• NELA
  • Honoured Member
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  • From: West Monroe, La. 71292
  • Registered: 2007-11-28
  • Posts: 1,303

Topic: Just had me a brain***t

To All

I may not be the first to ask this but I'ma gonna be the next one to ask it again. I know we all come from many different places and we all have our different mannerisms, hopes dreams and desires. If we were not all involved in music (guitars) a lot of us would not have anything in common. I enjoy reading and adding to the discussion here on the forum and plan on continuing for a very long time. What I want to ask is,

Is there some way we can get a "live internet chat room" going where we can talk (type) with each other in real time? I know a lot of us are in different time zones so there may need to be one in each of the different regions where we have members. I'm sure we got some computer "GURU's" who could make this work. I know this site would have to be blessed by the powers to be, Moderators would need to be put in place as this is a family community - BUT - I sure would like to get on the computer around 7:00PM, or so, and have some good friends to exchange info with. What ya'll think? Is this something worth looking into?


Nela

NELA's Website

  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Hi NELA,

  Quite a few of us already do a bit of that via Googletalk, which does require a Gmail account which is free.  It works well for one-on-one conversations either in text (typing) or voice, and Skype supports video conferencing, which we have also used.

  Personally I like the googletalk option, as it notifies you who is available (or not) at a glance and allows direct file transfer for things like photos or small audio clips etc..  Roger Guppy, Russell Harding, Riddler, and myself tried a video conference some months back, with fairly good results.... except that the bandwidth required for real-time video streaming tended to generate a long lag time.  It was great to be able to chat and see Roger over in Portugal, but half a planet away there was a 2-3 second delay while the data was winding it's way through the internet..... real time jammin' was out of the question!

  Your thought has merit however.  There would have to be enough interest to justify setting up a "chatroom" server within the Chordie infrastructure, which may be difficult to muster and support monetarily and logistically.

Discussion Anyone??

Take Care;
Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • From: NY
  • Registered: 2009-08-26
  • Posts: 4,320

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Hey guys... I've thought about this a LOT over the course of my time on Chordie.  I've done it before with my own website and it's easy and tricky at the same time.  The biggest issue of course would be having a moderator on at all times.  There's actually quite a bit of moderating that's done which the general membership doesn't always see.  With Chordie being an "open membership", anyone can become a member by providing an email address, ANYONE at any time.  I can go more indepth into my opinions on how the whole moderation and moderators monitoring everyone including each other works.  But suffice it to say, it would be tricky to keep the level of "family friendly" that we all appreciate here if a chat room were opened.  That is of course JUST MY OPINION... and final say is by Per.  Then there's the issue of bandwith to support a chat room within Chordie.  You only get so much with a paid hosting plan and being a FREE site for us... I have no clue if the current site could support it or if Per would have to spend more money just to make it happen.  300,000 members is a LOT of possible people on at once and there's OFTEN 75 registered users on at a time that could potentially be in chat. 

I like chat... but whenever there's a chat room, message boards tend to get used less.  That would mean there'd be less "free information" for those looking on the boards for help.  You can always search on forum posts to find answers to questions, you can't search on chat discussions.

Like Doug said, if there was enough interest... we could ask Per.

Soooooo anyhow... that's my opinion on the subject based on my personal experiences.  I'm sorry, I wish it was easier to institute a chat room because I for one would use it constantly!  LOL!

As for GoogleTalk... I have it on my cell, so I think I'm always signed into it.  So, if anyone wants to chat with me... it's mekidsmom (of course @gmail.com).  smile  I like googletalk.  I can use it on the computer like an IM program, or I can use it on my cell phone just like text messaging!

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

mekidsmom's Website

  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2007-02-08
  • Posts: 1,914

Re: Just had me a brain***t

I agree that a chat room could hurt the forums.
I'd like to see IM links posted with our avatars showing who is available and offering a direct link to IM with that member.... We have members IM contact info in their profile but I feel if it was posted with the forum posts and you could see who was signed into their IM provider it would stimulate more in depth discussion between members. I know there have been times when I've held back conversation so as not to steal a thread or clog up the forums... Most of the time it's not worth changing pages and doing the whole email thing but if I could just click and IM I think I'd know a lot of members better! Just my .02 -Pix

[b][color=#FF0000]If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something.
[/color][/b]         [b]Peace of mind. That's my piece of mind...[/b]

Guitarpix's Website

  • From: NY
  • Registered: 2009-08-26
  • Posts: 4,320

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Or private messaging within the site rather than email. ???

