IRC or Skype?

[fer]

What's wrong with IRC?
Historically, we have had an IRC channel for folk. That's been good, but not everyone in folk uses IRC (or can access it easily from work). The other key disadvantage of IRC is that it can't give you access to conversations that have occured when you weren't connected to the channel.

Why might Skype be better?
As an alternative, we could use a Skype perma-chat. The advantage of this is that if you reconnect after being offline, all the conversation which has occured during your absence will be automatically downloaded to your client - allowing you to read the 'scrollback'. Skype is also a little easier to reach from smartphones.

Are you asking my opinion?
Absolutely, comrades! The purpose of this poll is to understand if there is popular support for switching to Skype.

Before I make a call, what's the problem we're trying to solve here?
Excellent question! The purpose of either an IRC channel or Skype perma-chat for folk is to provide a venue for ad hoc discussions, and a quick way of seeing who's around (just in case we want to organise pick-up games). It can also help with problem situations.

Such as? Can you give me an example?
Last night NedFox needed the details for our TS3 server but had no quick way of asking other than posting to the forum; in fact, NedFox posted to the TZW newsgroup, and luckily mort saw that - but it could easily have been days before NedFox got a response (and whilst posting to the forum would have been faster, it still might have been hours before anyone saw his post).

Couldn't NedFox just have joined IRC and asked?
Yes, but there would have had to have been someone online at the time - and if I had joined the channel later, I never would have seen his request for help (because IRC doesn't give you scroll-back).

Okay, can't we have both?
We can, but I propose that we nominate one channel to be the primary - so that if you need to reach people quickly, there is no confusion about where to go. Personally, I favour using Skype because of the scroll-back feature, but I understand some people are very attached to IRC as well.

Lots of options, comrades, so please go ahead and indicate your preferences by voting!

[messiah]

I'm fine with either.

[theG57]

What about Steam,xfire,Facebook and Twitter? So many of them. Well I would say majority of us are on Steam. You can ad me theG57 and Fer what about a group clan thingy on Steam or xfire. Like we have for TZW, but make it FOLK. Just a idea or two...


G out.

[mort]

I voted Skype as I have it and have never used IRC in my life and am not on Steam

[Tigershark]

Actually...I'm kinda with G on this one. Why not use a method that will see us communicate when we are actually in game. Such as Steam.

[fer]

Well, we do have a Steam group now (I've sent you an invite, G), and I've started using that to send out event notifications/reminders for the folk sessions. However, the problems with Steam as a chat channel are several:

• I don't believe the chat feature offers scrollback in the same way as Skype perma-chats
• You can't get to Steam from a smartphone, whereas there are Skype clients for phones now
• Non-users of Steam tend to really object to installing it

It might be that we end up having several ways of reaching each other, but as one of the hosts I'd like to be really clear on where I have to post announcements. Please keep your thoughts and suggestions coming, comrades!

[LiddleFeesh]

Hi chaps,

Steam is a nice place to keep game-related chatter organised and it has some great community communication features such as groups, permanent group chat, voice chat, invites, events and so on.

Regarding technical info, there's a perma-thread for that on the Folk forum here: http://www.ferstaberinde.com/folk/forum ... um.php?f=6

As for using Skype, I tend to use my work Skype account for work and contact with family and getting game related messages via Skype while I'm working, driving, relaxing or playing will probably result in the chat/chatters getting temporarily ignored; every time I receive a Skype message it pings my PC, laptop, smartphone and iPad.

+1 for primary comms being the Folk forum
+1 for secondary comms being via Steam (group page, group chat, individual contact chat)

Best,

Mike

[fer]

Thanks for the votes and comments, comrades. Whilst the votes appear to favour Skype, it's clear that some are worried about being spammed whilst at work etc. Fortunately, there's a feature of Skype that should help us get around that, so here's what I'm going to suggest:

• I''ll create an official Folk Skype perma-chat
• I'll reach out to people individually to see if they're happy to be added (or you can reach out to me, obviously)
• If you are concerned about being spammed by the channel, you can set your Skype to only pop-up when:
  • Your name/nick is mentioned in the channel
  • The phrase "ad hoc session alert" is mentioned in the channel

However, just so we're clear about the relative roles of the forum, Skype, Steam and IRC:

• The forum will continue to be the place where all official announcement are made (i.e. if you check nothing else, check the forums)
• Every official session will have a auto-reminder in the Folk Steam group
• The Skype perma-chat will be the main place for announcing ad-hoc sessions
• IRC won't go away, but if you want to be sure of hearing about ad hoc sessions this is no longer your best option