ARM chatroom

[Calyrica]

Thank you so much!~ It's perfect~

[Myra Slokov]

Such a fancy chatroom.. thanks for all your hard work!

Spoiler:  [ Open ]

^Hopefully you weren't like this at all =D

[wizzardx]

Thank you so much!~ It's perfect~

Glad you like it .

Such a fancy chatroom.. thanks for all your hard work!

Most of the fanciness comes with the phpfreechat software, I've only changed a few small things.

Spoiler:  [ Open ]

^Hopefully you weren't like this at all =D

Well, maybe a little when I was trying to test and debug the PHP (which I've used very little before) to get the "aka" working . But that's normal for programming sometimes .

By the way, if you like those Rageguy comics, you can find quite a few here, with many more added daily.

[Myra Slokov]

Spoiler:  [ Open ]

^Hopefully you weren't like this at all =D

Well, maybe a little when I was trying to test and debug the PHP (which I've used very little before) to get the "aka" working . But that's normal for programming sometimes .

By the way, if you like those Rageguy comics, you can find quite a few here, with many more added daily.

I don't really know much programming.. it's all foreign to me =D

And I've bookmarked that website! I shall be fully loaded with comics next time we're in chat!

[ilutiern]

Yo yo~
Just wanted to remind all Chatgoers that ARM Forum's rules all apply to the chat. Here are some choice things to remember:

• Please try to avoid discussions of religious, political, or adult nature, however, as they are very sensitive subjects that may get out of hand.

• Avoid using too much violent or rude language unless you have legitimate reasons (such as when writing stories). Also avoid using swear words and curse words; they're not nice.

• Trolling and flaming are not allowed. Consider other people's feelings as well as your own, and avoid insulting or pressuring anyone into doing something they don't want to. Don't make fun of people's weaknesses. Also, please avoid making careless comments like "it sucks". Whether something is good or bad is up to each person to decide. Instead, say something that expresses your personal opinion, such as "I don't like it".

• If you are being harassed or bullied by a forum member, including an Administrator, please contact one of the (other) Administrators for support. We'll do our best to make sure it stops right away.

• Respect yourself and others.

Don't forget that the chat is full of other people with their own opinions and feelings. Try to take others into consideration, too, and don't just post whatever you want without thinking if someone will be uncomfortable about it. Remember, the chat also has ze boot and ze !
....I mean, hammer. /bricked

Have a pomful day, everyone~

[Nash]

• If you are being harassed or bullied by a forum member, including an Administrator, please contact one of the (other) Administrators for support. We'll do our best to make sure it stops right away.

Try to take others into consideration, too, and don't just post whatever you want without thinking if someone will be uncomfortable about it.

Should I assume that such harassment exclude persistent kicking by certain chat mods?

[Utsuho Lazy]

Should I assume that such harassment exclude persistent kicking by certain chat mods?

Could you explain more about this?

[SakiChan]

Could you explain more about this?

Probally because of Chacha-tans timeouts?

[ilutiern]

Should I assume that such harassment exclude persistent kicking by certain chat mods?

Could you explain more about this?

If it's someone we've tried "banning", persistent kicking may be because they're "banned" from chat, but PHP keeps us from IP banning at the moment, so we have to rely on persistent kicking. These actions are reserved for spammers or people who've been warned multiple times (as in, many times). If it's continuous kicking out of fun or kicking someone who's done no wrong, that's a whole different story, though

And as Lazy-nii said, more explanation would be helpful

[wizzardx]

Should I assume that such harassment exclude persistent kicking by certain chat mods?

The persistent kicking could also be where really badly behaved chatters were kicked and warned several times, before finally banning (though unfortunately, no IP-banning yet). This was also something discussed between the chatroom mods recently.

But please give more info if you think that some chat mods are kicking inappropriately.

Also, on a different subject (I meant to post this the other day):

A reminder to the chatters, that the chatroom mods have only very limited control over the chatroom. Basically, they can only do these things in the chatroom, that regular chatters can't:

- kick
- ban/unban
- clear the screen
- see chatter IP addresses

They don't have the ability to change the chatroom in any other way (like changing how some buttons look for instance, or how the bbcode chat tags work). If you do want some other chatroom changes, basically I'm the only person that can make them, because it requires editing files on the server. Please forward requests like that to me.

Just thought I'd mention that, because there was an issue recently, where one chatter expected a chatroom mod to be able to make chatroom software changes.

[wizzardx]

A small update here:

I spoke to a chatter who thinks they raised this issue with one of the mods, and they weren't being serious about it, and conveyed their apologies.

On another subject, it seems like there's sometimes confusion between the "S" (strikethrough) and "SP" (spoiler) buttons in the chat, because they look too similar.

That's probably my fault for not making a distinct-enough image for the "spoiler" button . I have next to zero graphic design skills. If anyone would like to create better-looking chat button images and forward them to me, I will gladly update the chat.

In the meanwhile, if the "S" and "SP" buttons look too similar, try hovering the mouse over each one. The popup tooltip will let you know which one is which.

[ilutiern]

Since some chat mods are finding it difficult to know when to intervene in the chat, it would be good to get people's opinions. Anyone who reads this, please answer, even if it's just a short Yes/No. Your opinions will help a lot.

If there's a bothersome member, say, someone who uses censored vulgar words (like the words for male/female genitalia) to make crude jokes or for no reason at all, should they be warned?

If a member makes insensitive jokes or doesn't seem to care at all about other chat members, for example, if they make jokes about sensitive/serious topics and make other chatters uncomfortable, should they be warned?