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

mekidsmom's Website

  • From: Ashville, Ohio
  • Registered: 2009-09-29
  • Posts: 304

Re: Just had me a brain***t

As I read this a thought occurred to me; if a chat room was established, some, maybe even much of the great information I gather from this site would simply be chatted between those chatting and then lost to those of us who come online and "catch-up" with the questions, answers and discussions all of the great folks on here have.  I, for one, thoroughly enjoy a daily dose of investigation of the forum and seeing what others have asked and then answered to further my knowledge about many things.  I would hate to lose that to a "chat" between two or more as it would not get kept in the archives as is done currently.
Just my two cents worth, but I find that I don't post nearly as much (or wouldn't chat) as much as I get on here at all times of the day and evening to gather knowledge.   I hope everybody keeps up the good efforts and realizes that not everybody wants to be actively involved as a chat would enable, but would at times rather have a passive involvement and be allowed to "peruse" the postings of the forums and gather info.   GREAT SITE!  GREAT PEOPLE!  GREAT INFO!   GREAT HELP!      THANK YOU   Yes, I know the caps make it seem like I am yelling and in this case, maybe I am.   Thanks to all for all you do!

Find a Path or Make One    This is a motto I have been following my entire life and one I am currently using with my music.
Big Jim from Ashville Ohio

Bass Viking's Website

  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Bass Viking brings up a valid point about chatting out of the forum depriving others from gleaning valuable(?) information from the discussions here on the general postings.  I could easily see something like that happening, and can also appreciate that there are a lot of members that are not as "active" who would miss out on stuff that may be of use to them.

Another thing is that taking communication out of the Chordie realm, may have a detrimental effect on the sense of "community" that makes Chordie unique.... just something else to consider I guess.

As for me personally, I tend at times to post things kind of out of the blue within my comments, little clues into other aspects of my life that may not be of interest to everyone.... more like conversational writing.  We all do a bit of that, comments about friends or family etc..  It helps us to get to know each other and understand varying viewpoints, personalities and such.  Which is a good  thing, but I think some of that "personal touch" would suffer as well.

Thanks;
Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • NELA
  • Honoured Member
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  • From: West Monroe, La. 71292
  • Registered: 2007-11-28
  • Posts: 1,303

Re: Just had me a brain***t

The last thing I would want to do is to take away from the forum BUT I do believe some type of chat room or IM where we could visit with one another and kinda get to know each other better would be good. I agree some ground rules would have to be put in place and strictly adhered too as this is a family forum. As things are now we make posts, receive comments, make more posts and receive more comments. I was just thinking of something that would be a little more interactive amoung us members. Would not need to be an everynight affair - maybe once or twice each week. I've been on other forums with thousands of members (none this big) and things went fine. Anyway, that's my thoughts.

nela

NELA's Website

  • KAP54
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  • From: London Ontario Canada
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,746

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Hi Nela, I recently joined a forum that is geared towards critiquing lyrics/songs. It is very friendly and there is tons to be learned on this site when it comes to writing music. They have what is called a "shoutbox" for this reason. Members can type in real time to each other (I'm a newb so I don't go on it) There is no bad language on it, I suspect because they'll get banned from the site.
Let me know if it's OK to post the link to the site so it can be checked out. Or I can Email it if you like. smile

I haven't been writing anything new, just learning how to tighten up what I've written so far and hopefully in the future.

Kenny

Just Keepin on Keepin on
Martin DC15E
Cort MR710F
Squire Strat (Chinese)
  • NELA
  • Honoured Member
  • Offline
  • From: West Monroe, La. 71292
  • Registered: 2007-11-28
  • Posts: 1,303

Re: Just had me a brain***t

Kap54 - e-mail me the site BUT since I do not know anyone there I'll probally not use their "Shoutbox". What I was referring to here was just to be able to go online and talk (type) with folks who have become friends over the years. I'm on site at least once a day - sometimes more - I read the posts of others, reply when I have something I believe is relevant, make posts of my own asking for help and guidence in making improvements to my playing ability and appriciating the reply's I get in return. If some type of "CHAT" happens, it happens. If not, oh well.

Nela

NELA's Website

  • From: NY
  • Registered: 2009-08-26
  • Posts: 4,320

Re: Just had me a brain***t

NELA I deleted your duplicate post (an accident I'm sure) and Riddler I deleted your "." post (wow what happened there boys?  LOL)

I guess the consensus is, if everyone wants to get together to chat it up - the best thing to do is contact via email, or look at the person's profile and contact them via the instant message program that's their favorite - off the chordie site.  I agree that a chat room would be nice on the site (or even a shout box), but I just think they would have to be monitored so strongly that it probably won't happen.  If anyone wants to attempt to contact Per and ask for it - go for it.  I'm sure he'd at least consider something if he had enough requests, like Doug said.

In the mean time, I think it's fair if anyone wants to set something up... maybe an unofficial Chordie online chat meet up, you could say, "If anyone's interested, meet me at 7PM EST on Google Talk and we'll all chat together" - you could do that.  I don't think there's anything wrong with inviting others to meet off site, it's been done before in person.

btw - I won't be on google chat tonight at 7PM EST ... LOL!  But if someone set the time up, I'd love to "get together" online to chat if the timing fit my personal schedule.  I have yahoo, aim, and googleTalk.

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

mekidsmom's Website