Open chat for the site?

[BriarBrook]

The Galactic Get Piped Club does weekly meetings on discord... really, discord is better than zoom or teams for that sort of thing. It has it's own chat rooms and server. I can send a link to anyone who's interested... not sure if that's allowed in the forum or not (seen as promoting another forum)?

 

[Sigmund]

Now thst it’s mentioned, a chat in a political year…danger zone. I think you might have all out war without constant mods supervising.

 

[Servant King]

But there is no reason why a zoom chat couldn’t be put together by a member…. In fact they already exist. When I return from the mid-east, I may very well set one up for those interested in coffee pipes and blends.

Mike of the recently defunct Briar Blues YT channel was doing a Thursday afternoon zoom chat for the first half of this year. It was quite fun, and always retained a pretty smooth flow, with participant number anywhere from half a dozen to verging on 20. Everyone was pretty cool about talking one at a time, and the conversations were as eclectic as the blends everyone was smoking. In other words, you are correct--it's definitely doable. Count me in.

Safe travels, and keep us posted!

@BriarBrook would you kindly PM me that link? Sounds neat!

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

I think it'd probably end up something like this....

 

[HRPufnstuf]

It would be nice to have an icon to indicate something has been read by someone without a pro/con, like/dislike judgement associated with it.

I find myself posting a "like" simply to indicate I have read something, not neccesarily intending any approval or disapproval.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It would be nice to have an icon to indicate something has been read by someone without a pro/con, like/dislike judgement associated with it.

I find myself posting a "like" simply to indicate I have read something, not neccesarily intending any approval or disapproval.

Really no way of verifying it, some may just scroll past or be on someone's ignore list.

 

[HRPufnstuf]

Really no way of verifying it, some may just scroll past or be on someone's ignore list.

I know. A checkmark or a bullet point would suffice, something neutral.

"If wishes were horses..."

 

[Chasing Embers]

I know. A checkmark or a bullet point would suffice, something neutral.

"If wishes were horses..."

Never really thought much of it. Excluding quotes or mentions, I've got notifications turned off. Just gets to be too much clutter.

 

[anotherbob]

Define "regularly."

like tank strapped to the back and "oxygen"mask stappled to the face.

 

[RudyG]

Personally speaking, pipe smoking removes me from the modern age of cell phones, computers, the internet etc and brings me back to remembering the days where life was a little more simple and uncomplicated...,at least for me lol.

I participate in this forum as an exception because of all the wonderful people who are involved and the amazing amount of great info that I've learned from the more experienced members.

An open chat would be really nice for some, just not for me.

 

[PipeIT]

Kinda surprised we don't have a discord.

Big +1


Given the size/popularity of Discord, and some expressing not liking the idea of video, at least in Discord, these people could just type instead in Real Time.

In Discord you can also make a personal call and talk privately, or join a public voice channel and talk among several people.

Voice and the typing channels can also be restricted/locked, allowing only access to who you choose.

Given the ease, various options, and the tools to create a nice online environment, makes this an extremely good choice!

Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.

discord.com

I’ve used Discord for years for gaming, I also had my own discord gaming server I created/setup and ran myself. I know Discord quite well. LOL

Companies that have websites and forums, many of them also use Discord. It it also another great platform to reach, connect, promote and market from, it’s also free!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Given the size/popularity of Discord, and some expressing not liking the idea of video, at least in Discord, these people could just type instead in Real Time.

In Discord you can also make a personal call and talk privately, or join a public voice channel and talk among several people.

This is exactly what we're avoiding with the forum format.

 

[PipeIT]

This is exactly what we're avoiding with the forum format.

I’m not sure what you’re referring to avoiding, real time text, or voice chat, or both?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I’m not sure what you’re referring to avoiding, real time text, or voice chat, or both?

All of the above.

 

[Jbrewer2002]

Back 10+ years ago there were websites that hosted video chatting.
You just open the specific "room" and "join". It was like a zoom call or other video chat app, but I guess more optimized for computers.

It was super easy to operate and easily facilitated people dropping in for a few minutes or hanging out for a long time. Wish I coul...

It just dawned on me. It's called TinyChat.
That makes it easy for home computer users to join in too.

Maybe one day I'll start a TinyChat room and if anyone wants to join in they can.

This is exactly what I was trying to say. You said it better

 

[captainsousie]

Kevin is pretty protective of his IP and I can't blame him. This idea could be fun but it can also end in tears. I like the idea but I've never seen it work well or reflect well on its host.

 

[PipeIT]

Ok on both...

Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m assuming you meant to say; ‘what we want to avoid’.

Me I certainly get all of it, since my background is computer tech.

There’s Pro & Cons on both sides, but given Discord is free, if you have the man power, there will certainly be a lot of people that will enjoy it.

I just look at it like this, having/offering different choices can be a good thing, because everyone doesn’t like the same things.

Many people will prefer Discord too over a Forum.

I’m not sure what your background is with computers, but the Social Pecking Order started like this;

Newsgroups
IRC
Forums
Social Media platforms - Including Discord.

Discord came out in 2015, in the world of Tech it’s a newer platform over Forums, so it has a lot of traction/popularity.

I like Forums, IRC, and Discord, all three have good points.

I would never ditch the forum, it is good, I’m just saying, a lot of people will enjoy Discord too, and it can make an extreme positive impact.

Give people choices, and let them pick what they like.

 

[Jbrewer2002]

Ok on both...

Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m assuming you meant to say; ‘what we want to avoid’.

Me I certainly get all of it, since my background is computer tech.

There’s Pro & Cons on both sides, but given Discord is free, if you have the man power, there will certainly be a lot of people that will enjoy it.

I just look at it like this, having/offering different choices can be a good thing, because everyone doesn’t like the same things.

Many people will prefer Discord too over a Forum.

I’m not sure what your background is with computers, but the Social Pecking Order started like this;

Newsgroups
IRC
Forums
Social Media platforms - Including Discord.

Discord came out in 2015, in the world of Tech it’s a newer platform over Forums, so it has a lot of traction/popularity.

I like Forums, IRC, and Discord, all three have good points.

I would never ditch the forum, it is good, I’m just saying, a lot of people will enjoy Discord too, and it can make an extreme positive impact.

Give people choices, and let them pick what they like.

I have tried Discord. I found it a bit messy. It could just be my lack of knowledge of it.

 

[Jbrewer2002]

I don’t think the site would take this on - there is no financial incentive I can think of and it would require time which is money. But there is no reason why a zoom chat couldn’t be put together by a member…. In fact they already exist. When I return from the mid-east, I may very well set one up for those interested in coffee pipes and blends.

Idk. The site makes money from advertising and if a new feature brought more members in then it could be financially beneficial.

 

[PipeIT]

Kevin is pretty protective of his IP and I can't blame him. This idea could be fun but it can also end in tears. I like the idea but I've never seen it work well or reflect well on its host.

Use a VPN service if you are paranoid about your IP.

I use to teach on forums VPN and Computer Security, I also gave tech support for a VPN company for about 7 years.

There’s a lot of great VPN providers out there, and a lot of crap too.

I actually use Mullvad, they’ve been around a long time, very well know in the VPN world. Based in Sweden, no logging, 100% secure and private, for only 5 Euro a month.

Mullvad VPN - Free the internet

Free the internet from mass surveillance and censorship. Fight for privacy with Mullvad VPN and Mullvad Browser.

mullvad.net

They also offer Wireguard, which is a newer protocol over OpenVPN. Wireguard is really fast too.

WireGuard - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org