Chat problems continue

[Rich]

Once again, I am in chat tonight and can type and see other people in chat, but they cannot see me or my messages, and no, Drew, nothing has changed on my end since the Saturday evening you and I were both on.  It seems that this is just a problem that won't go away and since nothing seemingly can be done since "the application is stable and the problem is usually on the client end" its going to be easier on my blood pressure just to not attempt this crap shoot every Saturday night.  After all, why beat my head against the wall when I can chat with ease in any number of hundreds of functional IRC chat rooms, just not with other dachsie lovers.  Seems a shame.

[drew]

This appears to be one instance of a classic problem in user interface design, features versus functionality. When the new chat system was put in place in order to further remove ads from the board (do you remember the ads for puppy mills from the old boardhost system?), I had the ability to change font color and background color disabled. Having this disabled provided for a more consistent user experience (same font/background for everyone - no readability issues), but numerous requests were made to allow people to choose their own color schemes. Since I try to make the site as enjoyable for as many people as possible I enabled the feature as requested. Consequently there are cases of people not being able to read one another's posts. This very thing happened the night I was logged on with you and several other people.

Keeping usability as a focus, I think that flash presents a MUCH smaller hurdle for new and existing members to overcome than mIRC or other IRC clients. Along the same vein, the simpler the server side is to maintain and keep operational the better. The old IRC system was hosted on a service that one, served ads, and two was not bound by any type of contract to continue to provide service. The new system is hosted entirely on the server that hosts the WW site and the provider is bound by a service level agreement.

A dedicated IRC server is possible, but at an added monthly cost. Kari nor I typically discuss operational costs for the site, we pay for it out of our pocket because we enjoy the community. To date we have had THREE people, two of them being the other moderators, assist with the costs. I know I came along LONG after the community was established, but having seen the old board I thought it could benefit from a more feature rich framework, and losing the ads (something I promised I would never allow on WW). Chris, the owner of DachshundCircus.com agreed and decided the link to the board would be redirected to the new framework. If an IRC based chat system is what the community wants I would be more than willing to administer and contribute to it, but at the same time would appreciate others who were at least willing to contribute to the cost.

[Rich]

It's OK Drew. I haven't heard a lot of complaints from others using the chat. I think this is a case of doing whatever is best for the greater good.  Just because one guy has reached the end of his rope is really not enough reason to make a move to something different. I appreciate all the work you've done on the board and everything you've done to try to get the chat to be 100% reliable.  After all, I enjoyed the old board without any chat feature and I certainly don't have to have chat to enjoy this enormously improved board.