Active Users:342 Time:17/06/2025 11:07:51 AM
So? Joel Send a noteboard - 14/10/2010 04:52:37 AM
I'm talking about a chat that's actually hosted by the site. Not someone sitting in AIM/Skype/Yahoo and posting "Hey, I'm lonely in here."

If people want to chat, they can, with or without RAFO, wotmania, whatever. If they aren't, that really has nothing to do with RAFO. Proof? wotmania's been down a little over a year; how long has it been since the kind of chat everyone keeps talking about existed? Three years? Five? I suspect it depends on whom you ask; some people think wotmania went to hell after the Great Crash, but some people always think everything was better when it was their own little secret. Providing an onsite RAFO chat room isn't going to turn back the clock any more than preserving one at wotmania did.

All the dynamics that killed wotmania chat, many of the ones that killed wotmania, are still in place, and I think that has more to do with people not using the various chat alternatives. If that's fixed RAFO won't need a chat because it can use Skype, or Vent, or Google talk, or even AIM or FB. We could use an IRC chat like the one Jonielle and Floffe started (remember that? I prefer the Skype interface and ability to call, but there was nothing WRONG with IRC--except that it got even less use than Skype. ) Until that's fixed putting a chat on RAFO is just creating one more place for nothing to happen 90% of the time, punctuated by boredom driven escapades that remind us why RAFO doesn't have a chat.

The problem, not just for chat but for websites, is finding a way to host it, then drawing enough constructive regulars that you don't spend all your time either staring at a blank screen or cleaning up behind someones misbehavior. For a variety of reasons, both wotmania and its chat ceased to do that some years ago, and whether a chat service continued exist was neither here nor there to that. Until that issue's resolved you can create all the chats you want on any site you want and it won't change anything, because all the problems that killed wotmania chat remain. I'm not sure there are any easy answers there, but if people just want to go back to wotmania chat ca. 2005, they don't need a chat, they need a time machine.
Honorbound and honored to be Bonded to Mahtaliel Sedai
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.

Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!

LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
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Chat - 10/10/2010 07:34:44 AM 1075 Views
Yes - 10/10/2010 11:10:18 AM 608 Views
Hey you - 10/10/2010 04:14:47 PM 677 Views
Hey Missa - 13/10/2010 04:35:46 AM 559 Views
I've already had several days like that. Yet people keep insisting RAFO is better without chat. *NM* - 10/10/2010 05:29:46 PM 376 Views
it depends which chat we get. - 10/10/2010 05:44:58 PM 637 Views
You're in the Skype Chat now, btw. - 10/10/2010 10:59:24 PM 582 Views
When chat used to be down for long stretches, everyone would just pile into AIM chat. - 10/10/2010 06:54:33 PM 715 Views
Which they could easily do with Skype and get voice, yet no one does. - 10/10/2010 10:56:55 PM 734 Views
The idea of voice chat creeps me out on so many levels *NM* - 11/10/2010 12:34:22 AM 689 Views
So don't do voice; we rarely do. - 11/10/2010 07:35:33 AM 685 Views
Same *NM* - 11/10/2010 09:40:29 AM 283 Views
Is that why the Edinburgh gathering pics are always nothing but sign language and dirty gestures? *NM* - 11/10/2010 10:36:00 PM 369 Views
Come and find out *NM* - 11/10/2010 10:48:56 PM 254 Views
The group that is popularized as being a part of that is not enticing to long standing wotmaniacs. *NM* - 11/10/2010 03:29:57 AM 386 Views
This. *NM* - 11/10/2010 04:43:52 AM 242 Views
Then that, again, seems a problem that coding can't solve. - 11/10/2010 07:33:32 AM 714 Views
I don't think most want to download another program when they had it so easy before. - 11/10/2010 10:39:55 PM 740 Views
Honestly, I think the "one time event" is the biggest problem. - 12/10/2010 04:20:04 AM 741 Views
I disagree. I don't think enough people think it worth the effort to deal with Skype. - 12/10/2010 04:28:21 AM 650 Views
What effort? - 12/10/2010 04:38:42 AM 631 Views
The effort beyond clicking two buttons. - 13/10/2010 04:25:57 AM 513 Views
Install, make a SN and search for people you email. - 13/10/2010 04:43:09 AM 686 Views
Re: - 12/10/2010 11:00:56 PM 522 Views
Then where are they? - 13/10/2010 04:00:46 AM 589 Views
You have a faulty memory. Chat was incredibly active as late as 2007. - 13/10/2010 04:24:25 AM 667 Views
Again, that's people, and not/having Chat won't change that. - 13/10/2010 04:45:40 AM 662 Views
Incorrect - 13/10/2010 04:58:30 AM 677 Views
Initially only the person who started it can boot. - 13/10/2010 05:12:27 AM 744 Views
Re: Initially only the person who started it can boot. - 13/10/2010 02:45:50 PM 613 Views
And me! - 13/10/2010 03:27:15 PM 606 Views
oops, sorry about that. *NM* - 13/10/2010 03:42:33 PM 563 Views
What do you mean where are they? There isn't a chat linked to the site. - 13/10/2010 10:44:10 PM 710 Views
So? - 14/10/2010 04:52:37 AM 670 Views
Are you deliberately trying to not understand? - 14/10/2010 05:54:16 AM 796 Views
Not deliberately. - 14/10/2010 06:21:09 AM 684 Views
I doubt that as well, frankly. *NM* - 13/10/2010 03:32:33 PM 293 Views
Things aren't what they used to be... - 13/10/2010 10:46:04 PM 609 Views
No - 13/10/2010 04:45:29 AM 585 Views
"Unmoderated" would be going too far. - 13/10/2010 04:53:19 AM 731 Views
Most of the group consists of long-standing Wotmaniacs, so. *NM* - 12/10/2010 05:25:39 AM 359 Views
I probably didn't phrase that right. Maybe an -er after long and an "in good" before standing. - 12/10/2010 11:02:30 PM 695 Views
Also, what qualifies as "good standing"? Who's the judge? *NM* - 13/10/2010 05:36:23 AM 400 Views
The one who wants to chat, of course? *NM* - 13/10/2010 07:23:15 AM 361 Views
Jonte is right. The judges are numerous. Each with their own motivations and interests. *NM* - 13/10/2010 11:10:04 PM 334 Views
I'd fuck myself to death with a spike of frozen cat piss before I'd chat with that skype crowd. - 13/10/2010 11:42:16 PM 716 Views
Colorful. You big, gay elitist. *NM* - 14/10/2010 12:06:14 AM 364 Views
See - 14/10/2010 05:42:21 AM 579 Views
we are Rafonauts now. - 13/10/2010 03:16:32 PM 551 Views
Yeah, I know, I came up with the term. Many still consider the "old gang" as "wotmaniacs" though. - 13/10/2010 11:01:58 PM 734 Views
I sure hope you're right. - 14/10/2010 05:04:26 AM 761 Views
I am RAFOlk. - 14/10/2010 06:22:25 AM 580 Views
When I got facebook I stopped logging in to aim. - 11/10/2010 01:24:26 AM 595 Views
There's a Chat if you want one. - 10/10/2010 11:01:57 PM 713 Views
i wouldn't say mutely - 10/10/2010 11:40:13 PM 675 Views
Ditto. - 10/10/2010 11:53:32 PM 618 Views
Well, like I said, talk about something else. - 11/10/2010 01:32:15 AM 622 Views
do you know how hard it is stopping sports fanatics talking about sports? - 11/10/2010 09:59:56 AM 716 Views
I'll usually shut up if someone carries another topic. - 12/10/2010 04:25:19 AM 659 Views
I'd deign to chat with you, m'friend. *NM* - 13/10/2010 11:43:13 PM 323 Views
- 14/10/2010 05:45:26 AM 609 Views
Re: - 14/10/2010 05:47:07 AM 656 Views
While I'm passing through, "Hi wooly and Kit. Long time." *NM* - 14/10/2010 10:14:49 PM 365 Views

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