With the wiki and the forum up and running, the only thin we don't have is an IRC or chat channel. Is that something I need to look into?
Well, that and ERE City and ERE Park..
See firefox instructions for freenode or the equivalent web-only instructions or other posts in this thread for how to log on.
An advantage of a chat system (chat room) brings to light faster responses to comments. The forum is great, and one can take a lot of time to set thoughts on print, but, these thoughts can really get misunderstood at times. I might comment that grey haired old people are totally clueless. Someone might get offended and write me back a scalding rebuttal. In chat, I could quickly come back and say that I was only talking about my stupid neighbor, and that I did not mean "all" old people. That's an off the brain example but you will get the gist of it. Chat being more of a discussion between folks. It is more like talking about something and not just leaving a thought that someone may take out of context. In chat you would have the immediate opportunity to clarify, rather than waiting until you can get back on the forum, and thereby have to write a long "undo" or "restatement" of your comment.
I think the above makes sense? Also if we were in a chat situation, I could have probably given you this comment with a lot less wording.
I would say have a chat if possible. There of course will be those who prefer the forum, and those who prefer the blog comment section. I would go for all of it. Also, I think "cliques" would be formed in chat. That's not so much the case in forum, as if you don't like something I say, you can just ignore my post. Here, to date, I would not think the chat would need moderation, but I could be wrong.
Haven't been on irc in a long time, but can't you just start a channel? Hang out at #earlyretirementextreme and see who shoes up. In my experience, it'll probably end up filled with peole saying nothing for hours.
It might be worth starting, but I don't know if there's too much to say about ERE in a chatroom. Particularly since people are in all different time zones.
You only need to nominate a particular channel at a particular server to be the official irc room for us. Then you put some link on the forums and home page named "IRC" that will take people to a page with quick instructions on what is the channel and server. For the less nerdy, probably there would be some link for a web interface for irc (this kind of thing probably exists). I thought about irc after the wiki was set up, as sometimes there is some things that you want to discuss with some people before changing or erasing text. And irc is much better for this. Most of the time probably there would be some three people there, but maybe we can organize some irc party.
I agree with Bigato. IRC would be fun, but only at "scheduled times" when a lot of people could be on. Being in a chatroom full (or empty) of AFK people isn't super exciting.
> Well, that and ERE City and ERE Park..
I look forward to one of that :-)
Maybe someone (bigato?) provide a time and noob instructions in the meetup forum? I have never been on IRC myself.
I would say by far most of the people visiting the blog are on EST and PST times. While there are people from all over the world, it's pretty US dominated.
Might as well make have one, it takes almost no time and effort to setup.
Jacob, what are the limitations of your hosting? I mean, could you run a irc server there? If not, we're gonna look at some public one.
Well, maybe even if you can run one, you could have less work if we just set up public one at freenode.net. ERE would be on-topic to them, according the their FAQ.
IMO there's no need to setup an ERE IRC server, as it wouldn't get enough traffic to warrant an entire IRC configuration. There are many "open" servers that you (Jacob) can virtually set up shop in. Then you can set up a simple web page on the ERE site with pjIRC's java applet configured to auto join said channel. Ask if you need help with this as I have a lot of experience with IRC. Some servers I would recommend:
irc.efnet.net:6667 The big daddy of all IRC servers, 25,000+ channels, has been around for 19 years. Info: http://stats.efnet.org/
irc.ext3.net:6667 I know the people who run this, and am already connected to this server around 12 hours a day, so I may be biased, but it is reliable and more "private" than a globally hosted option(efnet) Info: http://ext3.net/stats/list-of-channels-with-stats/ext3/
irc.freenode.net An excellent server, but they have strict guidelines on channel creation. Look into it to avoid being shut down. Info: http://freenode.net/policy.shtml
Or you can whip up your own html chat from 1995 like 99.com :P
I vote on freenode as they already have a web page for accessing their irc: http://webchat.freenode.net/
Their rules for on--topic channels include:
"Web Media. Members of blogger communities are welcome to set up channels associated with their sites or communities. Owners of forum or reference sites are welcome. "
If anyone wants to join, I am at #ere in freenode.net. You can use a irc client available at your plataform or just log through the web link above. A channel does not need to be registered to be used on freenode; but maybe it is a good idea for Jacob to register it to avoid someone taking over it.
The help on how to connect is available on http://freenode.net/using_the_network.shtml
Jacob, you could just copy the essential part of that page and put the original link for further instructions.
We're chatting. Come say hi.
