Thinking About An IRC Channel

Seriously, I think in the near-future, we may need a live and dedicated channel to communicate on. There are some things Shantae-related that would be best discussed in a live text conversation through IRC, and it could help members get better connected on other subjects too; think of it as building community. I mean, we do have General Discussion for a lot of things, but smaller subjects like "How was your day?" would do better in a live chat. Plus it'd be great for welcoming new people too if they decide to open up their IRC client and get to know the community before registering.

Also imagine if we the Staff need to make a decision on something important in a pinch, but doing so in the Staff Council Room through posts would be too slow to reach a well-meditated solution; it's mostly there for other staffers to get advice from each other anyway. An IRC channel would be the perfect conference room, IMO.

Granted, I will not try to talk anybody into the idea too much, because the IRC will need to be administrated by at least more than one person as well. Everyone on the staff would be given priviledges to ban people from the chat too, so if you're on the IRC channel and somebody's pulling some nonsense, you would be able to stem the drama in an instant.

So, what do you guys think? If I were to setup an IRC channel, would we use put it to good use?

Well, I have been thinking.

And I'd say it sounds like a nice idea, worth trying out.
Though a possible negative side-effect might be that it'd lessen the emphasis on the forums.
Which might be counterproductive.

But still, I'd try it.

This is the kind of feedback I was hoping for! I was wondering if anyone had even noticed this topic, but it's great that you've been taking the time to consider what it might bring to the community. ^^

Those are very good points to bring up, honestly. At this point I'm only considering creating a private channel for the staff so we'll be able to administer the place more efficiently, but if there's a way to provide everyone the channel without diminishing the forum's main purpose, I'll shoot for it.

Would you make use of the built-in Chatroom-feature of Forumotion.
Or will you use another website for that?

Forumotion's chatroom feature would be an obvious choice, but I feel that with an IRC channel, members and guests could use whatever software client for IRC they like, as well as browser-based ones, without even logging in to the message boards. Pretty much I'm considering an IRC channel for flexibility's sake. (A Skype Conference room could work for private staff text conversations too, I'm guessing?)

Okay. So we could go for that.
Also, allowing guests to post there would be nice as well.
At least, if you ask me.

Of course guests will be able to post in IRC, otherwise you couldn't connect and register a nickname. XD (Which is purely optional too, but still there for those who don't want to retype their name every time they want to connect to the channel.)

So overall, you're interested in the IRC Channel + Skype Staff Conference setup? If more people than myself are onboard with the idea, I'd be more than willing to look into setting up our own IRC channel.

You have my go-ahead.
As long as you would make it accessible for everybody.

Alright! ^^ I've already set one up on CentralChat, but I'm still playing with the #ShantaeFansPortal channel while I get a basic hold of the ropes on IRC commands. XD But it is there if anyone wants to join me on their favorite IRC Client. ^^ (It's pretty easy to connect. Just give the client the server name "centralchat.net" and the channel name in separate tabs to connect.) If anybody has problems connecting, post it here. XD

Might as well have a link to it on the forums.
You know, the kind of link-forums that redirect you to said link, if you click on them.


EDIT: Found a tutorial, in case you dunno how to do it.
http://www.malware-site.www/t18-how-to-create-a-redirect-forum

Thanks for the link! I'm glad we were able to chat about it on IRC, and now the redirect forum is implemented fully, so the channel's there and open to everyone. ^^