Could a chatbox be added to the bottom of the forums index page?
it seems that it would be much more useful than posting endless topics for help, then waiting days for a response.
if phpBB can support it, then ok, but if it can, here is a link to a download that might be useful:
http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/m ... w_version/

I second the motion, if it's worth the time / effort to implement.

There's always the option of getting the IRC link back. We'd need a new server and room, but those are easily had.

in my experience, IRCs are messy and never get listened to.
the chat box is a much better idea.

EDIT:
this also might cut down on spam in other topics.

Well I can't speak for #drlchat, but in Lonely Den we're pretty helpful if someone asks for help. IRC is a chat method, not a universal constant. If you've had experience where people were useless or jerks in IRC, then they were just useless or jerks. IRC isn't to blame.

What gets accomplished in whatever method of chat you use depends entirely upon the community that uses the chat. No matter what method you use, whether it's a chatbox or an IRC, your mileage will depend on who on DRL uses it and how they want to use it.

I could certainly give this a try. If I can get it working nicely, then we can give it a trial run and see how it goes.

ANy recent news TLB?

The chatbox doesn't seem to be playing well with the forum, and I haven't gotten a response in its support forum, so it's looking like it probably won't happen.

We could always try the IRC again.

Having an official IRC is a bit problematic. They're fairly difficult to moderate since they're in real time, and staying consistent with rules between IRC and the forums is infinitely harder. Any time we've tried to have one, it's ended up becoming more of a splinter from the forum than an actual part of it, and ultimately has to be severed because it doesn't fit. I don't know if I really want to try that again.

We really couldn't moderate the irc with our enormous mod team?

Considering that about 90% of us are in the same timezone and that most of us aren't active on a daily basis, no. It would mean having a dedicated team of IRC ops on hand for most of the day, all of whom are familiar with the workings of IRC and able to act somewhat consistently. Personally, that's a lot more work than I'd be willing to put in for an IRC channel which, if it goes the way of any of the other attempts, will be either mostly empty or almost entirely unrelated to the forum.

We've got two unofficial channels loosely based on DRL, but as TLB said, they are not forum related and are simply populated with people who've met on the forums. I won't link them, since generally speaking they are NSFW or very particular about their userbase, and again, not DRL forum related at all.

They're also rivals.

LHB 4 lyfe.

There's also a few estranged #drlchats floating around different networks.
#LD is the best channel.