Chat?

[potato]

Hey, has anyone brought up the idea of having a live chat box on the side of the main forum page?

It would be nice for catching up with people, or for asking questions when you don't want to create a whole thread for it -- for example tomorrow I'm thinking of going to Dublin Lake and I'm wondering if the snow is compacted enough to use microspikes instead of snowshoes.

[Koda]

I think chat would be a great idea for this site.

[Peder]

I do just fine without any chat! (Sorry)

[Grannyhiker]

I agree with Peder. Also, the chat feature requires a lot more monitoring!

[potato]

I didn't think about the moderation requirements of a chat section... that's a good point.

I agree it's not necessary and we do fine without one. There have just been a handful of times when I thought it would be convenient and was curious what other people's experiences have been with them on other forums.

[Martell]

It's an interesting idea, but if it was embedded right into the site, we definitely would want to moderate it.

You could always set up an unofficial one too, using IRC for example.

I almost think a chat room might work better if there were scheduled times for people to get together.

[Lurch]

I would probably go with IRC, it's been years since I've been on there though, and if we don't have enough tech savy people it will sit empty most of the time..

I'd volunteer to be a chat mod if it came to be

[Martell]

Maybe the non-tech saavy could use Mibbit? http://mibbit.com/?channel=%23portlandh ... mibbit.net (this links to #portlandhikers on irc.mibbit.net)