RI IRC Chat Channel? Could we do that?

[Hammer of Los]

Would anybody be interested in setting up an IRC chat channel for RI?

Or are we all too paranoid for that?

I think it would be a real treat to converse with many of you in real time.

I've put a simple poll up, I hope no-one minds. I thought the issue had been raised before but I couldn't seem to find any reference via the board's search function.

[monster]

I've never used IRC before, but I think there's a Firefox extension that makes it really easy.

I voted yes.

[sunny]

We had a chat feature at the old Ez-board- I don't think anyone ever used it much. I did once. I think I chatted with Sweejak. I wouldn't mind having one here, it might be fun.

[Jeff]

If there's an interest I could add one here without much trouble. (Um, I think. It's never good for me to underestimate trouble when it comes to site design.)

[Hammer of Los]

Thank you very much for the kind offer Jeff.

Yes sunny, I remember some years ago there was a link from the old boards. I used to try it sometimes, but there was never anyone else there.

We shall have to have an auto-kicker for profanity, for dear old Fourthbase.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Sounds good.

I dunno how often I'd be there tho. I am usually here by myself - time zones being what they are.

[OP ED]

yes. though my use would be sparing. which would be better for all of us, really.

[Hammer of Los]

Not at all OP ED. Your voice is always welcome.

As are, er let me see. Well, I was going to say all are welcome.

Oh go on then, all are welcome. After all, we all inhabit this globe together, don't we?

And don't we all come to this board with the intention of honestly looking at the world (and ourselves), to seek to see it as it truely is? Well, alright, we come to this board for a bit of amusement too, granted. And why should we not find the world (and ourselves) amusing? Certainly I frequently amuse myself.

Unless of course some of you are actually paid a wee bit from somewhere to come on here and post and do a little meme management, a wee tad of marketing, a bit of friendly pr, propaganda, military psyop or any such. Which of course is almost impossibly unlikely.

And dear old Jeff even needed prodding into plugging his book. I shall buy myself a copy of course, and maybe some for my friends. I'm just wondering if any of my friends have the stomach for it. It's strong stuff Jeff, you are a fine writer. Your work is hypnotically disturbing.

But anyway, surely all are welcome. Both human and non-human.

[Lord Balto]

I wonder if a real chatroom might be better than one of those JAVA thingies. Something on Undernet? There's a #Philosophy channel and a #Mensa channel there. We might pick up some cross traffic.

[Hammer of Los]

No, I hate those JAVA thingies too.

Undernet? Why not? Sounds good to me.

[Lord Balto]

Anybody know how to start a chatroom?

[Hammer of Los]

I'm sure I could do it using mIRC, you should all get hold of this small but highly effective irc client;

http://www.mirc.com/get.html

[Hammer of Los]

A bit of info for you all about IRC;

What is IRC - IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988. Since starting in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries around the world. IRC is a multi-user chat system, where people meet on "channels" to talk in groups, or privately. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion, or the number of channels that can be formed on IRC. All servers are interconnected and pass messages from user to user over the IRC network. One server can be connected to several other servers and up to hundreds of clients. Several larger and smaller IRC networks exist.

On IRC several people can join the same channel and see each other. Depending on its topic and time of the day a channel can be VERY crowded. Channels can also be quite chaotic, or calm. Channels can be open to everyone but also closed and private and only open to friends. On the large IRC networks (EFnet) as many as 20000 channels can exist, on smaller networks there will be fewer channels. Channels on IRC are dynamic in the sense that anyone can create a new channel, and a channel disappears when the last person on it leaves.

We could start a #rigorous intuition channel of our own. But really, someone would have to have their pc on pretty much 24/7 to maintain this. They would be op and have responsibility for the channel as it were, for instance they would have the power to ban or unban people, moderate the language and so on. We might promote this on the forums as the "unofficial" RI chat channel, so long as Jeff didn't mind, and someone was willing to maintain the channel to some degree.

What do you all think?

[Hammer of Los]

Don't tell me, you are all too paranoid to participate.

Well, it's certainly true that being paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get us.

[Lord Balto]

I don't think we need to be on 24/7. In fact, a fixed time span might be a better idea. Kind of like an online RI meeting room. (Hmmm, the Rigorous Science Reading Room? :-) You know, 7-11 or something like that, and maybe extended hours on weekends. I don't know what you guys do on weekends...

And yes, mIRC is a good program. I actually paid for mine, so I don't get the nag screen.

In fact, I think I'll try setting up a room this afternoon and see what happens. For now, off to the Bamboo Wars!