# Chatroom?



## SrRdRaCinG

I'm sure this has been suggested before, but it'd be really neat if there were a chatroom, no?


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## Moogey

I thought it was a good idea as well, but the standard moderator response on this is that there are plenty of other websites that provide chatrooms and chat and you can use those. In other words, it's slightly beyond the scope of WR 

However I also noticed benjy had the idea of working on an IRC channel in February 2005. I've run an IRC server before and I'm quite familiar with the technology. I'd love to start a foreign language IRC server in the future and have it linked with WR if Mike wouldn't have a problem with that. If not, it would still exist but separate from WR. (What's holding me back from starting it right now is the cost. It's quite expensive to have an IRCd server...hmm, unless of course WR users would be *so* interested in this idea that they could chip in $5 each or so... only 50 people supplying $10 dollars each a year would probably do it) Ok sorry... I am an entrepreneur.

-M


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## cuchuflete

SrRdRaCinG said:


> I'm sure this has been suggested before, but it'd be really neat if there were a chatroom, no?



NO

Yet another iteration of the standard moderator response:

1- Ready Moogy's post;
2- Read Forum Guidelines, available from any page;
3- Consider that two or more chatrooms were set up, simple directions on how to reach them were published here, and
next to nobody came!  

What's special about WRF is that it is, among other things, not a chat board.  Foreros who want to establish a more social, chatty, relationship than fits here are welcome to do so.  You are free to PM or email invitations to those people you have met here, and suggest a meeting in a "room" of an existing chatboard.  This facility is freely available elsewhere.  

We have neither staff, time, energy or interest in supporting such duplications of what's already freely available elsewhere.

There's nothing inherently wrong with chatboards.  They do nothing to support our mission.  There is room in these forums for friendly discussion, but we are topic based.  Chat boards, in my experience, are based on social contact, and topics are definitely not in first place.


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## Moogey

cuchuflete said:


> 3- Consider that two or more chatrooms were set up, simple directions on how to reach them were published here, and
> next to nobody came!



Oh, your excellent point just crushed my hopes  But it's a good point. That is, unless, it was against the rules to ask for translations or grammatical questions there, making its only purpose to be a place to socialize. But that would be extremely difficult to moderate.

Ah well, I'll think of some other idea 

-M


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## cuchuflete

Hi Moogey, 

As I recall, Benjy did set up an IRQ chatboard/room, and I spent some time there getting to know Benjy!  That was worthwhile.
The only rule was that Benjy ran the board, and people were free to say whatever they wanted, on whatever topic.

IRQ had a couple of challenges for us Mac users, but we found ways to make it work.  And still...nothing but WR members, and there was next to no interest, not even from those who wanted a WR chatboard.


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## Moogey

cuchuflete said:


> Hi Moogey,
> 
> As I recall, Benjy did set up an IRC chatboard/room, and I spent some time there getting to know Benjy!  That was worthwhile.
> The only rule was that Benjy ran the board, and people were free to say whatever they wanted, on whatever topic.
> 
> IRC had a couple of challenges for us Mac users, but we found ways to make it work.  And still...nothing but WR members, and there was next to no interest, not even from those who wanted a WR chatboard.



Heh, don't worry, those acronyms can be confusing and hard-to-remember sometimes 

Wow, I'm very suprised! But then again, that was in February of 2005 or so. WR was still pretty new then.

The difference between what I was proposing to create and what Benjy had created is mine would be an entire network for only WR whereas Benjy simply had 1 channel for WR. If this network were ever to be created, there would be a channel for Spanish, one for French, one for Italian, and so on for all the other languages. If desired, the moderators of the Spanish forum could be the ops (IRC terminology for "moderator") of the channel, French mods as French channel ops, Italian mods and Italian channel ops, etc. And then you have the netadmins or IRCOps that have supreme power everywhere on the network without having to be an op in a channel. Those would be Mike, me if I were to pay for and manage this network, and perhaps others.

Although unless someone can think of a way where both WRF and WRC (WR-IRC) could exist together without issues, my idea is practically useless.

Oh and - there are clients that you can run right in your web browser to get to this which should work on a Mac 

And one more thing: this network could even exist without being connected with WR, but I don't know how Mike would feel about that. I certainly wouldn't create it if it would cause any problems because I like it here 

-M


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## beberia

that would be very nice in order to know each others


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## Moogey

beberia said:


> That would be very nice in order to know each other



Yes it would be nice, however for this specific purpose I believe the moderators would tell you to check people's profiles for instant messaging data and chat individually.

I am still hoping someone can think of a way for this to exist and by no means conflict with the WR forum, but I don't think that'll happen unfortunately.

-M


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## cuchuflete

There are some very simple things that can be used today.
Some, such as IM conferences, require a momentary decision. Others, such as using an underpopulated "room" in an existing chatboard take no more effort than showing up.

IRC (Thanks for fixing my spelling, Moogey!), has a few quirks, and takes a little getting used to, but works fine.

The WR guidelines give a broad mission statement for these forums.  Chat, while a natural instinct, is outside our specific mission.  I'm sure that the people who meet here, and want to share a social space, can find a number of ways to do that,
without any great expense or bother.


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## fenixpollo

Moogey said:


> Yes it would be nice, however for this specific purpose I believe the moderators would tell you to check people's profiles for instant messaging data and chat individually.


 Another suggestion would be to have a sticky thread in each forum in which people could post their willingness and availability to chat -- kind of like the "opt out" thread in Congrats. 

This would just be a simple way to see of list of people who were available for chat, without having to check individual profiles. Those people could then PM or email each other, to arrange to "meet" outside of WR and have their own chats.  





> If desired, the moderators of the Spanish forum could be the ops (IRC terminology for "moderator") of the channel, French mods as French channel ops, Italian mods and Italian channel ops, etc. And then you have the netadmins or IRCOps that have supreme power everywhere on the network without having to be an op in a channel. Those would be Mike, me if I were to pay for and manage this network, and perhaps others.


 Sounds like a lot of extra work for the mods/ops/netadmins.


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## maxiogee

What benefit would accrue to WordRef from running these chatrooms? What connection would they have to WordRef's purpose for existence?

Would non-forer@s be eligible to join in? 
-- If 'yes' — > why not just join an existing chatroom?
-- If 'no' —> why not?


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## Etcetera

I don't like chatrooms and don't see why WR must need one. 
I've never seen any chatroom where people would discuss something really worth discussing, and I don't see the point of 'chatting for chat'. 
As for 'getting to know each other' - well, suppose you want to talk to some forer@. Would it be comfortable for you to chat with them in a chatroom, where everyone can read what you're talking about? In this sense ICQ and various messengers are much better! 
I remember I participated once in a very popular forum. Many its members wanted a chatroom, too, but when the moderators created a chatroom for them, there was almost nobody to chat there!


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