Excuse me if you've heard this already. You've probably discussed this before, but maybe I can rekindle the coals.

Is a sidebar chatroom possible with this server? I think a real time, scrolling chat box screen right would preclude a great deal of time sending messages back and forth, and could make a visit to Caedes even more eventful than it is already (and God knows how excited I get).

Just to throw my hat into the ring and give my two cents... I think I actually prefer the PM's, just because it seems a little more coherent to me, ie I send someone a msg and they send me a reply. With chatrooms you will often have several conversations going on at once and sometimes people respond when you weren't talking to them. But it would be good for purely "fun" stuff I think, just not as practical as the PM system... but feel free to disagree with me.

I don't disagree at all. I don't think this should take the place of PMs, only that it serves for brief flurries and furies of light banter in which multiple members can participate at the same time.

I must also say that the PM are easier for the 'no-englishspeaker' members. I could not follow a chat easily...

Ceci n'empêcherait pas du PMs. Vous pourriez converser en français parfait avec les gens comme moi (??) Ha!

This would not prevent PMs. I'm thinking of online chats real time. You could converse in perfect French with with people like me (??). Ha! Just an alternative I think could work well.

Ha oui, Tracy, j'oubliais qu'il y a quelques francophones... Hehe!

Allons, mes enfants -- pour la France! Et...et, naturelement, aussi pour la Belgique!

... la Suisse, le Canada, la Côte d'Ivoire, le Sénégal, ... Je crois qu'il y a ± 200 millions de francophones dans le monde...

A chatbox like you describe was actually one of the first things that I programmed for the site, however I've just not turned that feature on. They reason is that it isn't a very efficient use of the server's resources. People constantly reloading the chatbox to see if there are any new messages would absolutely kill the server. I can definitly see having one if we had fewer members or a dedicated chat server. A better idea would be to use IRC or the AIM chatroom method.

Maybe Caedes Cadre members only?

Possibly, I'm going to move this discussion to the main discussion board.

Well i think the chat would be a neat little extra... but i wouldnt want it if it could seriously hinder site functionality..

I'm thinking that the traffic in the chatbox would be made up of paying cadre members only (one of the perks). If enough people become members of the chatbox, then the added dues might cover expenses. Whaddaya think?

I think that it's a great idea. I still like the PM system - but a chat box could be fun.

A chatbox would be great, but how to do it without affecting performance...?

We could always give it a try, in whatever format, when caedes is going to be online foe a while. If he finds that it is hindering the site he can remove it. Is that possible or am I being too simplistic?

Well, I don't know too much about websites etc, but how about a JAVA chat applet that updates itself automatically... would that lessen the load on the server or would it have the same effect?

I think there should be something where people can just IM each other without the mess of a busy chatroom....:)

The PM system is almost like IM, only without the "instant"...

I don't see any conflict in either case. The PM or IM abilities should remain intact. But I believe the advantages of an open forum in chatbox would allow for multiple participation in near real-time, and would enliven member participation in many new facets of caedes. I'm not sure of the associated technical issues (such as added server resources), which is why I proposed that only paying cadre members would have access.

i heard that at one time that the site was a user group on yahoo or something, if so, we could try and remake it and keep the bandwidth off caedes entirely....be gentle i may not know what im talking about :s

Just to my two cents in - I don't want to see a chatbox - I go to enough sites where there are chat boxes and that's all anyone does - they go to chat and not to use the site for it's intended purpose. I don't think this will happen here but you never know - there are enough places to chat as is - sorry - rather long winded and not very comprehensive.

The site never had a yahoo group. We trying having a little AIM based chatroom, but it was very rarely used.

How about anyone who wants posts their email, and we can chat via msn messenger? That way keeps it off the site, and lets us have private chat as well as groups.

You could try an IRC server with a java client on the site; the only increase in bandwidth use would be people trying to download the applet, but they would only have to do it once.