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Chatbane!
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:57 pm
by peter
I don't know how long I have been a member of the Watch now, but in all that time I've never ....ever....ever......found anyone else in the 'Chatbane' area. I've visited a couple of times just to hear my footsteps echoing back at me across the empty room - I've even chated to myself a few times just to try and get it going, but all to no avail. Damn it's a lonley place down there at the bottom of the home page, Can we do anything about this, like get a group meeting together or something.
ps. I have this idea that the room should be re-decorated to make it more inviting - that peeling green paint might just be the problem. Any ideas?
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:10 pm
by Fist and Faith
chatbane...
You know, I remember a time...
*gets a far away look - lost in thought*
*laughs loudly*
*lost in thought again*
But, of course...
*smiles sadly*
No, I'm not sure I can stand it. Seriously, what would you have us do?
Bloody Hell, I'm only human!!
Re: Chatbane!
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:27 pm
by Ananda
peter wrote:I've even chated to myself a few times just to try and get it going
Awww... I would go there and chat with you. And, how great would it be to chat with the Null? It could be an entire screen filled with random numbers and birds.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:28 pm
by Savor Dam
Aye, there was a time when Saturday Night Watcher Chat lit up the intertubes. Like Neo, those days are gone...but not forgotten.
Of course, ChatBane is primitive compared to venues like Messenger...but it is not about the tools, it is about getting participation.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:40 pm
by dANdeLION
Chatbane? That's so 2004.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:13 pm
by Savor Dam
2004? In terms of interface elegance, it is more like what we were using on ARPANET in about 1984. Chatbane is ugly and clunky...but y'dance with the one that brung ya. When chatting with someone who does not use Messenger, it will do.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:14 pm
by I'm Murrin
Savor Dam wrote:2004? In terms of interface elegance, it is more like what we were using on ARPANET in about 1984. Chatbane is ugly and clunky...but y'dance with the one that brung ya. When chatting with someone who does not use Messenger, it will do.
How do you think it got the name? It really is terrible.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:33 pm
by Ananda
Murrin wrote:Savor Dam wrote:2004? In terms of interface elegance, it is more like what we were using on ARPANET in about 1984. Chatbane is ugly and clunky...but y'dance with the one that brung ya. When chatting with someone who does not use Messenger, it will do.
How do you think it got the name? It really is terrible.
there are some free apps that could replace it if it's so bad. would be fun to discuss a chapter in chats during dissections, I think. using some messenger app is fine if you want to talk one to one with someone, but it is not so easy as a multichat that anyone can join.
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:11 pm
by Linna Heartbooger
Savor Dam wrote:Aye, there was a time when Saturday Night Watcher Chat lit up the intertubes. Like Neo, those days are gone...but not forgotten.
I remember those existing, and me always hoping I could somehow show up. *snap*
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:48 pm
by Menolly
Ananda wrote:Murrin wrote:Savor Dam wrote:2004? In terms of interface elegance, it is more like what we were using on ARPANET in about 1984. Chatbane is ugly and clunky...but y'dance with the one that brung ya. When chatting with someone who does not use Messenger, it will do.
How do you think it got the name? It really is terrible.
there are some free apps that could replace it if it's so bad. would be fun to discuss a chapter in chats during dissections, I think. using some messenger app is fine if you want to talk one to one with someone, but it is not so easy as a multichat that anyone can join.
Windows Live Messenger has group chat. That's what was used for the Saturday Night Watcher chat all the time.
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:29 am
by Savor Dam
So why don't we do it anymore?
Seems like since around the time Furls was called home and Matrixman vanished, there have been no weekly chats. Misses them, we does!
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:16 am
by Avatar
Ah, the chatbane wasn't as bad as people make out. Many are the long hours I spent chatting to Darth Revan, MM and LuciMay.
Not many people online when I am usually though.
--A
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:09 am
by peter
Clearly there are a few for whom the rememberence of 'Chatbane' causes a moistening of eye, a trembling of lip, a brief stifled sob - but relative 'newbies' such as myself never got there so how are we to know.
I've never been a massive fan of chat rooms because all of the ones I've ever visited (and thats very few) have been banal and pointless in the extreme (e.g. Peter: Hi folks, how r u 2day - Fist: Good, how r u? - Peter: Good, How r u Avavtar - Avavtar: I'm good 2 Peter - Peter: Good! How about..... ad infinitum).
Can't somehow imagine that this was how Chatbane went though - not from what I know of you guys
The technical stuff is a bit beyond me - I don't think the 'ugly clunky' bit would bother me, but I wonder; If I was all of a sudden chatting with a bunch of you guys in real time, would I suddenly be exposed as the shy recluse that I really am and stand in the corner casting furtive glances at all around me and saying nothing of note or interest to anyone. Hell at least this way I get to defer my embarrasment and ineptitude untill the next time I visit the Watch by which time it's usually diluted a bit

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:27 am
by lucimay
peter chatbane was like a cocktail party at the watch.
(we really started going in there when we got hacked
but then we kept on hangin out in there for a while and
it was pretty fun.)
i like real time chat. i'm sorta used to it now because i play
world of warcraft and there's realtime chat in game but i never
think to go to chatbane on here anymore unless drew or balon
pop on and holler at me to come down there.

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:27 pm
by deer of the dawn
There's something here called chatbane??????

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:35 pm
by Menolly
If you haven't changed the skin of the Watch (the way it appears), it is
all the way at the bottom of the Index, dotd.

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:49 pm
by High Lord Tolkien
What is this all about?
Online Insequents : MSNDoubt (2), TheGoogleMach
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:05 pm
by Savor Dam
Those are Watch-incarnations of the spiders (automated search-and-index agents) of the Bing (formerly MSN) and Google search engines. Yahoo has one too, but it is less frequently seen...and I forget the name used for it. They count as online pageviewers, but since they do not have humans behind their interaction with the Watch (and since we know what they are), they have their own Watch-themed user category.
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:06 pm
by balon!
I do love the chatbane...

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:34 am
by Avatar
Savor Dam wrote:Those are Watch-incarnations of the spiders (automated search-and-index agents) of the Bing (formerly MSN) and Google search engines. Yahoo has one too, but it is less frequently seen...and I forget the name used for it. They count as online pageviewers, but since they do not have humans behind their interaction with the Watch (and since we know what they are), they have their own Watch-themed user category.
Yeah, we get crawled a lot. Fresh content, don'cha know.
--A