Another option is skype. I always thought of skype as voice/video chat but they actually do a very nice job with group text chatting. I like it better than any other IM programs for group chats. I've used it in other contexts and it's been great.
You set up a conversation (sort of a persistent chat room) and whoever is online can see the conversation in that room whenever they login. You have to add people to the room, which I like, but if the point is being available for people to just wander in and ask questions then it wouldn't work as well. I guess it depends on what is wanted, though.
Isn't IRC basically global? It shouldn't matter which server you use. I'm there now, but akratic is ignoring me. Wake up, dude!
akratic use to let his computer logged "holding" the irc room even while he is
not there. If he is near his computer, just say his nick on irc and it will
beep there and drag his attention.
For those of you using Firefox, you can download the Chatzilla extension. To access the channel, follow these steps:
Tools >> Chatzilla >> select "freenode" from the list of available networks; simply click on it >> once the server connects, type "/join #ere" minus the quotation hashes and you'll enter the channel. You can right-click on the #ere tab and select "Open this channel at Start-up," so when you open Chatzilla any subsequent times, you'll automatically log into the #ere channel without any additional actions beyond opening Firefox and Chatzilla.
A couple commands are as follows:
/nick ____ - Substitute the underscored area for the nickname you wish to use (you can add |____ to show your nick and then AFK/lunch/sleep, et cetera)
/join #___ - Substitute the underscored area for the channel you wish to join
/server ____ - Substitute the underscored area for the server to which you wish to connect
/me ___ - Substitute the underscored area for the action you wish to perform, eg. Nick goes to get lunch.
/quit - To log out of the channel and server and to close Chatzilla
I don't think I'm missing any majorly important commands off the top of my head.
If someone does not want to install that extension, you can also just
go to the url: http://webchat.freenode.net/
and then you use the same commands that Rex told us above.
I tried out the http://webchat.freenode.net - put in my username and #ere for channel and bam there I was. Very easy. Takes 30 seconds and requires no downloads.
Would anyone be interested in attending a virtual meetup? Perhaps we can schedule on a weekend so we can have multiple time zones attend. Perhaps a Sunday morning block of time? Would that work for some people who would be interested?
Edit: Sunday Morning Mountain Standard Time, which is GMT - 7:00, you have to add 8 hours to get to most European countries.
If I'm home during the scheduled time, I would definitely attend. I think this is a great idea!
Signing onto the empty #ere channel is no fun, but the chat room was great the first day when we had enough people for a conversation.
I think you probably need to just pick a date and time and see what happens. Asking people for input when scheduling group things never seems to work.
I've been logging on here and there, mostly no one's around, but occasionally I get a few words in.
It would be good to chat to more people, I'm usually on around 5pm or midnight Western US time (I think!)
OK, here goes my attempt at getting a Virtual Meetup going.
Let's aim for the Virtual Meetup Day of Friday, December 23. If you are interested in trying to catch some people in the forum, sign in any time, day or night, on Friday, December 23.
Signing in cannot be easier. In your browser, navigate to http://webchat.freenode.net, put in your desired nickname, put in #ere for Channel, and then fill in the Captcha. Click connect. It may take a few seconds, but this will directly pull you in to the chat room. No downloads required.
I will sign in at approximately 8AM Mountain time (10AM Eastern, 4PM CET) and will be in most of the day. I have the day off work; I intend to spend some time puttering around the house working on a few things, but will likely pop on and off the computer throughout the day and possibly evening in support of Virtual Meetup day.
I'll try to get my arse online sometime then!
Ok, that's 2am on the 24th Australian time.
I might be on around 9/10 am here, which is 5pm on the 23rd Mountain time.
Heys, I'll be on for the next few hours, if anyone wants to chat about ERE, Investing or any old thing just pop in, be patient, I'm also making a cheesecake :).
Get on IRC, people! It's really not that difficult to set up; and even if no one's talking, it's worth idling there in case anyone starts.
I just logged on to the IRC. That was so EASY to do, i am a bit surprised! Awesome cant wait for the next IRC meetup!
21 January is the next meetup day - so it's in essence started now! See you guys around.
I'll be on for a bit of today, come say hello :).
sorry matt... i was having dinner and didn't see you talked to me there...
Bigato and I are on now if anyone wants to join =)
I'll be on for the next few hours.
Pop in and say G'day :).
Same as usual, it's a Saturday here, so I'll be on if anyone's keen.
Few of us are faffing around now. Come keep me company while I do corrections!
Been awhile guys, I'm on now!
Come talk with me :)
I'll be on for the next few hours, so come and say g'day!
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