Do you want CNCzone to add a on-line chat?

why dont you start up a mirc channel? preferably in the zirc server(thats where 3 other channels I use, including mine are)

I dont think its all that hard to set up, maybe if you would like I could take a look and set it up

Jon

what is mirc?

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) The original chat room.

mirc just happens to be the most popular windows irc application. There is a learning curve associated with using IRC... not sure that all the users here will want to adopt it.

http://webopedia.com/TERM/I/IRC.html

http://www.irchelp.org/

http://www.newircusers.com/

also several security issuses. Although predominately on the larger servers.

I voted yes even though the last chat room we had was a complete failure. ( It was never used ) I think it was hidden away too well, and when you did visit, there was no one to chat to. ( Solutions below )

There are many times that I see a user online that I would like to have a real time discussion with, but can only send them a PM. Often they dont see the PM until the next time they are online, and its too late.

In order for chat to work this time, I suggest the following features.

When ever a user enters the forum they are automatically logged into the chat room.

On each page of the zone, including threads, the chat room appears at the very end of the page. This will allow the user to continue surfing the zone without having to swap windows to chat. Also it will show others the current chatting that is happening.

An alert/invitation button should be in the chat room. Example, I see a user online who I wish to talk to, I go to the chat room at the end of the page and find his name, I click his name and it displays an alert on the page he is viewing. The alert tells him to look at the chat room at the end of the page.

Private chat feature. I want to have a real time private chat with a user. I go to the chat room and select the users name and send a private chat request. He accepts the private chat request and the chatting is done in a private room.

I have seen all these features in other chat rooms, so I know it can be done. I feel sure it can also be inserted in the current forum as a frame or inline frame or just in a table. If it was done in a frame it would mean only the chat part of the page would need to be updated, and not the whole page. Unlike if it was done in a table. All chat rooms update every few seconds so as to display the changing text.

I think not, mainly because it could take a lot off of the forum, its always fun for chatting about stuff in general or other simple stuff.

Jon

Forcing people to log into a chat room is prolly a bad idea, IMNSHO. I know I wouldn't want to be forced into doing it.

Also, we don't want it to take anything away form the database of information we're building here.

Setting up an IRC room would be cool, but only as an off-top area, for reason stated above.

I set up an irc room a couple days ago, its just sitting there with only me in it from time to time;) If cncadmin wants me to post where I have it, I will.

Jon

You can post it, but I did have a chat ion the site before and it never was used and so I think once again most people rather just use the forums. In the meantime i will just chat with you guys as we do, through msn. I just thought it would be cool to integrate something on the site.

You can post it, but I did have a chat ion the site before and it never was used and so I think once again most people rather just use the forums. In the meantime i will just chat with you guys as we do, through msn. I just thought it would be cool to integrate something on the site.


It seems that this is a multi national site, so many members have drastically different time schedules. That alone is what makes the forums so useful, because the chat doesn't have to be real time. It is also nice to be able to search through the archives of information on the forums, which you can't do with live chat.

I use Zirc server, and the channel is #cnczone

If you download mIRC go to the connect and set it from all to zirc and enter your nick and stuff like that, then connect either add or connect using the next box that opens when you connect or type /join #cnczone and hit enter

Ill be in it from time to time

Jon

Any new data on this?

i think an irc chat is the way to go.

The chat we have now is what I have to offer. I have been improving the chat and will continue.

yea there is nothing wrong with the chat you have, if we can get people in there. also i have heard it does not work well with firefox and a few other browsers, but maybe its better now since you have worked on it.

I'm on other sites unrelated to CNC, But being able to go into chat and get a quick awnser to a questions is valuable... Like being in the middle of doing things and have to stop and search for solution in forum, or post and just wait a day or days for an anwser.

Joe

I hear ya, I'm working on a solution.

The problem with chat rooms is that when there is no one there, no one logs on. And when its full, or busy, to many different conversations are being run and it gets to confusing.
What I like about this forum the way it is:
Questions are usually answered within 30 minutes.
You can ask a question, review your post to see if you asked the right question, and you can make changes if you find that you called the resolver and encoder or if you called the potato a tomato. (you get the idea).

The whole idea behind the chat room, as I see it, is to instantly be able to tap into the knowledge the users of this forum have.

So lets take a better look at it..
From my humble take, there are a dozen or so users (maybe 2 dozen) who provide 90% of the knowledge available in this forum. There maybe others who have the knowledge, but they don't readily disclose it as reliably or as quickly (30 minutes) as the dozen or so "stars". (Yes, you guys know who you are)
Personally, I would rather ask a question, and let the smart guys think about the answer and take their time answering back to me at their own pace as opposed to forcing them to answer a question immediately because I can pop open an alert to them or something.
I don't want to turn them off because they feel trapped in some chat room.

