All in favor of a new & different chat say...
F150online
Founder
Founder
Joined: Nov 1996
Posts: 3,008
Likes: 0
From: Roswell, GA USA
Angela, I encourage you to use another site's chat service if you feel that it is that important to you. I know after running this site for nearly five years that whatever I choose to do will not please 100% of the people anyway and it is very likely I will never satisfy you on this issue.
Under the current financial condition of this site, the chat service is not going to be changed, regardless of the number of threads you start to complain about it or number of emails you send me.
Your continued public and private complaints about the current chat server clearly display a lack of understanding of how costly and potentially time consuming a change would be, regardless of what I have stated.
You can oversimplify it as much as you'd like, but a change would not be trivial and despite what you think, it would not have that great an impact on the F150online community as a whole.
Additionally, you seem to have a complex about being banned. It is a recurring theme from you and it almost seems like you want to be banned for some strange reason. Do you want to be a martyr?
Under the current financial condition of this site, the chat service is not going to be changed, regardless of the number of threads you start to complain about it or number of emails you send me.
Your continued public and private complaints about the current chat server clearly display a lack of understanding of how costly and potentially time consuming a change would be, regardless of what I have stated.
You can oversimplify it as much as you'd like, but a change would not be trivial and despite what you think, it would not have that great an impact on the F150online community as a whole.
Additionally, you seem to have a complex about being banned. It is a recurring theme from you and it almost seems like you want to be banned for some strange reason. Do you want to be a martyr?
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 979
Likes: 0
From: Tampa Bay Area - FL
Ok, usually I agree with CL, but I have one thing to say first. AOL Instant Messenger Chat Room.
Steve, get your server(s) stable man. I am a network/systems/e-mail admin and I know how frustrating it can be...trust me.
Do what you gotta do. Sorry CL. The man has a good point. Server stability is the most important thing....next to funding. Without either, you have no site...thus, not chat room.
Just thought I'd chime in there.
Steve, get your server(s) stable man. I am a network/systems/e-mail admin and I know how frustrating it can be...trust me.
Do what you gotta do. Sorry CL. The man has a good point. Server stability is the most important thing....next to funding. Without either, you have no site...thus, not chat room.
Just thought I'd chime in there.
Thread Starter
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Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 336
Likes: 0
From: Buffalo, NY US
I am not oversimplifying matters. I did not say it's not a major undertaking or a costly one either. But, to continue to pay for a defective chat goes beyond any semblamce of reason, not just for myself but for all of us. It just seems if you're paying for something that does not work, you'd want to fix it IF POSSIBLE or change it. Let's just say this is the "Firestone" of chats. Were I in your position, I'd get Goodyears instead.
Martyr? I can only wish I were of the caliber necessary to be in that class - I'm not that good. As for the complex about being banned, I'm going by past actions taken at this site as well as the warnings I've received from others who said if I openy disagree with management, banning is possible. My response to those admonitions were I doubted you were vindictive & didn't feel it would/could happen. So, in my own way I guess I've "gone to bat" for you in the past.
I'll make sure I never, EVER report any problem to you from this point on. Knowing you're too busy to keep on top of things, that you have a life & cannot be monitoring the site for problems & glitches I THOUGHT I was helping. From now on, you can wait to hear about problems from others or when they become so big you have no choice but to hear about them. I'm done trying to save you time or alerting you when things go wrong so you can fix it before it gets out of hand.
For the record - I won't ask to be permanently banned. If you choose not to ban me that's fine. I'll use the boards as I do now.
Nice "talking" with you as always. I have 1 suggestion though - before this post causes you any more aggravation, why not lock/delete it. As you've stated emphatically chat is staying as it is so it doesn't pay to let anyone else complain - it's a moot point anyhow.
Martyr? I can only wish I were of the caliber necessary to be in that class - I'm not that good. As for the complex about being banned, I'm going by past actions taken at this site as well as the warnings I've received from others who said if I openy disagree with management, banning is possible. My response to those admonitions were I doubted you were vindictive & didn't feel it would/could happen. So, in my own way I guess I've "gone to bat" for you in the past.
I'll make sure I never, EVER report any problem to you from this point on. Knowing you're too busy to keep on top of things, that you have a life & cannot be monitoring the site for problems & glitches I THOUGHT I was helping. From now on, you can wait to hear about problems from others or when they become so big you have no choice but to hear about them. I'm done trying to save you time or alerting you when things go wrong so you can fix it before it gets out of hand.
For the record - I won't ask to be permanently banned. If you choose not to ban me that's fine. I'll use the boards as I do now.
Nice "talking" with you as always. I have 1 suggestion though - before this post causes you any more aggravation, why not lock/delete it. As you've stated emphatically chat is staying as it is so it doesn't pay to let anyone else complain - it's a moot point anyhow.
F150online
Founder
Founder
Joined: Nov 1996
Posts: 3,008
Likes: 0
From: Roswell, GA USA
Comments, suggestions and feedback are always welcome, always considered and quite often acted upon. This site would never have grown to the level that is has and been emulated by other sites if I acted like an ivory tower and insisted that everything I've done is the right way to do things. Some may see it that way, but it is far from reality.
