Text chat?

[Super Firebug]

Is there any place online that still offers old-fashioned, real-time, text-based chat, like AOL used to have?

[Twisted Toon]

I Googled "chat room" and got a long list of stuff. Half of it seems to be aimed at teens though.

[ROBOKiTTY]

IRC! KiTTYLand has its own IRC channel.

[thunderforce]

IRC! KiTTYLand has its own IRC channel.

Before we duplicate effort, anyone know if there's any existing City of X IRC channel, widely used?

[TonyV]

The folks who run Titan and I generally chat on Skype.  I thought about installing IRC or XMPP on the server and seeing if anyone is interested in chatting, but I haven't really pursued it.

[thunderforce]

The folks who run Titan and I generally chat on Skype.  I thought about installing IRC or XMPP on the server and seeing if anyone is interested in chatting, but I haven't really pursued it.

Running your own IRC server is making a rod for your own back; there's plenty of existing IRC networks that one can run a channel on. :-/

[TonyV]

Running your own IRC server is making a rod for your own back; there's plenty of existing IRC networks that one can run a channel on. :-/

Well, what they hell, I already have a titanium plate and four screws in my back, one more rod won't hurt too much, right?

[Arachnion]

What about a shoutbox/chatroom type embed widget or something?

Mind you I have zero experience with that stuff, and running forums, so yeah..

:o ;D

[JaguarX]

Is there any place online that still offers old-fashioned, real-time, text-based chat, like AOL used to have?

I thought I-net trolls took over those things of the major companies and eventually wasn't worth keeping up due to lack of use.

I heard about rumors of a few existing, some being invite only (Anti-troll measure).

[Tacitala]

Before we duplicate effort, anyone know if there's any existing City of X IRC channel, widely used?

Not that I know of- I think there was a Pinnacle server channel but not a full one.  As for keeping spam/trolls down in IRC, there are available bots that are pretty decent (even on an open channel).

[Hyperstrike]

Well, what they hell, I already have a titanium plate and four screws in my back, one more rod won't hurt too much, right?

Okay, take it from someone who ran their own IRC network for about 5 years.  It's just easier to piggyback on existing networks.
Even with decent automation, managing multi-node IRC is a non-trivial time sink.  Even a single-node IRC server is a beach, as sufficiently determined attackers can flood you off the net.

XMPP/Jabber is probably a more viable solution, though it takes a bit more effort to set up and create some sort of account creation automation.

[FourSpeed]

Okay, take it from someone who ran their own IRC network for about 5 years.  It's just easier to piggyback on existing networks.
Even with decent automation, managing multi-node IRC is a non-trivial time sink.  Even a single-node IRC server is a beach, as sufficiently determined attackers can flood you off the net.

XMPP/Jabber is probably a more viable solution, though it takes a bit more effort to set up and create some sort of account creation automation.

I can't disagree with this sentiment although I can't speak about Jabber (no xp there).

I have had some experience as an IRCop on a couple networks as well as dabbling with my own
in the past.

That said, as a chat network, I do think IRC is an excellent solution, and depending on your
infrastructure, and "staff", it's not that difficult to manage if your folks have a solid unix foundation.

A pre-existing network removes most of the support burden, but they can also be prone to difficulites
with registration, bots usage (more helpful than you might think at first), and in some cases, even
political in-fighting.

With your own network, if you can do the support work, you gain the ability to call the shots and
or set up your own policies and management best-practices.   

So, like most things, there are pros and cons either way.


Regards,
4

[TonyV]

I've actually looked into what it would take to run an XMPP server.  Keep in mind that I'm not that familiar with XMPP, so I'm speaking as a total novice here, but it seems that like there might be some interesting side possibilities with XMPP, like federating chat eventually with City of Titans, or even other possibilities beyond that.  But at a bare minimum, it would allow us to do things like integrate accounts with the Titan account database and ensure that there aren't any third parties monitoring chat (at least, not on our end).

But again, I'm an XMPP newbie, so I can't really guarantee anything, including the ability or will to get it working on our server at all.  But I haven't foregone the possibility of trying, at least on a test VM or something, and playing around with what is possible.

[Captain Electric]

I want to be able to chat in-game with my friends in City of Titans while I'm playing Heroes and Villains or Valiance Online. Make it happen, people!!! *Cracks whip* ;D

[Tahquitz]

I've actually looked into what it would take to run an XMPP server.  Keep in mind that I'm not that familiar with XMPP, so I'm speaking as a total novice here, but it seems that like there might be some interesting side possibilities with XMPP, like federating chat eventually with City of Titans, or even other possibilities beyond that.  But at a bare minimum, it would allow us to do things like integrate accounts with the Titan account database and ensure that there aren't any third parties monitoring chat (at least, not on our end).

But again, I'm an XMPP newbie, so I can't really guarantee anything, including the ability or will to get it working on our server at all.  But I haven't foregone the possibility of trying, at least on a test VM or something, and playing around with what is possible.

ArsTechnica did a tutorial on Prosody as a XMPP server.  Being LUA-based (it does run on Windows, but there's missing functionality as the command line management tool doesn't work), it might interconnect to MySQL-based databases easier than Java IM Clients do.  (I was also turned off from using XMPP in the past from the majority of the clients requiring server-side Java... I really don't want anything running on my house server involving Java if I can help it.)

Doesn't make bringing it to COH Titan any more or less likely (key factor: how many people would use it considering the sparse postings on the forum, myself included), but if you want to get one running ASAP on a test VM, I managed to get one up and running on my local server in about 40 minutes, and I am in no regard a programmer.

[dwturducken]

More applicable to Tony's setup, when I was working in IT, we had a client who wanted to have a messenger application for their workers, but they had very stringent network limits on the majority of the computers (only very specific employees had access to the Internet). OpenFire/Spark worked very well, since it's run through your internal server, but I don't know how it would work with the server setup that Titan has. (Mostly because I have no idea what kind of setup Titan has, and it's none of my damn business. :) ) One of your orange-dotted gurus (or Codewalker) should be able to tell you more about how well it would work for you.

This, however, is of no help to anyone looking for a broader use messenger.

[Michiyo]

Hate to necro this topic, but just wanted to point out, I have a IRC Network, and have been idling #TitanNetwork for many months, I posted about it here once before, but got no bites. irc://irc.pc-logix.com:6667/TitanNetwork , or if you prefer a webchat solution, http://webchat.pc-logix.com/?channels=TitanNetwork  I'll be happy to op any Titan staff that stops by.

[thunderforce]

Hate to necro this topic, but just wanted to point out, I have a IRC Network, and have been idling #TitanNetwork for many months, I posted about it here once before, but got no bites. irc://irc.pc-logix.com:6667/TitanNetwork , or if you prefer a webchat solution, http://webchat.pc-logix.com/?channels=TitanNetwork  I'll be happy to op any Titan staff that stops by.

Irssi: Unable to connect server irc.pc-logix.com port 6667

... does it work for anyone but you? :-)

[Aggelakis]

Joined it fine via the webchat link, so it is accessible. Don't have an IRC client (and don't want one) to try that way.

[thunderforce]

Joined it fine via the webchat link, so it is accessible.

I suspect it is accessible from inside whatever is blocking traffic on port 6667 from outside.