Facebook type chat client?

Zascar

I think it might be cool to have an in built chat application - so instead of sending someone a pm, if they are online you can chat with them like using the chat client on facebook.

If this even is possible, do you think it would be a good addition to the site?

Overheal

Im not a big fan of IMs. Remember when Tom Hanks got that IM off Meg Ryan and he was like OHSH!ITOHSH!TOHSH!T

IMs have too much Signal to Noise ratio in them anyway... "Hi" "Oh hey what you doin" "nm u" "nm" <5 mins pause> "Well I g2g c ya" "kthxbye"

Not to mention IRC rooms are a pain in the ass to moderate.

eVeNtInE

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Insect Overlord

Can anybody tell me when exactly the Boards IRC was shut down?
I'm sure I used it once or twice, but I can't remember if that was the old official one or just a smaller spin-off.

Faith

Zascar wrote: »

I think it might be cool to have an in built chat application - so instead of sending someone a pm, if they are online you can chat with them like using the chat client on facebook.

If this even is possible, do you think it would be a good addition to the site?

I think the admins are against the idea because it would take away from posting if people were having their own chats in chat rooms. Plus, it would probably be a drain on the servers.

An File wrote: »

Can anybody tell me when exactly the Boards IRC was shut down?
I'm sure I used it once or twice, but I can't remember if that was the old official one or just a smaller spin-off.

Eh, a certain troublesome user harassed someone on it, I believe, posting her home address and phone number - basically stalked the shít out of her and posted everything online.

Overheal

Yikes.































Was it Meg Ryan?

eVeNtInE

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Insect Overlord

Faith wrote: »

Eh, a certain troublesome user harassed someone on it, I believe, posting her home address and phone number - basically stalked the shít out of her and posted everything online.

Yeah, I heard all about the Bubbles incident! But...

eVeNtInE wrote: »

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... I cannot recall when it happened.

RoundyMooney

I'd love to see it happen, but I hazard that it won't;

(a) Because folk won't respect it and act the dick, and as a consequence,

(b) It won't fulfil one key requirement for discussion on boards.ie, namely that all discussion be strictly controlled through the process of moderation, most times fair but sometimes foul (i.e. sarcastic, biased, overbearing, and unnecessary), but always prevalent, and very hard to question.

I've been wrong before though, and would love to be on this occasion.

eVeNtInE

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eVeNtInE

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Tar.Aldarion

This would be grand if set up between mutual friends.

robinph

Is that not what these guys - - - are for?

Overheal

RoundyMooney wrote: »

I'd love to see it happen, but I hazard that it won't;

(a) Because folk won't respect it and act the dick, and as a consequence,

(b) It won't fulfil one key requirement for discussion on boards.ie, namely that all discussion be strictly controlled through the process of moderation, most times fair but sometimes foul (i.e. sarcastic, biased, overbearing, and unnecessary), but always prevalent, and very hard to question.

I've been wrong before though, and would love to be on this occasion.

I can just imagine: someone gets banned, IMs the mod, hurls abuse, and hilarity ensues. Not to mention the amount of spammers who would sign up just to IM everyone adverts. And always for private webcam shows.

I guess with the right forward planning it could be done, and reasonably well. Maybe it should be looked into?

robinph wrote: »

Is that not what these guys - - - are for?

Need a gtalk button by the way

Zascar

No definitely not a group chat thing - basically exactly like the facebook chat client. People who you are conencted to, you can send them an im and chat. Would be handy

robinph

Overheal wrote: »

Need a gtalk button by the way

+1 for a gtalk button.

orestes

No.

That's it. There no point in reading any further because there's no expansion or explanation of my opinion, or the reasoning behind it. I have them, I just couldn't be bothered going into them as it would take too long because there are too many and they are too varied. This is only my personal opinion, but I'm standing by it.

No.

Just no.

javaboy

I agree with Oreo but for very different reasons.

orestes

javaboy wrote: »

I agree with orestes but for very different reasons.

Must see if I can get that done automatically by the filter or something

Cabaal

No need for boards.ie IM, thats what GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ is for
I wouldn't even consider Facebooks IM a proper IM platform/implementation

godtabh

RoundyMooney wrote: »

(b) It won't fulfil one key requirement for discussion on boards.ie, namely that all discussion be strictly controlled through the process of moderation, most times fair but sometimes foul (i.e. sarcastic, biased, overbearing, and unnecessary), but always prevalent, and very hard to question.

Boards.ie is a community. IM would be between two people. I dont see the ethos of boards changing as a result of the introduction of IM. The only difference I see between IM and PM is now you can report PMs and thats only a new thing

GuanYin

So long as there is a disable option... I don't care...

Jonathan

It wouldn't be that hard for boards to host a XMPP (aka jabber, what gtalk protocol is based on) server..

Nevyn

Any IM clients will automatically mean the site will be blocked for a while range of people in work. That alone is a reason not to.

seamus

Jonathan wrote: »

It wouldn't be that hard for boards to host a XMPP (aka jabber, what gtalk protocol is based on) server..

i proposed such a thing as a project a number of years ago. I'll dig it up and see what the outcome was.

seamus

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=96965

It was shot down somewhat by ecksor, but I assume his long-term plans have changed

I would be very surprised if you couldn't get a plugin of sorts that would allow facebook-like chat. Seems like a reasonable suggestion, but it may require something else underlying it (such as a jabber server handling the chats).

Eoin

Thaedydal wrote: »

Any IM clients will automatically mean the site will be blocked for a while range of people in work. That alone is a reason not to.

That might not be the case at all. It would (or at least could) just be extra pages running some PHP and AJAX. No different application or port - just other pages on the site.

In fact, it could be useful for those people who have access to boards.ie, but not to IM clients.

Maybe some sysadmins here might know if that could cause the site to be classified differently by software like websense, but I doubt it.

RoundyMooney wrote:

(b) It won't fulfil one key requirement for discussion on boards.ie, namely that all discussion be strictly controlled through the process of moderation, most times fair but sometimes foul (i.e. sarcastic, biased, overbearing, and unnecessary), but always prevalent, and very hard to question.

It would just be providing a less clunky and more real time interface than PMs. I don't see how it would affect discussion on boards.ie at all.

javaboy

eoin wrote: »

That might not be the case at all. It would (or at least could) just be extra pages running some PHP and AJAX. No different application or port - just other pages on the site.

In fact, it could be useful for those people who have access to boards.ie, but not to IM clients.

Maybe some sysadmins here might know if that could cause the site to be classified differently by software like websense, but I doubt it.

A very smart websense type program's might heuristically tag it as a streaming web app which could get it blocked.

Zascar

Sure but realistically few companies use such programs.

Could it not have an option to switch on and off?

Eoin

javaboy wrote: »

A very smart websense type program's might heuristically tag it as a streaming web app which could get it blocked.

A company that uses that kind of software is very unlikely to allow their staff to access a site like this in the first place.

Zascar wrote:

Could it not have an option to switch on and off?

I think that would have to be an option as lots of people won't like it, but I don't think that would help any possible filtering problems. Personally I think a few other options on boards should be opt out as well, but that's another discussion.

Ron DMC

javaboy wrote: »

A very smart websense type program's might heuristically tag it as a streaming web app which could get it blocked.

Meh, some websense programs block boards as it is already. For example in my office:

Ronnys works easy to bypass Websense app wrote:

Reason: The Websense category Message Boards and Forums;Productivity is blocked

Plus, being able to switch it off/on like the facebook client in such a way that it doesn't load unless you're logged in and have it switched on in your preferences would prevent any blocking of the site, even if the chat bit was blocked.