Community Chatroom?

[Funny Muffins]

Has the possibility of an mIRC room ever been established?
If not, let me suggest that it might be a great way to spend some time!

[cPT.cAPSLOCK]

I believe no-one mentioned this yet.
If people get involved, it could be great to catch up and discuss things more directly with other listeners.

Thanks for the suggestion :)

[Kc]

I'm curious as to the integration of the forum and some sort of chat, I wouldn't want people to have to have 2 user names. Plus we'd have to do some monitoring..

[cPT.cAPSLOCK]

I'm pretty sure there are plugins for vBulletin, though I haven't used any so far.
After a quick search, there appear to be several, but since I don't have a vB license I can't try any.

[Funny Muffins]

Two usernames isn't the worse thing to occur, most people will try to use the same forum name, however there are always those who will double down and use the freedom to create some trouble.
Monitoring the IRC and the forums can be split between two sets of people as they are two different types of communication.

I wouldn't be worried about losing the forum activity over the chat room, tends to be more off the cuff conversation.

[Kc]

Two usernames isn't the worse thing to occur, most people will try to use the same forum name, however there are always those who will double down and use the freedom to create some trouble.
Monitoring the IRC and the forums can be split between two sets of people as they are two different types of communication.

I wouldn't be worried about losing the forum activity over the chat room, tends to be more off the cuff conversation.

Two usernames won't kill anyone, but it's not something we want to do if there are other ways of having one. I'm all for streamlined technology as much as possible. That's why we have the wiki and forum the same now.

[cPT.cAPSLOCK]

Having single sign-on is much more practical though. It'll also make administration easier, as people that get banned will also be removed from both the chat and the forum.

[StepLaugh]

if there is no way to do it through the forums, tinychat is a great way to communicate with friends, I'm on there all the time.

[fraggot]

Does this forum support a shoutbox? I know they require a lot of bandwidth and processing power depending on the amount of usage.

[Funny Muffins]

I'm almost sure there will be a way to incorporate an IRC into html based web script/forum.

The question is, would we want to?
Increased bandwidth usage, definite need for policing/monitoring, and a ton of work to design an implement these changes.

If you allow an off site representation of the community of We're Alive we wouldn't need constant monitoring or any serious web implementation to take place.
Not to mention if the extra traffic might cause problems somehow.

However, it would be really really cool to see the We're Alive WebBased IRC chat (The WarRoom!) on the main page right next to the episode/discuss tabs...
Then again.
Thats for the higher ups to decide.

[cPT.cAPSLOCK]

Does this forum support a shoutbox? I know they require a lot of bandwidth and processing power depending on the amount of usage.
Yea, there's a plethora of shoutbox plugins available for vBulletin.
The downside is that most shoutboxes don't refresh automatically (except the AJAX based ones), so we might not be able to find a good one. It'll be worth looking into though, as it can be a viable alternative.


I'm almost sure there will be a way to incorporate an IRC into html based web script/forum.

The question is, would we want to?
Increased bandwidth usage, definite need for policing/monitoring, and a ton of work to design an implement these changes.

If you allow an off site representation of the community of We're Alive we wouldn't need constant monitoring or any serious web implementation to take place.
Not to mention if the extra traffic might cause problems somehow.

However, it would be really really cool to see the We're Alive WebBased IRC chat (The WarRoom!) on the main page right next to the episode/discuss tabs...
Then again.
Thats for the higher ups to decide.
The War Room sounds nice!

Some chat plugins have the ability to report users, so that it can be monitored indirectly. Design work won't be a big deal, as that's included in the plugin's package. The chat will probably end up on a separate page, or if it's a shoutbox right above the forum.
Only if we manually build it in, it'll be a lot of work, but I believe that also causes Kc to lose the official support from the vB team that's included in the license. So I don't think that'll happen anyway.
Don't quote me on the license thing by the way, as I'm not entirely sure about that. It's just what I recall from another place

[fraggot]

Yeah I've been a part of various communities before and they usually had some form of a shoutbox. They tend to be buggy, bandwidth hogs but if you can find a good one, it's totally worth it. Simply cause sometimes not everything is worth posting a new topic for, it's easier to just pop in and talk to people immediately.

[StepLaugh]

I'm going to start looking into it.

[TCM Revolver]

I'm going to start looking into it.

If I can do anything to help, let me know.

[Solanine]

It would be cool if a chat room could be integrated into the forum but I'd be less keen if the chat-room was separate from the main site, i'm kind of attached to my profile here and I'd hate to have to create something new. It would e like giving up my Gamertag so my xbox could cure the common cold!

[Kc]

It would be cool if a chat room could be integrated into the forum but I'd be less keen if the chat-room was separate from the main site, i'm kind of attached to my profile here and I'd hate to have to create something new. It would e like giving up my Gamertag so my xbox could cure the common cold!
We're working on it...

[Solanine]

Great. Thats awesome. Just like to say how great it is that your so involved in the community around the show. Most people in your position would hold most of the people on the forums at arms length.

[nikvoodoo]

The community chat room is now up and running! Scroll to the top of the page and click on "Chatbox Full" and join the conversation. KC and others are tweaking it still, but I'm in there right now with a couple other folks