Chatroom

[A. Londoner]

I have noticed that because of financial reasons, the YNAI chatroom is closing. So...

Edited by YNAI admin

[sara]

I have noticed that because of financial reasons, the YNAI chatroom is closing. So...

HERE\'S A FREE ONE
*********
Free one what?

I take it you\'ve ran this past YNAI moderators then ?

[Galapalagos]

No he didn\'t and sorry but but the chatroom was deleted for financial and lack of use reasons.


As well the chatroom that was there was controlled and for VERY good reasons as there was alot of predatory behavior in the past.  The program you were linking to YNAI has no controls or ways of limiting access.  So sorry but no go

And in the future if you want to suggest things like that please make sure you clear it with at least one board member previous.  

Thanks:  Tim

[Rob]

Thanks fellow Mods and Admins.

Yes, the YNAI Chatroom has now closed, the main reason it was closed was not because of the financial outlay by YNAI but a number of other reasons, the main one being the lack of use and the hassles the YNAI Board had to keep it safe as a place for young people to chat free of pedo\'s

We (The YNAI Board) looked at a lot of other options, including the one that was removed today but none provided the security that we at YNAI require to keep our members safe from the pedo\'s out there who like to pray on the youth naturist.

We will still continue to look for options that suit YNAI\'s need but at this point in time, there is none out there.

Rob
YNAI Vice President

[HarleyNude]

I know this has been discussed in different ways in the past...

...and yes I know the standard line of why we don't do it..

What I trying to think of is a way to achieve a chat room for the top 100 members(or some percentage of total membership like top 25%)...the top 100 members will have worked hard to get to that point, we will have vetted them for authenticity and true interest.  This will prevent certain lurkers from accessing it, and keep the chat limited to the core members.

If I remember correctly, there was also some cost involved in the last one... but that was based on how the service that we used correct?  Is there another different (better/easier) solution now that we have this new board?

I'm just thinking out loud and trying to take a new fresh perspective ...

Thanks for the thoughts!

Ryan

[Brandon]

Wouldn't it be simplest to just use msn? Is there a limit on the number of people you can invite into a convo in msn?

I'm not sure why it really needs to be an officially-sanctioned YNAI group chat.  You can invite whomever you wish.

[Noodie]

I agree Brandon.

I wonder whether it might be an idea to say we'll hold a chat at a certain designated time and day, via one of the many clients available out there (something like the mooted SkypeCast idea that was put out before)

I know it's difficult to find something that works for everyone, given that we come from such varied timezones, but I expect something could probably be worked out?

Personally, I don't see the need for a dedicated chat room. Pretty much every forum that has one finds it to be under-utilised, in my experience.

[HarleyNude]

Wouldn't it be simplest to just use msn? Is there a limit on the number of people you can invite into a convo in msn?

I'm not sure why it really needs to be an officially-sanctioned YNAI group chat.  You can invite whomever you wish.

no.

It is not simplest to use MSN for the intended purpose/audience.  We've been trying the "MSN" route for some time now with that thread.  Someone is asking for chatting folks, but noone sees it until it is too late..

More importantly, it would encourage participation by being a part of this site.  The whole point for some to chat is that a chat room would be restricted to people you've come to know by interactions on this board.  MSN is "convenient" but not what I have in mind.

A YNAI chatroom would also preserve a certain level of anonymity that the other chat tools do not provide.  If I want to join a chat, I need to add myself using my standard MSN username.  I do not wish to do that with a YNAI chat, as my username has been in existence for 10 years, has my profile, and is a part of my name.  Either I can't join an MSN chat, or I need to find/use a new MSN nick, which forces me to logout of my .Net profile and my other contacts, just to use a new nick for a YNAI chat.  Very very cumbersome.  I also can't have fellow YNAI'rs hitting me up to chat at all times of the day once they learn of my MSN nick.  I am logged into that account at work for work purposes, and can't risk it.

I chat all the time on MSN, Yahoo, and and Google.  However that is for my listed contacts of known personal friends, not my virtual friends from YNAI and other message boards.  There is a huge difference between the 2, and that is why I was trying to bring this fresh idea to the forefront.  I realized fully that we had an MSN chatting thread here... I also realized we had a past thread about a chat room.   Based on that I was asking for a fresh perspective.

Brandon.. this was an attempt at a fresh idea... thanks for understanding.

Ryan

[HarleyNude]

I agree Brandon.

I wonder whether it might be an idea to say we'll hold a chat at a certain designated time and day, via one of the many clients available out there (something like the mooted SkypeCast idea that was put out before)

I know it's difficult to find something that works for everyone, given that we come from such varied timezones, but I expect something could probably be worked out?

Personally, I don't see the need for a dedicated chat room. Pretty much every forum that has one finds it to be under-utilised, in my experience.

I would love it if we switched to Skype... it has all the functionality we need...   Maybe we could figure out a way to have an ongoing YNAI chat room there...

