chat room

[jester1-2]

Did we ever get anywhere with the chat room idea or has it gone into the depths?

http://chat-forum.com/
WEBMASTERS - Add A FREE Java Chat Room Or Custom Chat System To Your Website

[Guest]

Jester, when it was set up we had only two people ever go to it, it bombed badly. But with enough interest, we could take another look at one, Doteasy, who we are with have a very easy to install Chat Room that seems quite good. I really feel in order to have one, a moderator is needed to promote it.
Don

[jester1-2]

Well it would cut out a lot of the posts that some find a waste of time for them to read and people could always arrange a meeting time.........

[jester1-2]

We could even be happily chatting away now, except I talk a lot faster than I type...............

[Lisa Copland]

And you'd either have to get up early or we'd have to stay up late to chat with you J12!

[Al Darby]

And you'd either have to get up early or we'd have to stay up late to chat with you J12!

I find myself up till nearly midnight most nights, chatting or video conferencing with Tech Support for my software business, or with friends in UK and Europe (and even Morrocco in last 3 months )

[Guest]

Hello Jester, I have not forgot about your suggestion! I think it has merit and would be willing to give it a try for say 30 days then check it usage, if it seems like a go, we would leave it in place, if not remove it at that point. Does that sound fair?
Regards,
Don

[jester1-2]

sounds fair........

[Guest]

Hello Jester,
After having a look at the Chat room, we are a little concerned about it's compatibility with the Doteasy format. We have not ruled it out, but want to make sure it will not weaken our security! Both the general message area and the PM are live time.
Regards,
Don

[jester1-2]

They would have to be live time or it wouldn't be a chat room but another post area.

[Al Darby]

What's wrong with using Skype / Yahoo / whatever.

You don't need a "Chat Room" to chat, any IM will do it for you.

[jester1-2]

social thingy when you log on and someone else is here. Quicker response and you don't clog up the boards with chit chat back and to (boring remember).......

[Al Darby]

J12,

My point was that if the Chat room thingie presented problems with the WPP, then there are alternatives.

Yes, a Chat room would be the thing, but not entirely necessary. Where there's a will, there's a way

[Guest]

I still feel that the PRIVATE MESSAGING is a great alternative, does not take up any general board, instant access if you are online at the site, notification by way of appearing at the top of the page and if you are not online, the message gets stored until you are and is indicated when you log on.

4.3: Private Messages
Private messages allow users on a board to contact each other out of the public eye. Private messages can be described as a cross between email, instant messaging, and phpBB 2.0 forum posting.

To use private messaging, you must be logged in to the board. Look at the top of any page, and click You have X new message(s). This will take you to your private messaging center.



4.3.1: Sending
There are three primary ways to send a private message. First, you may go your private messaging center and click New Post. Secondly, you may click Post Reply from a private message you are reading. Finally, you may click the PMlink on any user's profile or post.

The posting form is identical to the normal posting form with a few exceptions:

Username - The username of the person you want to receive the message. If you are replying to a PM, or clicked the PM link in someone's profile, this field will be automatically filled for you.

Additionally, PMs may not be Sticky Topics, Announcements, or contain Polls.

4.3.2: Receiving
There are three ways that one may be notified of a new private message. Most obvious is the Private message link at the top of every page. It will display You have X new message(s), where X is the number of new messages you have. You may click this link to take you to your Inbox.

You may be informed of new PMs by an email sent to the email address your username is registered to. You may also be informed of a new PM by means of a small window that pops up while you are viewing the board. Email and pop-up notification will contain a link to your Inbox. Email and pop-up notification may be enabled/disabled in your Profile (for more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings)

Sometimes you may be informed of a new PM, but when you go to your Inbox, there is no new message. This is not a bug, it simply means that the sender must have deleted the PM before you read it. For more information, see 4.3.3 The Outbox.

You may delete messages by selecting them and clicking Delete Marked. Alternatively, you may delete all messages by clicking Delete All. You may also sort/display messages by age by using the dropdown list box in the upper right corner.

4.3.3: The Outbox
When you send a PM, the message goes to your Outbox. It remains in the Outbox until the recipient visits his/her Inbox, at which point it is moved from your Outbox to their Inbox. While the message remains in your Outbox you may edit or delete your post if you like. The message remains in your control until it is received.

4.3.4: The Savebox
The Savebox is provided as a place to keep important PMs. Often it is used to save valuable messages from the Inbox, and then you can use the Delete All function to discard the rest.

You may save messages in your Inbox by selecting the messages (with the checkboxes next to each message) and clicking Save Marked.

[Lisa Copland]

The private message function is not quite as convenient as chat rooms though.

One of the things I really dislike about our PM system is the inability to access the message I am answering as I answer it. When I am using a chat function such as Yahoo or MSN the whole conversation is in front of you and you don't have to keep flipping back and forth between screens. It is really a much more convenient way to converse in real time.

I see that we can add Yahoo id's to our profiles though so probably anyone who wanted to could chat using a Yahoo id but it wouldn't be through this site so if you would have to flip back and forth if you were wanting to converse about things on this site.

[Al Darby]

Also, PMs can only be read by recipient and there's not a lot of storage, so [Inbox], etc. will get filled very quickly.

[JenG]

Lisa, you should be able to use the Quote function when replying to private messages. That should help with seeing what your responding too.

[Lisa Copland]

True, but it makes for an ugly reply. I suppose you could use that function and then delete it all.

It would be nice if it operated similarly to posting on a thread where we can scroll down and see all the other posts on the thread we are adding to.

[JenG]

Ya that would be nice Lisa!

I know that the phpBB development team is working on version 3 but I don't think the final release will be coming out for quite some time. It's supposed to have some dramatic improvements!

[Al Darby]

Ya that would be nice Lisa!

I know that the phpBB development team is working on version 3 but I don't think the final release will be coming out for quite some time. It's supposed to have some dramatic improvements!

I thought they had a "stable" version (of v3), you could download.

[JenG]

They are still advertising it as an unstable release and don't recommend you use it for a live board.

http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/?sid=6f6 ... 199eba17e9

[Al Darby]

They are still advertising it as an unstable release and don't recommend you use it for a live board.

http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/?sid=6f6 ... 199eba17e9

Fair enough, should've looked first. My bad.

[JenG]

No worries Al!