Who wants a live chat?

[garriwilson]

Hey just a suggestion, wouldn't it be nice if there was a live chat where all the members online could talk and even guests could just come, ask a question, and leave. Really fast and convenient. However, because I don't know how live chats work, maybe it's not possible to have a live chat or you have to pay for it?

Just a suggestion...

[PuddleJumper]

While admittedly new to the the forum here, I can say that before I joined up here I search for two hours for a chat room about robotics. To no avail.

  I think it would be a fine addition to any site, and probably increase forum membership greatly.

PJ

[Ro-Bot-X]

I would like the chat room. Usualy I talk with people about robotics using yahoo messenger, but I don't realy want to make my user name public. So a chat room would be much better for this.

[Steve Joblin]

I'm all for a chat room!  I don't know how much it costs, but if it is inexpensive (or if there are free ones), Admin should absolutely consider it!

[amakusa]

Host a chat room on MSN we could put the link on a post for ppl

[Gertlex]

IRC is better for chats than MSN/AIM.

Costs nothing to claim a room on a free server.  You just need to instruct the uninformed masses as to how to use IRC.

[Rebelgium]

Using IRC and others sound to much like work for potential new members... A free chatroom right here in the forum is pretty easy to install.

But that's not the problem here, I'm not sure if a chatroom is a good idea. All people will say is "Hello everybody", "Please look at my topic HELP HELP!!!!!!!!" and other useless cr*p.
Noone will pose a question there because the question is only visible for a few minutes.
This limits the potential responding people to the people who are online and looking at the chatbox  at that time.

Plus if someone does pose a question, and it gets answerred, it will be lost after a few minutes. So future people with that same question can't find the answer by searching the forum etc...
That's the beauty of a forum!

A chatbox isn't usefull for a robotics forum, only maybe when there are constantly 100 members online.


...imho ofcourse...

[ed1380]

what about teamspeak? (yes I'm a gamer)

does it cost anything for it?

[Admin]

Plus if someone does pose a question, and it gets answerred, it will be lost after a few minutes. So future people with that same question can't find the answer by searching the forum etc...

people have suggested a chatroom before, and this is why I didnt do it

if you guys really want to chat robots, the seattle robotics society hosts a monday night chat on IRC:
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/contact.php
(scroll halfway down)

[Admin]

For those who wanted a live chat, this is the reminder. I will not be attending.

As the cool dark days of fall and winter approach, what better way to
spend your Monday evenings then hanging out online with a bunch of
robotic geeks from around the world. (So we are being a bit stuffy
saying evening when it's midday for more of the planet then here, blah
blah blah) Anyhow, Join us TONIGHT! for our weekly Monday night Chat
on IRC. Instructions follow.

irc://irc.freenode.net/#SeattleRobotics

The link above should work for users of Chatzilla
http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com and firefox, and possibly mIRC.

The Seattle Robotics Society hosts a "Monday Night Chat" each week.

Starting at 7pm Pacific Daylight Time each Monday, the SRS holds an
informal chat session. This is a great opportunity to come ask live
questions of the SRS members, seek help for technical problems, or
just chat about stuff.

Directions:

The chat requires that you use an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) program.
Details on finding one are below.

For you experts, the chat is held on irc.freenode.net in the
#seattlerobotics group.

If you have problems you can use the web based IRC Client at

http://www.fenchurch.org/cgi-bin/cgiirc/irc.cgi

Where we will help you get another chat client setup.

For Mac Users:
http://colloquy.info/
(Umm I don't actually have experience setting this up, but you should
be able to figure it out from the mIRC directions below)

For Windows users:
1. Get the mIRC program from http://www.mirc.com/get.html Run its
setup program. Start the mIRC program
2. It will popup a small window titled mIRC Options. Click on the
Connect listing in the 'Category box'. You should see a control that
says IRC Servers with a set of small buttons down the right side (Add,
Edit, Delete, Sort).
3. Press the Add button to add a new entry. A small popup called
mIRC Add Server should appear. Fill in the text boxes as follows.

Description: SRS
IRC Server: irc.freenode.net
Ports: 6667
Group: #seattlerobotics
There is no password.
4. Click the Add button in this mIRC Add Server dialog.
5. You have now returned to the mIRC Options window. You should see
the edit boxes with IRC Servers: #seattlerobotics and a Seattle
Robotics below it. There should also be a Connect to IRC Server.
6. In the reset of the form, fill in your Name, Email Address. The
Nickname is often your first name and initial. Please use a Nickname
that identifies you to the rest of the group.
7. Press the Connect to IRC server button in the middle of the
dialog. This will connect you to the chat server. This has been known
to take a few moments, up to a minute or so, depending on how busy the
server is.
8. Once connected, another popup will appear. You can type in
#seattlerobotics and press the join key. You can also go to the status
window, and type /join #seattlerobotics.
9. If you are the first person for the night, you will be alone in
the room! Thats OK, just wait for others to join. Be sure you have the
correct spelling.

[claesson92]

You always got #robotics at irc.freenode.net

[garriwilson]

Hey, I just got this idea.
If John doesn't mind lets all nominate him for the nobel prize. Who knows maybe they'll give it for making the first robotics tutorial/forum website to help others for free. That's helping the whole world right?

Tell me what you guys think.

[Steve Joblin]

He's got my vote!!!  Here's a link to the details on how to nominate him... http://nobelprize.org/nomination/

[garriwilson]

He's got my vote!!!  Here's a link to the details on how to nominate him... http://nobelprize.org/nomination/

Oops, shouldn't we have asked first? Maybe he doesn't want us to. So...

Hey John do you want us to nominate you? (one of us already did hehe  )

[Admin]

You guys just made me happy

However there is not currently a nobel prize in robotics and probably won't be for a long time . . .

Only physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and economics

And I think I must be old to get one of these, no?

[garriwilson]

That would stink if you had to be old to get one. Don't think you do. Won't hurt to try huh?

[Alley]

I don't think ti would be useful for a robotics forum, exactly because of what john said.

[garriwilson]

Alley, can you point out one word he says about it not being useful? I'm not saying it is but saying you should read more carefully.

You guys just made me happy Cheesy

However there is not currently a nobel prize in robotics and probably won't be for a long time . . .

Only physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and economics Cry

And I think I must be old to get one of these, no? Tongue

That's what he said

[paulstreats]

i think alley was talking about the threads topic (chatroom) and not the nobel prize off topic part

[garriwilson]

Oops, sorry Alley.  (thanks for clearing that up paulstreats)
I thought you were talking about the nobel prize.
Yeah, now I understand that a chat isn't useful on a forum and could even make it worse.