Changing Chat-rooms?

Nate · 2010-03-09T07:26:16Z

Short Version YWS will be switching to the old chat from sometime this Wednesday through the weekend. If the site doesn't slow down while using it, we're going to switch back to it. Long Version Currently, the Young Writers Society chat-room is managed by a company called TopCCM and the program itself is called 123 Flashchat. It has a lot of benefits, and I know a lot of people like it. Unfortunately, it also costs $30 a month. Thus over the course of a year, the 123 Flashchat costs YWS $360. Are the benefits worth that much? Maybe. Before 123 Flashchat, YWS used another chat program called Flashchat and managed by Tufat. To avoid confusion, I'm just going to call the current chat "current chat" and the old chat "old chat". In any case, YWS used the old chat for about two years. It's biggest strength? It was free. If you weren't around for the old chat, you may be asking yourself, "Why did YWS switch from something that was free to something that costs $30 a month?". It's a good question and the reason is simple: lag. The current chat is remotely hosted. This means it never lags and never causes the site to slow down. The old chat, though, was hosted on the YWS server. Worse, it was badly designed so it didn't use system resources effectively. This meant that it lagged whenever 15+ people were in the room. If 20+ people were in the room, the entire site slowed down. If 25+ people were in the room, the site effectively shut down. That obviously was a problem and why we switched to a chat that costs $30 a month. However, the makers of the old chat (Tufat) have released a new version that supposedly makes better use of system resources. This means it shouldn't lag as much. We'll see if that's true or not. Starting sometime on Wednesday, the current chat will be replaced with the old chat (albeit a newer version of the old chat). This will last through the weekend if everything goes well. If the site does not slow down while the old chat is running, we'll switch back to it. If however the site does slow down, then we'll stick with the current chat. Just to sum up, I know a number of you may be unhappy about all this. But you have to think, do the benefits add up to $360 a year?

Elinor

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:07 am

Elinor says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:07 am

I will say that I liked the chat we've had a lot better, but hey, I'm not going to complain. I'm always adept to change and if it was me having to be paying $30 a month, I would have done the same thing. Just my two cents.

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Matt Bellamy

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:43 am

Matt Bellamy says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:43 am

Haha, chat doesn't seem to like Mattster's name. It is very odd talking to someone called "????????" Plus it isn't displaying the < character either. I wish the old chat showed who's typing like the current one does, I feel a bit lost without that feature, but that's just a tiny thing. Any chat is a wonderful feature to have.

Matt.

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Karsten

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:40 pm

Karsten says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:40 pm

I am weeping tears of gratitude! Finally I can override everybody's font preferences and turn the text size up to ENORMOUS.

My tired eyes thank you.

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Demeter

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:00 pm

Demeter says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:00 pm

I like the chat no matter what it looks like. I love the nostalgia, though. (= the old chat) [=/= the current chat]

As long as Jabizzle doesn't ban me again.

Edit: There's still the problem that I can't log out of the chat, because when I click the big red button, it just throws me back into the chat again. I thought closing the window would work, but I'm not in the chat at the moment and it still shows my name there, as if I were in.

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Elinor

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:35 pm

Elinor says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:35 pm

Karsten wrote:I am weeping tears of gratitude! Finally I can override everybody's font preferences and turn the text size up to ENORMOUS. My tired eyes thank you.

Haha, Karsten.

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Ruth

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:47 pm

Ruth says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:47 pm

What's the chat URL? School computers block chatrooms for obvious reasons, and at home the laptop dislikes YWS. D: So, yeah, I need to know the URL, if it's not directly linked to YWS. Otherwise, I can't get on, and I've heard such wonderful stories...

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Squall

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:41 pm

Squall says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:41 pm

Anyone here knows how long a ban last for?? I haven't been able to get back onto chat when I decided to ban myself just for amusement lol.

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Nate

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Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:50 pm

Nate says... · Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:50 pm

Ten hours, Andy.

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Kamas

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:12 am

Kamas says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:12 am

Ten hours?! I'll get you for this Jack.

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Mage_Banks

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:28 am

Mage_Banks says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:28 am

I want the old chat back. The new one is slow to me. Plus when having a private chat it lags a lot. So old chat back please.

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Nate

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:02 am

Nate says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:02 am

Mage_Banks wrote:I want the old chat back. The new one is slow to me. Plus when having a private chat it lags a lot. So old chat back please.

Okie dokie. Thirty bucks please.

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Snoink

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:19 am

Snoink says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:19 am

Nate wrote:
Mage_Banks wrote:I want the old chat back. The new one is slow to me. Plus when having a private chat it lags a lot. So old chat back please.

Okie dokie. Thirty bucks please.

Be careful what you wish for. You can get sick of too much venison.

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Nutty

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:55 am

Nutty says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:55 am

The old chat makes me happy.

It's not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache.

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Jon

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Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:26 pm

Jon says... · Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:26 pm

Snoink wrote:
Nate wrote:
Mage_Banks wrote:I want the old chat back. The new one is slow to me. Plus when having a private chat it lags a lot. So old chat back please.

Okie dokie. Thirty bucks please.

Be careful what you wish for. You can get sick of too much venison.

Lol

I, admittedly, like the $30 a month chat more than the old one. However, the old one is nice, too.

It'll just take getting used to again -- which won't be much of a problem.