Chat Room

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KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Hi everyone. I was wondering about the chat room. Apparently it is no longer functioning. Last night when I was trying to find something to focus on to help alleviate my symptoms, I came on here hoping there was a chat room. I resorted to leaving a post on this forum, bemoaning my situation. I'm very surprised the chat room died out, considering that our worst symptoms are at night when most of our friends and family are sleeping. Is anyone else interested in resurrecting the chat room? Not just for scheduled chats, but one that is open 24/7 for casual chats, aka "help me maintain my sanity". :wink:

Polar Bear
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Chat Room

Post by Polar Bear »

There was a time when a Chat Room here on the discussion board was active, perhaps for 2 hours scheduled at evening time but it was not available every evening.
It is no longer operational. I have a feeling that it ceased when our system was upgraded.

I think there is/was a Chat Room on the main Foundation site at rls.org.
However I don't know anything about whether or not it is still available.
I'm sorry I can't provide any further information, I never used the Chat Room myself, part of the reason being that time differences made it unsuitable. Night time varies amongst our members as many are here from right across the world.

The Moderators here are all volunteers and to have someone operate scheduled chats is a massive commitment - a 24/7 Chat Room would indeed be wonderful - albeit unlikely.

I have a feeling that the Discussion Board no longer has the facility for a Chat Room.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

ViewsAskew
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Location: Los Angeles

Re: Chat Room

Post by ViewsAskew »

We could have a chat module/app here that people could use anytime and wouldn't need to be moderated. phpBB doesn't support them well, I don't think, though.

We are putting together a list of things that we want to do to the board - I'll add it.

I suppose we could always create a Google Hangout....I have no time to head that up, though. KDecker1612 - if you are into Google and use Hangouts and want to set up a group, feel free to post and ask who might want to participate. It's a bit different, but it could work.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Re: Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Thanks for the responses! I haven't used Hangouts, but I will look into it. I think it would be a great resource for all of us. You never know when that need to commiserate with someone who truly understands will strike!

KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Re: Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Hangouts isn't going to work. If I create a website chat room of my own, will I be able to share the link on here? What I'm envisioning is a sticky topic with the rules and instructions of how to apply to join. I will have a special email set up for it. A user would submit a request, supplying information about why they want to join, maybe some other information, have to give this some more thought.

Polar Bear
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Re: Chat Room

Post by Polar Bear »

KD -
I agree the idea is a good one.
To have an immediate response/instant chat would be an asset.

I don't have any spare time to be involved and also my technological abilities/knowledge are still striving to become better than 'dire'.
However, if it was available and if I was on line, I'd be happy to take part.
My time zone is anywhere between 5 and 8 hours ahead of USA.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Re: Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Great! I know you are a moderator. Do I need anyone specific's permission to post the link?

Polar Bear
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Chat Room

Post by Polar Bear »

The quick answer is - that I don't know about specific permissions. We will have to come back to you on that.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Re: Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Ok, I'll check back. Thanks! :D

ViewsAskew
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Re: Chat Room

Post by ViewsAskew »

KDecker1612 wrote:Hangouts isn't going to work. If I create a website chat room of my own, will I be able to share the link on here? What I'm envisioning is a sticky topic with the rules and instructions of how to apply to join. I will have a special email set up for it. A user would submit a request, supplying information about why they want to join, maybe some other information, have to give this some more thought.


You certainly may. I do not want you to go to a ton of work, though! I promise that it's on our list. We don't have much funding, but the Foundation raised money recently to do some upgrades to this board. I know there are chat "modules" we can add to the software that runs this board. I think that the money they raised (I hope) is enough to cover adding a chat room.

We are waiting to complete the upgrade as a new major version of the phpBB software is being released soon. If we upgrade now, we won't have money to upgrade when the new release comes out. After the release comes out, we want to wait a month of so to make sure they are no glitches.

Best guess is that we'd do the changes in 4-6 months. So, your alternative would work for the few months until it's ready.

Does that all make sense? Thanks for taking the initiative.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
Moderator
Posts: 8798
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:34 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Chat Room

Post by Polar Bear »

Views - thanks for explaining the position to KD.

KD - Thank you for your efforts.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

KDecker1612
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Re: Chat Room

Post by KDecker1612 »

Views and PB: That sounds great! I can just do the free version if it's only going to be for a few months. I doubt we'd have more than 10 users on at a time anyway, at least not at first. Thanks for the info :) It may take a bit of work to start and monitor it, but I think it's worth it. Have a great day!

ViewsAskew
Moderator
Posts: 16570
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Chat Room

Post by ViewsAskew »

KDecker1612 wrote:Views and PB: That sounds great! I can just do the free version if it's only going to be for a few months. I doubt we'd have more than 10 users on at a time anyway, at least not at first. Thanks for the info :) It may take a bit of work to start and monitor it, but I think it's worth it. Have a great day!


Perfect!
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

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