Chat verdict

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by mythbusterfan:
do we have any sort of official verdict or anything like that yet? with a possibility of chat's return?

Well, here's one. I started talking about it in TTOGR, but I understand that in the midst of everything else going on in TTOGR, it's too complicated to hold a discussion and for it to be noticed.

My input on this, as moved from my earlier post in TTOGR, is:

I was just reading through the "we're going to close down chat" thread. Since that thread has been closed, I have a question I'd like to throw out there.

Have we proved ourselves to be worthy of the chat coming back to full-time operation? Have enough members voiced their apologies and changed their ways for the admins to even consider bringing the chat room back?

I think everyone has proved themselves worthy of the chat coming back. Even if I'm blocked from it, which I consider fair considering my past behavior both on the forums and on the chat, it shouldn't be held back from everyone else who have earned the right to it. In conjunction with this concept, there are many new(er) members posting regularly. They shouldn't have the lack of a chat room because the people who were here before them screwed up. They weren't part of the problem, and I believe that they deserve a chance. In addition, a lot of the members involved in arguments (I know I was part of the problem, too) and inappropriate behavior don't even come around anymore.

Another point in favor of the chat is that there have been a lot of discussions about the books going on here in the forums. A lot more than when the chat was closed. It's been getting better and better for weeks, and of right now, all of the topics listed in the recent topics list except for two are about YW material or related to it. We are using the forums for what they are here for, and paid by DD for.

Bringing back chat would probably bring more people back, and have things pick up again. People who haven't been here in a long time can participate in these newer books discussions, and maybe even get inspirations for additional books topics.

So. Have we, the Young Wizards Discussion Community, proved ourselves worthy again, over the past 8 months by means of the forums, the IRC channel, and the brief sessions that Kathy or Garrett had opened the chat room for a while, of a full-time chat?

[Gryphon]

We have a new wash of newbies, and our midbies/oldbies have matured a great deal. I think we should give the chat another try. We can take it as a responsibility of the community to keep behavior under control, and we can handle it.

I really miss chat. :/

I agree with EricG (good points); I think it should be reopened.

[Dragon Writer]

Well, i'll miss seeing you guys in sean's chat (Though maybe eventually i'll be able to get into the main one) but if the site's proven itself, I'd hardly want that to stop chat from coming back...It's a real part of the site.

Still, in the end, it's for the admins to decide. We can whine and beg all we want, if their not ready to give chat back, they aren't ready.

[magicalmike]

young reader, that is true and i agree with you. But. chat has been closed for at least hald a year now(ill have to go check exectly how long) and a status update on where we stand would be nice. ie are we on the right track, or does something need to be even better. Its hard to solve a problem when you arnet told if your fixing the right thing. But yes in the end its the admins descision.

[Dragon Writer]

It is nice to know where you stand...But I don't suggest bugging the admins TOO much, or we won't be proving anything. (Other than our abilities to annoy people) Which isn't to say asking like this isn't a bad idea, so long as people don't go crazy if the answer is a bad one.

[EricG1793]

I agree with mike - a status message would be very useful.

The biggest stress is that we have, as Gryph puts it, "a new wash of newbies". The group of you regulars (alas, I am no longer) now is different than the group around when the chat was closed. How many people out of the group of regulars who caused the chat to go down are still around a lot? I can't think of any, or least not any who were the trouble makers.

And I repeat myself - it's not entirely fair to these newer members to not have a chat because the people who aren't even around anymore lost it.

[Kathy Li]

Eric, I think you're falling into the error of thinking of the chat as a right, rather than as a privilege. The chat is DD's to bestow or deny at her pleasure. This is not a democracy; it's a benevolent dictatorship. What you say, honestly, doesn't really matter much if DD feels differently. I'm happy we had a chat when we did. I'm happy we still have a board. She doesn't have to pay for and maintain this board, you know. She could have just let her publisher set up a site without any interaction from her at all. Few authors bother to go to these lengths. You should really learn to appreciate what you've got instead of pushing for what you think you ought to have.

Frankly, I've been disappointed at the lack of effort most folks seem to have put towards turning the IRC channel into something worthwhile. Every time I've shown up there, it's been empty. Those who have been shoring up the IRC channel are the only ones really giving me hope. Because what I'd really love to see is you guys taking charge and solving this problem for us.

The biggest problem is that DD is legally responsible for anything that goes on in chat. Whether past miscreants are no longer around to do that or not is not the issue. There will always be new members, there will always be troublemakers. The rules were obviously chafing a lot of people, even those who weren't troublemaking. The easiest solution to this is to have a chat that DD is NOT responsible for. Which means something not on this board; something that she is not maintaining.

You guys are really lucky the decision about bringing back the chat isn't up to me; because I really hate being pushed; and I loathed going through that chat log every day.

[EricG1793]

On second thought.... *Scratches everything I just typed*

I probably wouldn't go in the chat room even if it were reopened. I was doing it for the other members (particularly the newbies). I just don't like coming around anymore, and see where my best efforts (in terms of wording things and putting up a decent defense) to start a friendly verdict led me: thought to believing that chat's a privilege and that I'm making a democracy.

I guess I'll take the blame for people generally disliking the IRC channel as well.

Edit: Ooh, my 400th post.... Interesting.

[Kathy Li]

All I was saying is that DD is legally responsible for everything anybody says in chat. If any of those things make her liable to a lawsuit, and particularly end up giving her a reputation of not being kid-safe, then her career as a YA author goes out the window. All it takes is one troublemaker.

I don't know about you, but I'm willing to give up the chat, and even the board, if it's a choice between that and the continued existence of the YW books.

[meteorite]

Personally, I was never on when most of the other people were, due to my location on a mid-Pacific rock. I can't speak for anyone but me, but I don't miss it. The newbies who have joined since Chat was shut down probably don't realize anything is gone, and you can't miss what you never had.

If it's a choice between DD continuing to write and publish and Chat, guess which one I choose

[Dragon Writer]

I've been missing it for a couple of years now, so i'm just as happy with the new chat...or would be if people would come on again, and talk, and everything. (Though i don't always pay too much attention when i'm on, either, so i can't blame others for the same)