Chris, I think that you have a point about non-contributing members.
Do you think problems would occur with posts outside the Off Topic board? Or do you think it would just encourage more off topic activity?
I went to check out Steve's chatroom, he invited me to go see it, and he showed me some of the features.
I showed him a chat that handles IRC, which in some ways was similar to the Flash chat he had. There were some things I did not like about SaviourPC Chat Room:
* It is flash, and that can mean resources. Also, not all users use flash, some people choose to disable it.
* The interface was a little iffy... I clicked something and suddenly all the windows separated and started covering up half the chat, I did eventually get it back. The interface nearly went beyond my screen, and I cant imaging what it would be like on an 800x600 screen, but, then again, it might re-adjust itself too.
* I thought that figuring out how to enter and exit rooms, and private chats was difficult to some extent, but, after a while, I did get the hang of it.
Pros of his chat that I saw were:
* It had a very IRC like interface, in fact, I had to test it to see if maybe it was actually IRC (which it was not).
* For the most part, if you are just chatting in one place, its relatively easy to use.
I'd like it if everyone could visit this address:
http://chat.tufat.com/flashchat5/stateless/Just enter a random username, no password, and click the Login button. Take a look around, try some things out.
After that, visit
www.computerhope.com/zero/ Click the "Your name or alias" box, and enter something random, and press "Enter" (feel free to talk to Zer0, he's a public bot, but please don't abuse him or swear)
I personally like this chat interface, since its CGI so you dont need any extra "addons" or "ActiveX" programs, and it is very simple. Also, since its IRC, you can download any client you choose, and use it to connect to the chat.
Another great client that is web based is PJIRC.
See it here:
http://www.pjirc.com/demo.phpYou can check out the different versions of PJIRC, on ComputerHope, it would be possible to have a selection of clients that you could use. Personally, I think that PJIRC is one of the best clients, its very easy to use, and supports right click on usernames, and is also a clean interface.
Mibbit is a more aestetically appealing web based IRC program, check it out here:
http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.blitzed.org&channel=%23zero&noServerNotices=true&noServerMotd=true&forcePrompt=true What do I mean by "You can install your own client"?
IRC is a protocol like HTML in a way. Its like how you can have more than one browser to use the Internet, which way do you like it? FireFox or Internet Explorer?
There just happens to be a FireFox IRC Chat addon called "ChatZilla" which is a great IRC client.
I feel like I am having an allergic reaction to something.