We’ve had Chat sections on this website in the past – back in the ol’ORIENTED days, and also as Segue. I didn’t notice any serious interest in them among visitors, though.
I used to work at a website, so I could monitor the number of people who entered the chat room(s). Even though there seemed to be many people online at the forums, few ever ventured into the Chat rooms
Personally, I hardly ever use chat. And when I do, it is only with my immediate family.
I use trillian in combination with MSN.
My trillian connects to all aim, yahoo, icq, etc.
and I have one msn handy in case I need to communicate in multi language which requires me to type in chinese, japanese or korean. MSN unicode support is best todate.
What is Trillian? I wish somebody would make a software (local or web-based) that can interface with all the chat networks. Kind of like email software being able to handle POP3, IMAP, HTTP, Exchange, etc.
I use Yahoo! Messenger, but only occasionally. I am not big into chat as I find it intrusive. I prefer to send emails when you can send and receive in your own time.
But I do use Chat with business-related persons in order to get vital information instantly and to give instant replies to those persons. I don’t use it for personal discussions. I have “three” persons in my Chat list.
I agree that online chat might somehow be intrusive. But, I also find it useful for my language learning. Using ICQ and Yahoo alone has helped my better grasp of Chinese, Tagalog and Japanese 4 years ago. Today I’m using MSN to aide me in practising Korean and Japanese plus other languages. So I find IM very handy and I have them all online thru trillian. However when duty calls, I shut them all off till I get back of my feet again.
I use the first four mentioned above in the following steeply declining order: MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ. I’m a bit of a hoarder, so with e-mail I tend to get loaded up with tons of old e-mail messages. Instant messaging has the advantage that when it’s over, it’s over. As to being intrusive, it’s less intrusive than the telephone - you don’t have to drop everything to deal with it. I find instant messaging useful for communication at work as long as you can discipline yourself not to let idle chatter intrude on your work hours.
I make the occasional appearance in the TEALIT chatroom to say something I can’t say in the TEALIT forums because I’m banned. The TEALIT forums are censored by human beings, but the censorship in the chat room is done by a robot that won’t let you write “sucks” but will let you write “s u c k s.” Generally chatrooms seem to be a magnet for morons, as are unmoderated forums.
I wonder if anyone here uses IRC. It’s better for pure chatting. I created a room ‘#formosa’ on IRCNET. People on taiwan may connect to irc.tw.freebsd.org, port 6665-6669, and i’m hooked on there all day.
Win32 users may download ‘MIRC’ or use ‘chatzilla’ that comes with Mozilla browser, and un*x users may use ‘irssi’.
I think it will be great to have chat room again, since there’re more members now?! just a thought… as for a new member like me, there’re many questions aobut the events that i’ll like to ask, and don’t know who to ask or discuss with/
will it be possible to have a (alternative) host at night for 2-3 hours reguarly or any idea about it? like to know…
I like to chat on-line and the program I use is AIM. It is a great way for me to keep in touch with my friends back home and talk to them instantly. Emails are cool, more of the personal preference. But I chat mostly @ work since I am a lazy worker… haha
just a thought… as for a new member like me, there’re many questions aobut the events that i’ll like to ask, and don’t know who to ask or discuss with/