Cave Chat

[Tony Anders]

Has anyone thought about adding a chat area to this web sight.

Maybe members could get on one night a week and chat with other members "live" so to speak.

I am not sure how hard it would be, I was thinking about doing it with my web page, but I think I will wait till we get a little more room. Anyway , is there a way to do it without any hassle, maybe even make it where you can use voice.

I guess this is my old CB era coming out in me.

I am going to get my ham operators license sometime by the way. Just haven't had the time to study yet.

Just a thought.

Let me know if you think it would be a good idea, or really stinks.



See ya around , in the underground

[madratdan]

I've never been into chat rooms. I use to watch my son play in them when he was younger. If you just want to talk, you can always call me. I like this medium of internet communication because I type reallllly slllllowww.

If it comes together......I'd be willing to at least try it once.

[Sharon Faulkner]

The idea doesn't stink Tony, but heck, I barely have time to chat with people in person or by phone as it is, much less a live cave chat on here. ;D

One of the grotto egroups I am on used to plan a monthly live cave chat session with experts in various fields of caving. The overall idea was good, but it proved unsuccessful due to people basically being too busy to participate.

As with most caving forums, this software comes with the option to have a chat box so it isn't that much of a hassle. Personally I think the forums we currently have set up creates a more productive exchange of caving information, but lets see what the opinions of others are before making a decision one way or another.

[L Roebuck]

Well I am not opposed to trying the cave chat out on here. If cavers would like we could always give it a whirl to see how it worked out. But I do wonder how much a chat box would be used? As for me, sometimes I would have the time to chat and then at other times there is just no way.

[Brian Roebuck]

Chatting requires that one can type easily. Many of us have five thumbs and don't type very well. Other than that is can be fun but only if enough people spend time online. Many of us don't have that kind of time but it is a fine idea if folks want it. Other than that I vote we should call it "Caver Chat" instead

It's good to be back online!

[Azurerana]

It sounds really weird, since I've got these two college degrees and all, but the two classes in my life which actually have come in most handy began in high school-- two years of Spanish (followed by two years of college Spanish) and touch typing. Of course, I *had* to learn to type as a child-- the only class I ever took where I consistently got D's was penmanship, which is of course why I became a writer!

I occasionally make posts in a chat box on another board. One thing I don't care for is the fact that chat software limits you to about two lines of typing...heck, that isn't enough for some of my sentences, like this one. Because of this, everyone tends to sound the same: clipped and terse.
If US Cavers Forum had a chat box, I probably would use it occasionally as a time killer. It would create another task for one of the administrators/moderators--to monitor the chat box. Also (and I do not know this) does enabling a chat box compromise the software by offering an avenue in for a hacker? What would be neat would be if there were some way for two people to communicate in real time, without it being a party line as most chat boxes are.

I'm fairly lukewarm on this-- not really fired up pro or con. If it were here, I'd try it . If not, I wouldn't miss it. We could always try it for a while, and if it proved counterproductive, we could ditch it.
Azurerana

[L Roebuck]

Yes, if us cavers decided to add a chat box it could only be useful for one-liners or perhaps two-liners which might be a good thing at times. I do not know if enabling a chat box on the forum would offer an avenue for hacker's but that is definitely something else for all us cavers to consider and check into.