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Dear TechRepublic -- How about a chat room?

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11 replies

by garion11

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Not sure what the cost is (if you want me to research, definitely let me know) but have you guys ever thought of implementing a chat room to this wonderful site? I would think it wouldn't be that much more...and just imagine the dynamic it would add. What do you think? Is there one already in the works? If not, How about this idea?

11 replies

by apotheon

The cost of a chatroom would mostly be in bandwidth: that sort of mode of communication going on 24/7 sucks down a LOT of bandwidth, especially for frames-based and for constantly updated chatrooms. There are other issues as well that might arise, most important (in my opinion) being that it would probably annoy the heck out of a lot of TR regulars.

by jdclyde

Time zones. That whole darn global community thing again.

Just my two peso worth.

by apotheon

Anyone can create an IRC channel. Direct your IRC client to irc.freenode.net and type in something like "/join #techrepublic" and, if the channel doesn't already exist, you'll probably end up with it created right there in front of you. Better yet, being the first person on the scene, you'll be the sysop.

by mrafrohead

I made a chat room and proposed it a year or so ago...

It failed...

I run an IRC server at home, and I created a special place for those of us that wanted some live chat, but of the maybe 10 people that were interested, none of them showed...

Of course, I cancelled the chan and closed it all down...

I would LOVE to see one work, but don't hold your breath.

by hockeyist

...if you believe the media.
Anyone believe in using newer technology such as Skype. Apparently it works quite well with multiple users, or would that be toooo personal.

by apotheon

Of course, I'm opposed to the idea of a chatroom anyway, if only because it will suck some of the life out of the forums, and the discussion in the chatroom will almost certainly be more insipid by comparison.

by gunnar klevedal

For me, only typing with my index finger, any chat would never work, for others it would be an option among options. But I agree it would drain some sap from the forums

by apotheon

"lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge"
(from Merriam-Webster)

Feel free to ignore my previous post. There's so much insipidity in the discussion forum already that a chatroom could hardly do any damage.

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