Do we want to set up a nsfw Discord server?

Vela_Nanashi

The current Chat is great, when I can get in, and it let’s me stay in, and people are around and are allowed to stay connected, many can’t though.

I think having a discord server would be a nice complement though, to the forum and chat. I don’t know if there is any interest in that from people here, but I thought I would at least ask 🙂

Enchantress

Vela_Nanashi

The idea had been floated long ago but we ultimately decided not to, because:

Discord has no self-hosted option. That means we aren’t in control of our data (I.e. member information, messages, etc.)

For our purposes, that’s unacceptable, as we take privacy very seriously.

Vela_Nanashi

Thank you for explaining, and please don’t take anything I say in the rest of this post as harsh critique, I love this site and all the nice people here. Even with some of the functionality of the site frustrating ancient old me a bit.

Understandable that Discord is not quite what you guys want, good to know the reason. Though I would want to ask if it is acceptable to mention if one has a place off site for those who want to meet up there even knowing the risks.

Is it possible to make the maximum chat ‘post’ sizes larger and maybe see about stability for it? I have figured out I need to shut my browser down and start it without any tabs open to get it to get back into chat, and if I am doing a lot of things that is a bit annoying. Also would be nice to not be kicked out all the time given that it requires restarting browser to get back in, so if there is a timeout there for no activity can that be extended to like 24 hours? (assuming there are settings you guys can alter for anything in the chat if it is self hosted). Also the look back log is a bit too short for me in chats on this chat, not really good for role plays.

Still as far as chat on site options go it is better than some I have seen.

I still prefer discord or irc personally though, irc can be hosted but usually needs to be a VPS, not shared hosting, and I don’t know what the site runs on.

Does the black van have an onion site btw? Maybe I could visit from tor if chat works better there for some mysterious reason than it does in firefox, though tor browser is a firefox variant.

Enchantress

Vela_Nanashi

To answer your questions in order -

Feel free to set up your own Discord server. But do NOT use our site name for any promotion; we are not associated with any offsite hangout you or anyone else may create.
No, it is not possible to make the chat post sizes bigger. Stability will always be an issue with BlabChat, but it is the best self-hosted chat program still running. Everything else is now cloud based and that brings us back to the issue of privacy.
For the question regarding chat time out…. please see the rules about camping out in chat. Also, read the rules summary that displays every time you log into chat. We do not want one person or group of people hanging out in our chat 24/7. The reasons are - not all people get along and someone may actively avoid going into the chatroom if someone they don’t like is in there. Please limit yourself to 8 hours per day. AND, it gets very annoying if someone goes into chat and everyone that is “there” isn’t really… because they just didn’t log out before they went to bed, or to dinner, or to work, etc. Chat is for quicky role plays that last maybe a few hours. It’s not meant for a continuing saga lasting days. You can use the board role play subforum, or private messaging for longer ones.
We have tried irc and the majority didn’t like it.
We do not. We never have, and will never have, ancillary sites associated with our forum. Again, privacy and protection of our (and YOUR) data.

We have our forum set up the way it is for a reason, and that is for the ease of use of the most people. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but major changes to the coding, software, functionality and rules are not going to happen.

This is a free site that we have set up, pay for, and spend our time maintaining. It’s unreasonable to expect every detail to be perfect. We have no team of engineers working in the background, I assure you.

In summary, you just have to deal with it. Find workarounds, just enjoy reading and interacting with other like minded people. Or make your own site to your own liking, with your own time and money and hang your ass out on the line. The choice is yours.

Vela_Nanashi

Ok will try to not be in chat too often then since I may not be wanted, there is the possibility that people do not join if they see nobody there though.

Enchantress

Vela_Nanashi

Nobody is pointing fingers at anybody, Vela. The rule exists because some members just don’t mesh well with other members. Having times where one or a group of members aren’t in chat leaves a space so everyone can use it.

There is a method to our madness, you just have to go with it

Vela_Nanashi

I will say it here and nobody will read it, I don’t know where else to say it, but if anyone wants to chat with me, I prefer you do it over dm or summon me via that, I do not know if I have the ability to balance this at all. Also anyone who thinks I am disturbing them in chat, please tell me to get out of there if I am, that makes it easier. I am sorry.

pinkwarkitten14

It’s not that you’re not wanted. Please absolutely do use the chat and enjoy yourself here. We don’t want anyone feeling unwelcome.

Put yourself in the perspective of another new member. If you popped into chat because several people were showing as available, and you said hey but got crickets in response because nobody is actually there. Would you want to come back?

Honestly I don’t think that anyone looking to join would be kept from doing so because no one is in chat.

Vela_Nanashi

I tend to leave when I am not observing the chat, when I am observing it on my monitor while doing things or chatting with someone on it, then I am there, and I try to greet people when I see them arrive and be inclusive and welcoming, but I do miss people sometimes when I am actively writing a reply in one of the other chats or if a phone call comes in or something like that and I don’t have time to exit it and think it will be just a few minutes. The feeling I got was that it was a very hard limit on me and I will miss people because of it that I like talking to in chat, and I really don’t know what to do.

Enchantress

Vela_Nanashi

Vela, you’re not being singled out, I assure you. Other members have been bumped out for parking in chat, and have had to be reminded of the rule.

Simply - don’t be in chat all the time. It doesn’t get any more complicated than that. Please, feel free to use the chat room, just don’t be in there all day, every day.

This issue has been beaten absolutely to death, and there’s no reason to keep going back and forth over something that isn’t negotiable. Locking the discussion.