rather than being locked down into whichever host or chatroom gets picked. I've found most in-browser chatrooms infuriatingly inflexible.
(One question - how exactly would phpBB make it impossible to use (an? the?) applet? I've never worked from the admin side of this platform, but I don't understand what would stop an applet from being added just like any other html object. Enlighten me?)

[Jessi]

I don't think it was impossible, Foghawk, I think it was buggy :3 That's all. Jazzy has more technical words for it, I'm sure, and I'm sure I could hunt down the post on NC where she talked about it xD But I think it was a compatibility issue, not something 'impossible'.

[Usul_Princess]

I liked it quite a bit. There were always at least 4-5 people in there a day because of the time zones working out so nicely. It didn't last long enough where we had major problems though.

On the topic of being considerate. There should also be a ground rule about bad attitudes or being a buzzkill. Don't take your personal life out on other people, or fly into an emotional frenzy on someone else's behalf. The forum is good for rants, not the IRC. When we first had it, it wasn't a particularly happy time on the forums. (Lamenting over converted pets, various banned trolls, don't even get me started about Subeta at the time, etc.) The IRC was a place where you could ignore all that, and I still want it to stay that way.

[Iggy]

The reason I said no MSN/AIM is because, I usually chat in from work (naughty naughty). And, we can't download AIM or MSN, but I'M able to use IRC and Java chats. And, even when I'm home, I'm in IRC, but I don't want to be bothered in MSN.

I go on AIM when I need to for my Subeta duties, and that's it, really.

[Alicorn]

I remember that chatroom. I never went in it though. I was a bit to shy at the time to do so. ^-^' If we do get a new one going, I'd check it out this time. It be interesting to talk to everyone live. Though I agree on some ground rules. We want it to be fun for everyone.

[Jazzy]

Right now, I'm preparing the forum files for an upgrade - this is a very slow process, because I basically have to go through all of them line-by-line in order to update them while still preserving the changes I have put in (for example, all avatars being on the left hand side, the quick reply, the colour edits, etc).

Once that's done, I do intend to look into an integrated chat room system. The one we used to use has never been updated to work with phpbb3, which has a very different database structure and methods for validating a user's login - it got to beta in 2007 and I was waiting to install it, but they never updated it beyond beta. It's not just an irc applet - those are very simple and a five-minute install. The difference is, it tied a forum login to an irc handle, so you needed to be registered to appear in the chat, and people always appeared as their usernames. This sounds straightforward and obvious, but it's a little more complicated than it sounds to actually marry up, and to do so securely. I plan to upgrade the forum on Tuesday, and once that's done, will look at an irc chatroom, but with no guarantees as to precisely when (since as far as I'm aware there are none available which do quite what I'm after with no edits, so it'll require a bit of work on my part).

Hope that sounds reasonable

[Huggles]

I am going to ask Rah a stupid and completely off topic question. What does totes mean? You keep using that word, and I don't think you mean what I think you mean.

[AngharadTy]

Depending on the context, it's either "totally" or "bags."

[Huggles]

Oh.


Probably not bags then.