remember that IRC idea?
Submitted by scott on April 29 1999 at 17:52:17
|
hey CBF fans, the irc chat room is actually up and running. scary, isn't it? i would like to thank the man who set it up, i had nothing to do with it. he did all the work. i am not sure if he would like credit or not, so thank you sir for your help. i appreciate it very much. i had a few things i wanted your opinions on. 1: should this be a public room or a private room? my thoughts are as follows, but i would like to hear others, as this is a room for everyone. public: benefits are that anyone can drop in, and it is more open, and observers can come and see what is going on. it also gives us more accountability, as all of our actions and words are open to all. it also invites diverse opinions, and will encourage thought. liabilities are that flamers and hate-mongers are also welcome to show up, and give us a hard time. also, everything we say is open to all, so it is not great for personal or private-type things. private: benefits are that we can be more open, as we know who each person there is. there will be less of a trust issue, and little worry about being "tracked down" (more on that later...) we could set specific topics, or have directed bible studies. liabilities are that it is kind of an exclusive club, and will not encourage spontaneous conversation, and a few others that just skipped my mind. 2: should the room be public, how do we deal with flamers? the option is there to kick people out and ban them, but that is hardly a Christian response. however, the room might be for us to support each other and talk over problems, so should we allow them to disrupt us? is it worth more to be able to talk freely and openly amongst ourselves, than to allow any and all to be present? 3: the third and kind of final question, that i feel will answer the first two, is what direction would people like this room to go in? a support forum, a talking and chatting forum, a bible study, a witnessing program, a way to get public knowledge of us as a group out? all or none of the above? other things people might like to do or see? now that your brains are taxed and steaming, here are a few technical details. i have pasted a very short thing from the site http://www.irchelp.org look there for the full version, and for a very detailed explanation of IRC. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) provides a way of communicating in real time with people from all over the world. It consists of various separate networks (or "nets") of IRC servers, machines that allow users to connect to IRC. The largest nets are EFnet (the original IRC net, often having more than 32,000 people at once), Undernet, IRCnet, DALnet, and NewNet. Generally, the user (such as you) runs a program (called a "client") to connect to a server on one of the IRC nets. The server relays information to and from other servers on the same net. Recommended clients: UNIX/shell: ircII Windows: mIRC or PIRCH Macintosh: Ircle Be sure to read the documentation for your client! Once connected to an IRC server on an IRC network, you will usually join one or more "channels" and converse with others there. On EFnet, there often are more than 12,000 channels, each devoted to a different topic. Conversations may be public (where everyone in a channel can see what you type) or private (messages between only two people, who may or may not be on the same channel). IRC is not a "game", and I highly recommend you treat people you meet on IRC with the same courtesy as if you were talking in person or on the phone, or there may be serious consequences. Channel names usually begin with a #, as in #irchelp . The same channels are shared among all IRC servers on the same net, so you do not have to be on the same IRC server as your friends. Each user is known on IRC by a "nick", such as smartgal or FunGuy. To avoid conflicts with other users, it is best to use a nick that is not too common, e.g., "john" is a poor choice. Channels are run by channel operators, or just "ops" for short, who can control the channel by choosing who may join (by "banning" some users), who must leave (by "kicking" them out), and even who may speak (by making the channel "moderated")! Channel ops have complete control over their channel, and their decisions are final. What you type What happens /join #coolness You join the channel #coolness. /who #coolness gives some info on users in the channel. @ = channel op, while * means IRC op. hello everyone Everyone on #coolness sees /me is a pink bunny Everyone in #coolness sees * yournick is a pink bunny /leave #coolness You leave the channel. /whois Tomm You get some info about Tomm or whatever nickname you entered. /whois yournick This is some info others see about you. /nick newnick hanges your nick to "newnick" Etiquette Typing in all caps, LIKE THIS, is considered "shouting" and should be avoided.For further information about these issues, as well as about other commands, visit the web site i pasted this direct from the above, site, so thank you to www. irchelp.org for their wonderful information (i hope that is legal), and please check them out if you need more info. please let me know what you think about the above questions. also, to the webmaster,someone suggested to me the possiblility of CBF hosting its own chat server type thing. is that a feasible possibility? just a question i am passing on to you... thanks guys scott |