Concertina Real-time Chat

[LeonBaine]

i wonder if there's anyway to get a real time chat put on this webpage?? i think it'd be very useful

[bellowbelle]

i wonder if there's anyway to get a real time chat put on this webpage?? i think it'd be very useful

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, there are all the options for the Instant Message things -- Yahoo, AOL, and whatever else.

 

Speaking of real time, I just realized that since we now have Daylight Savings in effect where I am, I needed to adjust that setting here in the profile section....

 

Anyway, as for me, I am not really very chatty, but at rare times I do use Yahoo! Messenger.

[LeonBaine]

uh i'm not talking about instant messaging...i'm talking about whoever runs this webpage to stick up a chat...that's all...so it's not days to find an answer about something...its instant.

[Chris Timson]

uh i'm not talking about instant messaging...i'm talking about whoever runs this webpage to stick up a chat...that's all...so it's not days to find an answer about something...its instant.

 

Well, to be precise, you are talking about Paul Schwartz, assisted by Ken Coles, who put a lot of volunteer time and money into running this board. I think you'll find that putting up a question here, if it is actually interesting to people, will get a reply in hours, not days. So far as chat being instant - it's only instant if you're actually chatting. I don't hang around chatting. I log in from time to time and see if anything interests me, and log off if it doesn't.

 

Chris

[otsaku]

I've found that the message boards I've been involved with have actually suffered because of "realtime" chat.

 

Generally you find the people who post regularly on the board support the new feature and join the irc room and for awhile everything is lively. But when you've said what you ,would normally post, in the room then you don't feel like repeating yourself. Thus board activity declines and in a slow spiral people lose interest.

 

Besides nothing is stopping anyone here registering a chatroom...

 

 

But why spoil a good thing?

[LeonBaine]

ok ya i see your point ...

[Guest]

I second what otsaku wrote, and at least with Bulletin boards it means that those of down here in the Southern Hemisphere don't have to get up in the middle of the night in the hopes that someone is logged on

[bigsqueezergeezer]

You beat me to it, Morgana. In a real global community like ours, what are the chances of "real time chatting" except to those somewhere near your own time zone?

 

Derek

[Henk van Aalten]

I second what otsaku wrote, and at least with Bulletin boards it means that those of down here in the Southern Hemisphere don't have to get up in the middle of the night in the hopes that someone is logged on

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Southern Hemisphere is more than Australia. Our friends in South Africa for instance have the same time as we have in Western Europe

 

To come back to the subject: I am not in favo(u)r of real-time chatting. I cannot imagine a better way to stay in (virtual) contact with you all than this forum.

[Ken_Coles]

Real time chat? Without going into the technical issues (which are not my focus here), I think the biggest issue is that this community is not large enough (and in a way, thank goodness for that). Before the glitch during the software upgrade early this year that made the board think it had 439 members logged on at once (or whatever the number is; certainly not the case!), the number of members online at once varied from a few up to a couple of dozen. I believe the posts show that there are many interests here that overlap only partially; only a few people (and administrators) read every post and every thread (you know who you are!). Very few people prepared to correspond with you may be on-line at the same time as you. So the argument that this would get you answers that you seek sooner doesn't convince me. Music will teach you patience in many ways if you stay with it, and patience is something we could all use a bit more of in this frenzied world. The final advantage to the present system is that the time delay means you lose nothing by comtemplating and composing your answer with some extra thought and care for your audience. I think the posts here (and the humor) show that many people indeed do this.

 

One opinion.

[bigsqueezergeezer]

One opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One that certainly matters and comes from a very informed source, Ken.

 

Derek

[Ashkettle]

Real time chat?  Without going into the technical issues (which are not my focus here), I think the biggest issue is that this community is not large enough (and in a way, thank goodness for that).  Before the glitch during the software upgrade early this year that made the board think it had 439 members logged on at once (or whatever the number is; certainly not the case!), the number of members online at once varied from a few up to a couple of dozen.  I believe the posts show that there are many interests here that overlap only partially; only a few people (and administrators) read every post and every thread (you know who you are!).  Very few people prepared to correspond with you may be on-line at the same time as you.  So the argument that this would get you answers that you seek sooner doesn't convince me.  Music will teach you patience in many ways if you stay with it, and patience is something we could all use a bit more of in this frenzied world.  The final advantage to the present system is that the time delay means you lose nothing by comtemplating and composing your answer with some extra thought and care for your audience.  I think the posts here (and the humor) show that many people indeed do this.