If a member insists on demanding others to do things, like searching for info or finding graphics, and expecting them to do it without that member's consent, should they be warned?


Also, if there's behavior in the chat that irritates you or makes you feel bad, please either post here about it or talk to a chat mod (like Aeli-kun, Utsuho Lazy, Yuri, and Calyrica/calidynd) so that they can try to do something about it.

[Osric]

Well, Ilu... for all of the above I'd say yes only if it can't be resolved in another way... I mean if someone else on the chat says to cut it off because their behavior is annoying, and nothing changes despite the complaint, then a mod can do something imho... but just warning for some crude/insensitive jokes seems a bit too much to do on auto... but that is just my opinion of course.

[Utsuho Lazy]

If there's a bothersome member, say, someone who uses censored vulgar words (like the words for male/female genitalia) to make crude jokes or for no reason at all, should they be warned?

If a member makes insensitive jokes or doesn't seem to care at all about other chat members, for example, if they make jokes about sensitive/serious topics and make other chatters uncomfortable, should they be warned?

Yes and yes. We even went as far as banning one member (Amitabho) because of similar reasons to what you mention above.

If a member insists on demanding others to do things, like searching for info or finding graphics, and expecting them to do it without that member's consent, should they be warned?

Well, that depends. The member being demanded can just ignore, but if they feel annoyed, the demanding member definitely should be warned, for they fall into the category of disturbing others.

[wizzardx]

Interesting subject. I think that pretty much the same rules as in the forum should be applied to the chatroom, where it makes sense.

There are already some basic rules for the chatroom on our wiki, over here.

Basically, any behavior that really bothers members should be handled, rather than overlooked. Letting troublesome members have their way just makes things worse for everyone else, and can drive people way.

Mods (forum, chatrooms, or otherwise) do occasionally need to be "that guy" and enforce rules, or otherwise mediate. This might not be easy, going into direct conflict with members (especially in realtime), most of us want to avoid that. If that's hard for chatroom mods, they can always PM one of the forum staff, or post in the forum staff area to get advice or assistance.

edit: Answering your points:

If there's a bothersome member, say, someone who uses censored vulgar words (like the words for male/female genitalia) to make crude jokes or for no reason at all, should they be warned?

Depends on the context and severity. If it's mild, not too distasteful, or it's not bothering members then it can be overlooked. If it's shocking members or they start complaining/getting uncomfortable, then ask the offender to stop, and enforce it if needed with a kick out the chatroom if they refuse, or even banning, and reporting to the forum staff.

If a member makes insensitive jokes or doesn't seem to care at all about other chat members, for example, if they make jokes about sensitive/serious topics and make other chatters uncomfortable, should they be warned?

Yes, they need to be warned in this case, and if that doesn't help then kicking a few times if needed, followed by banning+reporting.

If a member insists on demanding others to do things, like searching for info or finding graphics, and expecting them to do it without that member's consent, should they be warned?

I think that normally they'd get ignored in this case. Otherwise, ask them to post in the relevant forum topic (eg: "taking requests for AT content") for handling by any members when they have some time for it, rather than right now instead of whatever else the (requested) member wants to do at the moment. Basically, this sounds like more a case of needing to mediate, rather than warning right away. Of course, if they're too insistent and don't get the message, then you may need to warn.

[exec_ragnaros]

As a chatroom mod I stand by our policies and have no difficulty in confronting members for rude/distasteful/irritating behavior. However, as a general pointer to non-mod staff: If a mod is online when someone starts harassing you or annoying you or just being a foul person please whisper them before making a scene in the chatroom. Most of our members are very pleasant to be around, however if the offender ignores you or taunts you it isn't worth it to stoop to their level. Let a moderator take care of it. Emotionally charged arguments do nothing but drive innocent people away from our chatroom, no different than our forums.

Also, I will volunteer myself for being a private message bot concerning chatroom incidents. If no mod is online at the time of the incident, please copy the entirety of the chatroom conversation and send it to me. I will then approach the potential offender and decide from there if it's as serious as Amitabho or if they'll just apologize.

One more note: If I do not respond within a few days, please do not think I am ignoring you or anything. I have a lot to do in real life nowadays and attempt to get on ARM whenever feasible.

Happy chatting!

[wizzardx]

A quick survey/random question:

Would any of you prefer that the ARM chatroom was actually an IRC channel, rather than just an interactive webpage?

Some advantages of IRC include:

- Ability to use a lot of chat clients, for instance Pidgin or mIRC
- Ability to send files between users (who aren't behind firewalls/proxies)
- Lots of advanced chat options and commands
- Ability to keep a log of all your chats automatically, without needing to remember to copy&paste
- Ability to add bots to the channel - eg for stuff like jokes, trivia, and games

Some disadvantages:

- Doesn't look as nice as the current web chat. For instance no buttons for emoticons, bold, spoiler, image, font color, etc.
- Can be a lot more complicated
- Harder to log into - you need to either use a special client, or a special (but a lot more limited and less user friendly than the current ARM chat) web page
- A lot of the current features - emoticons, fonts, colors, spoilers, inline images, etc, don't work there. It's purely plain text. Though individual client software can be customized to re-add some of these.

Any thoughts on the above?

[Kiari]

I more prefer this one.... been to IRC channel and I dislike it.
the texts is too darn small and the chat doesn't look nice @@

[Trass]

Me too. I prefer this webpage chatroom personally.

[Utsuho Lazy]

Personally I prefer sticking with the current web-based interface.