I wanted to test this phpchat system to see if its something we want to adopt here at Iranian.com.
It’s pretty simple (at least it seems so right now).
You have to be logged in with your Iranian.com user to see the empty chat box directly below this blog entry. You “connect” to the room using the little globe/lighting icon at the bottom of the main chat window, righ above the [B] bold key.
Once inside you can chat with whoever else is there.
Some special commands can be given (no quotes when you actually type them in)
- type “/join #ROOMNAME” to join a new room which shows up as a new tab in the window. There you can have a private chat with other people who are also in the room.
- “/connect” to initially come in (just like pressing the globe button) and “/quit” to leave.
- “/privmsg NAME MESSAGE” to send MESSAGE to username NAME privately. So that only the target user sees the message. If a name has more than one word use double quotes.
If this sounds familiar to some of you that’s because this software is based on old-school IRC. It’s hard to believe but chat technology was mature and popular over a decade before “blogging”. I still remember using IRC on text-only terminals back in the day.
Anyway, if this works out, we can allow every blog to have an optional chat box as well. Maybe we can have private conversations or debates happen here instead. It is also a more intimate medium. There will be abuse, as there is with everything. I don’t know how JJ wants to handle it, but we’ll see how bad it gets first. I don’t know if profanity should be any cause for penalty as much as things that physically prevent others from having a conversation. But it’s up to JJ to make a “policy” be it written or not.
Speaking of abuse, we just changed the comment flagging system too. Any logged in user can flag comments (as before). For any comment that is flagged, the system asks for a “reason”. The comment and the reason are placed in a queue for editors to review. The comment can be deleted or un-flagged. The flag status would be reflected at the bottom of the comment. This system also sends JJ an email for every comment flagged as abuse. The previous system had a number of technical glitches and problems. For example editors could flag a comment and it would “disappear” while in pending status. It could reappear if deemed OK, or it could be gone forever. Now it’s never gone until an editor deletes it. And there’s email tied to it.
I’ll be back at 1PM Pacific so we can do some more chatting together. If possible please join me at that time, I would like to see if the system breaks with a lot of users. The more the better.
Goodbye for now
-foaad
UPDATE: Chat room is now here: http://iranian.com/main/chat
