GUYSGUYSGUYS: What do you want in a Chat System?

[Rmonik]

IRC:

- Sound notification when name is said (in some clients)
- Auto name registration is possible (i don't know how, but i've seen it done)
- can be embedded in phpBB
- Long chat history with some servers/bots/stats
- New channels can be made at any time without leaving the chat, including private messaging between users
- some nifty commands, bots, scripts are possible, making moderator work automatic (i'm no pro at programming these though)
- And the most awesome of all: you can access it with a IRC client program like mIRC or Colloquy, to have some even better benefits.

[Jetfyre]

The thing about IRC though is that a lot of people (even those who know what they're doing when it comes to computers) can have a lot of bother with IRC. I mean, another forum i'm on uses IRC and despite the instructions they give, nobody can access it because it's so weird and confusing. Myself included :s

I like the sound of personal chats with individual members as well as the main chat though. Makes me think Teamspeak might be a bit of an option maybe?

I dunno though. I just want to be able to chat to people without it dying every now and then. Little "new message" noises like those found in the cbox chats would be cool too.

[Nequissimus]

Maybe you like to take a look at this one here?

Envolve

They use it on Studio662 and it's a sweet Chatsystem.

[Rmonik]

The thing about IRC though is that a lot of people (even those who know what they're doing when it comes to computers) can have a lot of bother with IRC. I mean, another forum i'm on uses IRC and despite the instructions they give, nobody can access it because it's so weird and confusing. Myself included :s

I like the sound of personal chats with individual members as well as the main chat though. Makes me think Teamspeak might be a bit of an option maybe?

I dunno though. I just want to be able to chat to people without it dying every now and then. Little "new message" noises like those found in the cbox chats would be cool too.

Like i said, i've been on forums before where the IRC was completely embedded and the user didn't have to do anything. On the page there was an embedded IRC chat, with the forum #Channel open, and every person registered to the forum would automatically get the same username too. I didn't know how they did it, but it exists. You can always go deeper into IRC later if you wish, but you can stay on the same level like the chat is now too.

[DavalarUk]

An insert random witty comment button?

[onewaylimited]

Private chats would be sweet, as well as maybe whispering , like the ability to send a private message without having to use a private chat. chat sounds would be cool, as well as specialized chats? Like a chat room for house music, a chat room for critiquing, etc....

[Luke Icard]

a sound when your name is mentioned with an @ symbol in chat is a must.

[armahillo]

Very interesting to see so many people bringing up IRC.

We have been considering that, as well as setting up a Jabber/XMPP (the protocol used by FB/gTalk/AIM) server. The main advantage of IRC is that it supports many different discussion channels (I have heard that it is possible to do multi-user chats with Jabber/XMPP but it seems a bit tricky). The main disadvantages of IRC were the security aspect (I really don't have the time to full-time manage an IRC server and keep the hatches battened down) and that it seemed like overkill to set up a server if it would only be one chat room.

*HOWEVER*

With all the interest in doing IRC, maybe that is the way to go. We could maybe have a channel for the website that could be accessed via a web interface (#website or something) and then leave the other channels open for others to create, as necessary (but you'd have to use mIRC, Trillian, Empathy, Pidgin, XChat, or whatever IRC client you prefer, to access it). Ideally, I'd like to set it up where authenticating against the forum DB is required, so that people cannot anonymously log in.

[Luke Icard]

With all the interest in doing IRC, maybe that is the way to go. We could maybe have a channel for the website that could be accessed via a web interface (#website or something) and then leave the other channels open for others to create, as necessary (but you'd have to use mIRC, Trillian, Empathy, Pidgin, XChat, or whatever IRC client you prefer, to access it). Ideally, I'd like to set it up where authenticating against the forum DB is required, so that people cannot anonymously log in.

if you do IRC, is there a way you could implement it on the website?

[JannikR]

Also, what are the tools in IRC for us mods? Are we still going to be able to remove messages and such?