[Multi-chat-enduser-chat] Re: comm-path

[Adam I. <OZ_...@au...>]

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 15:35, Druss wrote:
> Adam,
> I've finished reading your Comm page and I have to say that it all seems
> well thought out and logical. I see no problems with it, the only problem I
> can see from here is getting people to go to your site. Alachat hardly gets
> anyone and is technically better than Alamak. How many rooms are you going
> to have?
>
> I guess the proof is in the pudding, so we shall have to wait and see how
> it all works in practice.
>
> Druss.

alachat and all others like it are basically alamak clones with a feature or 
two thrown in. there's no where near enough for it to overcome the lack of 
people. alamak clones don't deserve to prosper. and I'm not doing anything 
like that. many of the alamak clones are probably running on modified 
versions of old stolen alamak code. they don't deserver to even be allowed on 
the 'net. you can probably tell how little I think of these places

I'm doing something completely different. I'll be offering nearly every good 
feature that I've seen in many different chats, and even different kinds of 
chats. I'll also be offering some origional stuf fof my own. there will be 
nothing else out there that has half of what I offer, and it will all by my 
own code. up until the first official opening, at least. after then I'll open 
up the development so other coders can get involved.

as far as number of rooms, I'll be offering a hybrid between the way alamak 
works, and how most IRC networks go. I'll go into a bit more detail for those 
who haven't experienced IRC. I'll also be offering IRC access later on, and 
at some stage I'll come up with an intro to it. I intend to have heaps mroe 
information available than anyone needs, that way when something out of the 
ordinary is needed, it'll be available. but especially docs on being an op, a 
number on different aspects of comm, etc.

as any people who've been to an IRC network much know, there are no public 
rooms, the way there are on alamak. anyone, member or not, can crate a room, 
and set a topic. if it seems interesting, then other people will come. if 
it's not interesting, people leave. when no-one is left, the room is closed. 
also with IRC, you can be in several rooms at once, most clients capable of 
this deal with it in a similar way to the 'tabbed browsing' any decent web 
browser today has (though I hear IE doesn't. but then IE lacks a lot of 
features that are otherwise common).

now for how I'll be doing it. note that as with everything else, this is only 
a plan, and can be changed.
I will have set public rooms. all members will be able to kick people 
(remember, kick is only remove from the room, not the server) subject to the 
level checks and whatnot. your room-level* will be based on your 
server-level*. apart from having room-based kick and ban, these won't operate 
too differently from the rooms in alamak.
I will probably only have a few perm rooms, perhaps two or three meeting 
places, a comm lounge, I dunno.
the so-called private rooms will have their own op list. the people in charge 
of the room get to decide who is a room-op, and also what they can do. 
kick/ban, clear, mute, etc.
any private room will _not_ be running on a pre-set list of rules. when a 
private room is made, it will have a default set which are a general guide, 
but those in charge of the room can remove tham all if they want, and replace 
them with almost anything else. but the server-wide rules will always 
override the room rules, in areas of overlap.
if you don't like the rules/topic/people/whatever else in a room, there will 
be plenty of others to join, or if you're a member, create your own. since 
people can join several rooms at once, it's a lot easier to get people to 
come to a new room. you can have one window for the room you were in and open 
another for the new room. it sounds complicated, but is quite easy and makes 
a lot of sence once you get used to it. (and then you miss it when you don't 
have it, of course, but that's life 8^)
this should help lead to less crowding of rooms, no arguements about topic 
(join to room for the other topic you want, or make one), less troubles 
(hopefully) with room kick/bans, since they don't have to be monitored at all 
in the private rooms. the owner/admin of that room is the highest the issue 
has to go to. and they can remove anyone from that rooms op list if there's a 
problem. 

comm will have to keep a bit of an idea on members /kicking in the designated 
public rooms, but they'll mostly only need to deal with the /kill and the 
like (/kill is remove from server, like /kick in alamak), which will probably 
be used a lot less. one of the main areas where I expect there will be 
conflict that will be a server-wide issue is peoples nicks, and there will be 
a /renick command to change it for them, so it's only if they change it back 
that a /kill will be needed.

and lastly, yes, it won't be until it's officially opened up and is sporting 
many of the features I want to include that we'll actually see if people 
consider them enough to swap chats. until then I'll keep plodding on and 
adding stuff, and getting people to test drive it now and then. 

till the next installment

PS I have an apology to make. I had said that hitting 'reply' would send to 
the list. I had a setting wrong, now fixed. _now_ hitting 'reply' should work 
as I said

footnote:
*you'll have several levels at at any one time, though you shouldn't have to 
worry about them too much.
natural level is what you're normally at, as recorded in the op database
server level is what level you get when you log on. the changes to natural 
level are stuff like /lev to drop you if you misbehave, being raised to comm, 
etc.
you'll also have at least one room level (if you're in several rooms at once, 
one room level for each room, though being in several rooms at once isn't 
going to be that common for people who chat via a web browser)


-- 
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

(Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.)