Is there any way to get an (m)/IRC client on CD similar to what GameRenders has done on their forums? It would be helpful to teams that have quick questions for quick answers and it is actually simple to implement if you choose to do so. It would also get rid of some of the more “Short-term” questions like “hey can i ______ on the robot?” and “is _____ legal?” for quick answers.
This is just an idea not necessarily a suggestion by the way.
Pavan.
I personally like this idea. When I played a text based role playing game online we used this quite often. The only problem would be that we would sometimes have a variety of conversations happening at the same time. A possible alternative would be to have a “Private message to everyone online” option
We had IM/Chat page on the site a few times in the past, but it was too much for the server and was hard to keep an eye on from an administration / moderation point of view.
How about a twist of the idea?
For those experienced with answering questions in the CD forum, for those willing to spend a certain amount of time every day answering “rookie” questions, we can setup a list of names and AIM screen names in a stick thread.
Rookie members will then go to that stick thread, look up a few IM screen names, and IM/PM their questions to them. If it turns out the question is much harder than it seems, then person being asked the question can then suggest to the rookie member where and how to start a new thread to post the question appropriately.
Even better, we can organize screen names under different categories, including a general category, so rookie members will know who to ask about, say, a question regarding motors, or programming, or the chairman’s award, or team organization.
Hmm, crazy idea huh?