However, starting threads with titles like "All in favor of a new & different chat say..." is a surefire way of not garnering my support, especially when the issue of the chat server has been covered before. At the same time, discussion of the current technical problems surrounding the server have been posted on these forums for the last couple of months.
Priorities are priorities and chat is not a priority. Sorry if that upsets you and a few other people. If the end result of this decision means losing a couple of dozen people in order to stabilize the platform that runs the forums that draw thousands of people each day, well then I think the priority is clear and it is a risk that I have to take for the good of F150online as a whole.
As the most vocal advocate of chat on this site, I can probably see how you may find this decision as a personal attack. It is not meant to be and I apologize if it was perceived that way.
(incidentally, the chat server is a one-time, non-recurring cost, not a monthly expense)
However, starting threads with titles like "All in favor of a new & different chat say..." is a surefire way of not garnering my support, especially when the issue of the chat server has been covered before. At the same time, discussion of the current technical problems surrounding the server have been posted on these forums for the last couple of months.
Priorities are priorities and chat is not a priority. Sorry if that upsets you and a few other people. If the end result of this decision means losing a couple of dozen people in order to stabilize the platform that runs the forums that draw thousands of people each day, well then I think the priority is clear and it is a risk that I have to take for the good of F150online as a whole.
As the most vocal advocate of chat on this site, I can probably see how you may find this decision as a personal attack. It is not meant to be and I apologize if it was perceived that way.
(incidentally, the chat server is a one-time, non-recurring cost, not a monthly expense)
Last edited by webmaster; Aug 30, 2001 at 06:59 PM.
CHAT
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 2,233
Likes: 0
My knowlege about chat servers is limited, but this is what I know. If I had a choice, I'd install the ChatSpace Community Server software. It comes with both IRC and java client. In other words you can chat using something like mIRC or go to a java page and use that interface to chat.
It requires the following cut and pasted from the ChatSpace page:
The ChatSpace Community Server product needs to be installed on a computer that is connected to the Internet. If you don't have your own web server equipment, click here to find out how we can host your ChatSpace Community Server site for you.
Windows NT 4.0 or 2000
256MB of RAM
100MB of disk space
Java-enabled Web browser (for administration)
Network connection
So, to run this software you need a somewhat upper end computer to act as a server that's running the proper operating system. If you have it already, then you can eliminate that cost. However, the software costs $1,500. That's a lot of money and computer resources to invest.
Now, you may think that a free service would suffice, but for a commercial venture such as F150online, you need a commercial product to be legal, dependable, and controllable.
I know about ChatSpace because a group of friends and I have this software and have it running on a server for our personal use. One guy has the resources to run it at his work place and his bosses don't mind.
We all access chat with mIRC because we prefer that particular interface. We have to use the java page to do administrative things such as registering and protecting our nicks with passwords and setting our status (owner) so we can kick, boot, and ban users. Not that we ever need to because nobody but us knows the url anyway.
We went with ChatSpace because using a free server was not an option because we wanted privacy and control. Free software was very limited, so we bit the bullet and went with a commercial program. We have not been disappointed and are 100% satisfied with it.
So, if people really want a dependable chat, ChatSpace is probably the one you want. Is anybody willing to pay for the software and provide the server and bandwidth to run it?
That's what it comes down to. MONEY.
You can check out ChatSpace at: http://chatspace.com
P.S. Don't ask to try our server. It's private.
It requires the following cut and pasted from the ChatSpace page:
The ChatSpace Community Server product needs to be installed on a computer that is connected to the Internet. If you don't have your own web server equipment, click here to find out how we can host your ChatSpace Community Server site for you.
Windows NT 4.0 or 2000
256MB of RAM
100MB of disk space
Java-enabled Web browser (for administration)
Network connection
So, to run this software you need a somewhat upper end computer to act as a server that's running the proper operating system. If you have it already, then you can eliminate that cost. However, the software costs $1,500. That's a lot of money and computer resources to invest.
Now, you may think that a free service would suffice, but for a commercial venture such as F150online, you need a commercial product to be legal, dependable, and controllable.
I know about ChatSpace because a group of friends and I have this software and have it running on a server for our personal use. One guy has the resources to run it at his work place and his bosses don't mind.
We all access chat with mIRC because we prefer that particular interface. We have to use the java page to do administrative things such as registering and protecting our nicks with passwords and setting our status (owner) so we can kick, boot, and ban users. Not that we ever need to because nobody but us knows the url anyway.
We went with ChatSpace because using a free server was not an option because we wanted privacy and control. Free software was very limited, so we bit the bullet and went with a commercial program. We have not been disappointed and are 100% satisfied with it.
So, if people really want a dependable chat, ChatSpace is probably the one you want. Is anybody willing to pay for the software and provide the server and bandwidth to run it?
That's what it comes down to. MONEY.
You can check out ChatSpace at: http://chatspace.com
P.S. Don't ask to try our server. It's private.