chatting online

[sheridan]

Looks like a lot of people need to talk, so how about we do so online?  I've virtually attended the Lawless convention and numerous Southern Contingent meetings over the past year, as well as a regular gaming channel (voice channel while we play boardgames online).


At this stage I'm thinking of just setting a date, time and location and seeing who - if anybody - turns up.


I'll lay out the options below and am thinking of possibly doing this later this week (I'm guessing weekends would probably be most convenient but this particular weekend is already going to be logistically challenging for me).

[sheridan]

first option - discord.

I have a free discord account and have a text / voice channel set up though have not used it yet.


I tried to get the non-signed-up member experience, but I think the fact I have an account already and have only used it from my own IP address meant it wouldn't let me sign in anonymously.  I'm pretty sure you could get in to a channel pretty quickly after clicking on the pictures of lamposts in the verification process.  You might have to give an email address, not sure.


Features:

   
• text channel (allows links, images and emojis to be posted)
• voice channel
• no sign up required (though there is a setting to limit participation to those with verified emails)

Limits:

   
• no video channel
• members - 250,000 (25,000 simultaneous online)
• channels - 500

[sheridan]

second option - zoom.  I have a zoom account and it looks pretty simple to host a meeting (again, not something I've done so far).


No zoom account is required to participate.

Features:

   
• audio (can be muted)
• video (can be turned off) - has filter and background options
• text chat
• screens can be shared by participants

Limits:

   
• text chat not as full-featured as discord

[sheridan]

skype - something I've used for one-to-one calls quite a bit, but never tired the meeting functions.

No sign up required to join the call.

features:

   
• video (can be switched off) includes background effects
• audio (can be muted)
• text chat

limits:

   
• 99 people
• calls can last up to 24 hours

[wedgeski]

Discord is excellent. I only use the free product and have video -- we use it for D&D every week. Am I missing something?

[The Legendary Shark]

I used to run the Wednesday Night Chat on Paltalk back in the day (in the room "Rowdy Yates Block Citizens' Yap Shop," admin code 1977 if anyone wants to resurrect it) and it was enormous fun.

[Colin YNWA]

I used to run the Wednesday Night Chat on Paltalk back in the day (in the room "Rowdy Yates Block Citizens' Yap Shop," admin code 1977 if anyone wants to resurrect it) and it was enormous fun.

That was great fun and maybe the idea can be carried forward to a new platform - Zoom is a great option - folks can just use the chat function if they don't feel comfortable sharing their noggin and tones. It can be about anything and a chance to share whatever as an extension of this place.

[sheridan]

Discord is excellent. I only use the free product and have video -- we use it for D&D every week. Am I missing something?

Much more likely that I've missed the video option somewhere!

[sheridan]

I used to run the Wednesday Night Chat on Paltalk back in the day (in the room "Rowdy Yates Block Citizens' Yap Shop," admin code 1977 if anyone wants to resurrect it) and it was enormous fun.

That was great fun and maybe the idea can be carried forward to a new platform - Zoom is a great option - folks can just use the chat function if they don't feel comfortable sharing their noggin and tones. It can be about anything and a chance to share whatever as an extension of this place.

Sounds good - though I'm not keen on downloading any software I don't already have installed (the ones mentioned above, essentially).

[sheridan]

p.s. would it be too short notice to try the Wednesday Night Chat on discord or zoom tonight?

[Funt Solo]

I would pop in and say hi (if I can get over my fearz) but can't until 10pm because time zones && employment.

I popped into the Lawless zoom but was totally intimidated and so just lurked for a bit then left.

I'm a mouthy bastard in text but IRL a bit slow to get going.

[sheridan]

Right, I'll schedule something for 22:00 tonight, UTZ+1 (also known as BST) in Zoom.  Rackle and I shall be attending, and any other forumites who'd like to turn up.  I'll have to look at the settings so you have to be allowed in (so not for the general public to crash).

[sheridan]

Just found out about another limit on zoom - meetings with more than 3 participants are limited to 40 minutes!  (if the free account has a free account, like what I do)

Anyway,

https://zoom.us/j/91572371207?pwd=QThnTEcrOWcrYSsxTjE2eGRsUk1wdz09

Meeting ID: 915 7237 1207
Passcode: 0XsWf3

As I understand it posting that in a public forum won't allow just any passer by to enter the chat as they'll have to be approved by me to get past the lobby.

[sheridan]

That worked well, though now I know that we can get video on discord I'm tempted to use that next week.  The video button is really obvious on the discord app, by the way - just that whenever I've used discord our visual focus has been on something else (either roll20 for a virtual D&D desktop or boardgamearena to play a virtual boardgame).

p.s. luckily for our short-notice zoom call there were only three of us present, but if there had been any more we'd have hit that 40 minute limit, which is why I think we should try discord next week.

[sheridan]

Couldn't find any information on what discord is like as a non-user, but I did come across a few commands I'll keep to one side for next week...

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/giphy {search} where {search} is anything you want to search for an animated gif on

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/nick {new nick} change nickname where {new nick} is the new nickname you want

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/tts {message} discord will read out a typed message (this seems to be a serve setting that I can't find)

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/afk set {away} set away from keyboard message {away} message appears if anybody mentions your name while you're away

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/membercount returns how many people in the channel

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/me {text} emphasies following text

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/spoiler {text} hides spoilered text

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/tableflip flips over a table in ascii

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/unflip unflips a table in ascii

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/shrug ascii again