 

One opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree with you on everything except one point. I think more of us read pretty much every thread than you realize. I know I do, and I have the strange feeling I'm not alone in this.

 

Of course, this doesn't invalidate your argument in the least.

[Helen]

Well yes, I read every post also, at least in this forum.

 

Sorta like reading all of the comic strips even though some of them don't really speak to me. Almost all of the threads have something of interest to me and I enjoy getting to know everyone through their postings.

 

Usually I read the postings every day, but when something comes up or I am out of town, I can read them when I get back. If they were real time chats, that opportunity would be gone.

 

Just one more reason this type of forum seems to work best for our community.

 

Helen

[LeonBaine]

well ok i don't see what the big deal in having a chat page is...if u don't like using them or chatting then u don't go into it..its pretty simple...and there's no need for freaking out i just suggested the idea..

[Helen]

Hi,

 

Sorry, we didn't mean to overwhelm you with negatives. I think what is happening is everyone is trying to be respectful of the two guys who spend an enormous amount of time (and money) to keep this forum going. Neither of whom would have the time to keep a chat room going.

 

Everyone does pick the topics that they want to read. But expanding the forum to a chat room can't happen due to time and energy constraints.

 

Do post your thoughts and ideas on other subjects. We don't routinely trounce ideas. Thanks for submitting.

 

Helen

[Ken_Coles]

Let me add to what Helen says. It is more a matter of telling you why we don't have such an interesting, modern feature; there aren't very many of us, appearances notwithstanding. Do stick around and participate, to the extent that concertinas are part of your life you may find a lot of interest, however slow!

 

Here are some faces to make the message clearer!

 

Ken, Associate Administrator

[JimLucas]

i wonder if there's anyway to get a real time chat put on this webpage?? i think it'd be very useful

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't.

 

I'm not trying to be combative. It's just that the chat format would be contrary to my reasons for being here.

 

While I enjoy the social interaction and banter (I happen to be the most prolific poster on Concertina.net, though it's not because I try to be), I consider them secondary... mere side effects following from the fact that those who are interested in concertinas tend to be interesting people.

 

It's that interest in concertinas which is my real reason for being here. I want to share that interest, and I want to share it with as many people as possible. For that we have to be able to read each others' communications at any time, even long after they are posted. (This Forum keeps an archive of all posts, and has a search facility. Do chat rooms do that? If so, what's the etiquette for dredging up a 6-month-old topic?)

 

Concertina.net is, I believe, primarily an information center, rather than a social support group. But even the support function works better if people who aren't logged in at any particular moment are still able to get involved.

 

If chatting is your goal, there are plenty of existing chat rooms. We won't take it amiss if you go to them when you feel an urge to chat, but come here when you want to discuss concertinas (or other things). I think most of us tend to take our time in composing posts, but they're generally worth the wait.

 

You might ask, why not a chat room in addition to the Forum? Some have pointed out the human resources that would be needed to maintain such a system; others have pointed out the disparate time zones we live in, and someone has suggested that a chat room here might adversely affect use of the Forum itself. But there's another potential "danger":

 

We here on Concertina.net are frequently told that we are the friendliest, most civil group they've ever met on the internet. Misunderstandings and outright disagreements are handled politely; language and off-topic subject matter that some might find offensive are avoided; flames are nonexistant; yet we are almost entirely self-policing. (Paul S. has every right to be a dictator, but he doesn't like to, and he rarely needs to.) This is an internet forum where it's "safe to send your kids."

 

I doubt that we could we maintain similar restraint in a chat room. I know that I myself have many times written posts that in the end I either didn't send or altered drastically before sending, having more sober second thoughts. If I had been writing those in a chat room, I expect I would now have far fewer friends. I prefer the Forum format, which I believe helps keep us friendly.

[LeonBaine]

i seriously doubt a chat room would affect the forum in any way...and each of u have said "i don't use one so there shouldn't be one" ...but people of my generation (25 and under) actually use them a lot...and find them very useful...anyways the webmaster has said no and given his reasons so there's no point in going on about it...it was just a thought and like i said would be useful ..no big deal.