Also, I find myself reading over the "answers" many times... I find myself reading other peoples questions and the answers they get.

I would not want to loose that to a chat room that has no "record" of the knowledge.

But then I'm just a chip sweeper... LOL

Murphy

murphy625's answer says exactly how I feel.

Skippy

Murphy, I see your points and agree 100%.
HOWEVER, over time you will come across a situation where you need to have a real time conversation with an individual. In these cases you can suggest for that person to go to the chat room. I use Messneger for conversations all the time, unfortunately not every one has the same type of instant messaging program. This is where the chat room gives a common sharing resource.
Its not as an alternative to thread chat, but an additional tool for occasional use.
I would hate to lose it, Not that I use it often.

Feel free to use my irc channel I have allready set up for users. I own the server so security is not an issue. you can join either 2 ways. go to http://www.uicn.net
then at the top right click chat when connected type this /join #cnczone with / and pound sign I am the only one set to moderate the channel but if One of the moderaters here would like to have it I will gladly turn the channel over to them to use at their discression. 2'nd way is to have an irc client like scoop script etc then join earthquake.uicn.net
I am having shoulder surgery this afternoon so I probibly wont be on there this evening. But I am usually there every evening around 7pm est Feel free to join me there if you like.

@Murphy625:
You may be a chip sweeper, but you certainly made a good point!

Those who have the answers do not sit there waiting for questions to pop up on the screen! And introducing yet another feature that may even be intrusive will naot attract them.

My suggestion is to remove some features so it is possible to dive in, check the topics, pick topics that seems interesting or well founded questions, and then be done.

I think CncZone is getting into feature overload already. If chat is mandatory, I'll say goodbye!

@Murphy625:
You may be a chip sweeper, but you certainly made a good point!

Those who have the answers do not sit there waiting for questions to pop up on the screen! And introducing yet another feature that may even be intrusive will naot attract them.

My suggestion is to remove some features so it is possible to dive in, check the topics, pick topics that seems interesting or well founded questions, and then be done.

I think CncZone is getting into feature overload already. If chat is mandatory, I'll say goodbye!

What features would you want to see removed? :confused:

1. Those that increase load times. (Most important)
2. Those that use screen space. (Less important)

It seems to me that elements that could be static are made dynamic, and thus not cached locally. I'm not a webpage expert, but do some net stats here from time to
time. And the zone peaks them. I am not worried about bothering the electrons in
my net cables, it just tells me why speed suffers. With the variety of users here I would think someone could analyze it and suggest where to put the grinder to "tune the engine".

Example: This front page loads in 2 seconds here: http://5128.rapidforum.com/
Hitting "Letzte Themen" (New topics) loads 50 topics in less than 1 second!!
Picking a topic, it is immediately there. Less than 1 second.

Frontpage here loads in 25sec. from first item + 5 sec. before that.
Last topics is 30seconds. (Usually somewhat faster, but I think there's a server problem today.)
Picking a topic, it loads in 5-15 seconds.

Not a lot of time some may say? But when competing for time it is. And when looking
for qualified advice, you want to attract people that most of the time are quite busy.

And why do I whine? Because the point when I wanted answers to simple questions are a thing of the past. I've seen *very* qualified people dropping in here and giving highly qualified advice for a week or two, then they're gone. I should also mention that there are some few that are still here, not mentioning names, you know who they are.

Peter's CNC Ecke have many professionals that use a few minutes each day to contribute to the forum. As it takes less than a minute to do so, I suspect they do it during coffe breaks. Pop in..answer a question..pop out.

I don't write this to pick on you. You've done a great work, and asking before introducing a new feature shows you care for the user. What disappoints me is that only 27 users bothered to vote so far, and even fewer bothered to write.

I hear what you saying but I disagree, with the this site being slow. I belong to many on-line forums and comparing other in terms of speed this one is the fastest. I'm on this site ALL day and never tell myself man this is slow. I have a friend who as a site with many servers, load balancers and over 180,000 members. With all that I can stand how slow his site loads be despite all that he still get 1,000s of posts a day and well over 200 new members a day. CNCzone has been breaking records with daily posts, sign-ups. The site you mentioned, loads fast but how many people are on it at one time more than 100? I have not added any new features, unless you count the review section and the classifieds. So I understand your point, and speed is on the top of the list that's why I bought a dedicated server.