Hmmm.. the more I think about Skype and their virtual rooms... the more I like it.

Except...  damn there are so many lurkers on there...  oh wait... we could have it have a password entry for a private room...  correct Tim/Rob/Casey?

Hmmmm

[Brandon]

Okay, I hadn't realized you were as paranoid as me.

I just thought that whole chatroom thing before seemed like so much reinventing the wheel and a big pain for Rob.

I wasn't planning on participating anyhow, but was just wondering if there was some technical problem with msn.

If you invite people into the conv, you don't have any worries about extraneous people unless the people you invited invite others.

I don't think nearly as many people have skype accounts as msn, though I haven't counted.  Everyone I know uses msn.  I had never heard of anybody chatting on skype until it was mentioned on this forum.

[DougGCampbell]

I post this as a member, not as a representitive of the admins or mods.

Yes, the topic has been done to death before & for that reason, I see no point in this thread continuing. Chat rooms, no matter how secure you make them, attract the wrong sort of people or cause issues for posters somewhere along the line. We have enough methods of communicating with whoever we want without it having to be connected to YNAI in any way.

Back to Admin hat on:-

Nothing to alter the admins & mods viewpoints has changed since the topic was last discussed from what I can see & to that end, I'd suggest we drop it. I'll be locking this topic in 24 hours or so unless my fellow admins/mods think otherwise.

DGC

[HarleyNude]

I don't think nearly as many people have skype accounts as msn, though I haven't counted.  Everyone I know uses msn.  I had never heard of anybody chatting on skype until it was mentioned on this forum.

Agreed...  not many do have Skype accounts yet as it is new... and I think many people are about at their limits to have so many different accounts going at once.  It's kinda like having 5 cell phone carriers, but you can only call Cingular to Cingular phones... unless you install something like Trillian, but then Trillian removes certain functionalities I like for certain services.

fyi.. Rob, Casey, Tim, and Sam all regularly (daily) chat with each other via Skype. 

Ryan

[Brandon]

I use Trillian and find it a much more peaceful interface than the childish msn interface.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to support voice chat and sending files anymore... maybe I need an upgrade. 

[HarleyNude]

I post this as a member, not as a representitive of the admins or mods.

Yes, the topic has been done to death before & for that reason, I see no point in this thread continuing. Chat rooms, no matter how secure you make them, attract the wrong sort of people or cause issues for posters somewhere along the line. We have enough methods of communicating with whoever we want without it having to be connected to YNAI in any way.

Back to Admin hat on:-

Nothing to alter the admins & mods viewpoints has changed since the topic was last discussed from what I can see & to that end, I'd suggest we drop it. I'll be locking this topic in 24 hours or so unless my fellow admins/mods think otherwise.

DGC

Based on the fact we had a new forum with new possibilities I brought the topic up again.  Even with the fact we have Skype as an option now too...  I don't mean to re-hash old thoughts, but thought we might have new options now.

If we can figure out a way from making it an official YNAI supported option, but rather a common "hang out" room on Skype, maybe that is a workaround.  For example,  we could setup some kind of general announcement thread that listed where our "Skype" Room is located and to email a mod for a password to enter it.  A set of criteria could be used to determine if you get the password.  Therefore all of the former hesitations and issues previously discussed would be a moot point.  (It would be off YNAI domain, privately accessible to limit non vetted lurkers, and always freely available via the skype network.)  That pretty much solves all the outstanding issues we had doesn't it?

Thanks for the creative ideas... I'm trying to see if some sort of middle ground exists..

*Putting my Super Moderator hat on*

Doug.  As an Super Moderator on 2 other sites, and someone who has adjudicated other chat forums, moderated heated topics, resolved user complaints, and set forum policy, I believe that this is a bit of overkill to suggest locking this topic.  You need to have a better reason for locking a topic than the fact that I brought up something that in your opinion "has been discussed to death".  This topic does not contravene any forum rules, which to my understanding was the criteria to locking or modifying something.

One of the complaints I've heard on this board is that the free flow of ideas isn't allowed, and that we have an omnipressant moderator presence.  This is a great example of this.  There is a time to judiciously take out the Big Hammer.  This is not it.

Respectfully,

Ryan

[Galapalagos]

Ryan this one has been done before a few times.  It was collectively decided that a chat room is more trouble than its worth.  They are a hassle to moderate and have any form of control of.  Passwords are great till someone tells someone else and that person tells a friend of a friend....

And once again all of the instant messengers you use have conference features.  There isn't any amount of difference between advance notice that there will be a group discussion in a chat room or meeting over an instant messenger.

Another note is that I do remember the last chat room we had a long time ago.  It was a barren wasteland, most people I ever saw in there at one time was three and only one of the other three were active. 

So in conclusion this topic has been beaten to death.  There will not be a chat room in the foreseeable future.

If you keep on this this thread will be locked too...