The ICR/Chatzy Q&A/Debate/Speculation/Preparation/Etc. Thread

[Citizen]

All right, I'm getting a little sick of seeing one to three new chat threads a day. From now on, let's keep all chat related material to this thread. I'll be locking the rest of the threads, but putting the links here, so that we don't lose past information/arguements. Feel free to repost stuff you put into the older threads.

IRC Channels: The confusion grows (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=189)

Let's try an IRC chat... (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94&page=1)

Tutorial on IRC (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168)

irc.ephemereal.com / #op9 (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111)

IRC Chat (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97)

OP9 Chat (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5)


I'll be locking any new chat threads that pop up(unless it's an official one by Az or whatnot) and linking them here, so please, just use this thread. And don't flood it with spam. Only post if you have something constructive to add.

[silentplummet]

Update. I found an HTTP/IRC client and I'm installing it on my server as we speak.

[Shinigami]

so...
Mods, declare one to use.

[silentplummet]

That's premature.

[valentine]

I don't think it's pre-mature, the blitzed one generally has 10 people or more at any given tme. Don't be a splitter.

[Citizen]

True, one of them already has people in it. But if Silent and Az can get us one with a link right on the site that requires no dling, I say we switch to that.

We need to see what/who can deliver the highest quality and easiest access before deciding. It would indeed be a bit premature to just decide right now.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I formally throw my hat into the arena as a chat provider. I have 400 carrier pigeons at my disposal to pass notes the old fashioned way. The benefits are numerous, stemming from the ability to pass notes without access to electricity, which would increase our popularity in the third world, as well as the ability to reduce bandwidth restrictions for the site by sending packets by paper.

The only downside is the lack of instantaneous communication, and the fact that the pigeons can't go very far, and sometimes (read: almost always) don't bother to come back.

I still contribute my pigeons to the war effort.

Pour liberté et égalité!

[silentplummet]

You may start to experience packet loss when I begin catching the pigeons and eating them for dinner.

Citizen, not only can I get one with a link right on the site, we can get it as irc.outpostnine.com.

[Citizen]

Would you be willing to do that?

[silentplummet]

It's not under my control. Az owns the name so he has to redirect a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) irc.outpostnine.com to *Edit: snip* my server.

In truth I don't fully understand DNS so I might just be making up bullshite, but I believe that's how it works.

If push comes to shove I can always register outpostnine.net and use it for that same purpose.

[Citizen]

Maybe you should PM Az and try to work out a plan of action with him.

[silentplummet]

I think that's a good idea, but I didn't want to appeal to the Man directly at first. He has no reason to trust me and he didn't seem to agree with my other appeal (enabling HTML in the stories forum). He just said "I'll see what I can do" and then didn't do it.

Maybe I'll bother him with it tomorrow when I've got this web/IRC thing working right.

[Jay]

Okay. So someone tell me what the "happening" IRC channel is at the moment. I just went into irc.blitzed.org and NOTHING was happening.

[Sedated]

Okay, are you planning on getting a shell and running the ircd yourself? If you link on another network you are entirely at their mercy. You can't fully control the channel because if the network is run by script kiddies and they piss another kiddie off, the network will be attacked and the OP9 chat is gone. If you run the ircd yourself, you need to decide which daemon to use and how you plan on configuring. Then you need to pick an irc net admin and ircops and write an MOTD and the whole nine. As for DNS, Az would have to consent to the use of the domain and he'd have to point traffic to the network that way. Az already owns the domain, it's the simplest way to go. For simple OP9 purpose, one decent shell is all that's needed for the irc chat. If you arrange an applet client to connect to the IRC that's the first step... after all, you can configure it to connect to any network and channel you choose. If the "official" channel changes or you move networks, simply reconfigure. I personally help operate a few networks, and am Services Administrator on Ultra-IRC. I know how most networks operate and will help if you want. If you think I'm just sticking my nose in, then sorry, I'm not trying to pee on your parade, just want to help.

---edit---

Just another thought... you might even get a shell provider to donate a stable, small shell to run an ircd on if you put an ad for them in your MOTD. Az gets alot of attention and it's probably better advertising than they'd get by the usual means, which is word of mouth.

[Jay]

Snip.

If you're strictly talking to me, I simply meant that there was no action going on at blitzed.org, so I thought there may have been a new IRC server.

That is all. :)

[Sedated]

If you're strictly talking to me, I simply meant that there was no action going on at blitzed.org, so I thought there may have been a new IRC server.

That is all. :)

No it was just in general to the people trying to set an irc chat up. I knew what you were talking about :)

[silentplummet]

Sedated, I'm going the approach of running an ircd on my own box.

I could go with a shell somewhere else but why pay money when I already have a T1 and a microwave uplink, battery backing with fail over to gasoline generator, etc. etc.?

The one thing I don't really have is a ton of time to worry about this right now, since I am moving to Japan in like 6 days and I won't even be able to touch a computer for weeks probably. So yeah, I basically need all the help (in terms of dedicated and/or knowledgable human resources) that I could get, and I appreciate that offer.

What I've done is a little more complicated than it needed to be, and I'm running into some problems which is making me think I need to start over. Basically I'm running the ircd (and httpd for that matter) on a virtual machine within the host OS, because I don't trust those processes running on the host. But I'm running into some unforseen problems with the virtual kernel so I may build another computer and just throw stuff onto it.

Anyway we'll see. I have to go to Atlanta now and pick up my visa.

[Sedated]

I'll give whatever help I can if you want, just let me know.

[plow]

It is very simple, once the server location is figured out, to have AZ put a chat page on the site, which would just have a java front end to it. Thats what most people use for web-based irc. Most places use JchatIRC (http://jchatirc.sourceforge.net/main.php3). The java thing isnt perfect however, and if people are planning to idle in the chatroom all the time, then u would want to use a real IRC client.

If people are using just the java front end, then the name of the server isnt that important (since people wouldnt see it anyway). If we havent found a location yet, I wouldnt bother with a DNS switch for now.

[silentplummet]

Depending on how the web IRC applet is implemented, it may consume Az' server's bandwidth, adding to a problem that already exists.

[Glitch ErrorWeaver]

There are currently 14 users in irc.blitzed.org #op9 -- I'd say this is sufficient. Blitzed.org has web-based chat capability (somewhere on the main site) that we can link to, at the absolute very least... there are many other ways to get people into the chatroom...

[Citizen]

I think it's safe to say that all of the OP9 chats are pretty much dead. Nobody seems interested in this anymore either. This is getting unstickied.

[Nights_into_dreams]

OP9 at Blitzed is still kickin...