Proposal for a NEW Cannabis.com Chatroom

Hello Everyone,

I'm posting here, to make a proposal (and somewhat a petition) for a new chatroom! Getting bored with the long, java load times? Simply fed up with constant disconnects, or insecure java applets? Let's work together to make a change!

Please vote on the poll above, It helps to get a very general idea of the support I have on the subject, but please post as to your reasoning of your vote, and your suggestions and comments!

Now, first of all, I'd like to tell you a little bit about IRC, (for those of you who do know a fair bit about IRC, this is just basic, you can move on.) IRC is an acronym for Internet Relay Chat, IRC in general speaks of the protocol used to connect to IRC networks/servers. There are literally thousands of IRC networks, and MILLIONS of IRC servers. IRC networks are simply groups of networked (Haha) servers, in which users connect to, and chat in rooms called "Channels". The reason IRC appeals to me, is because of it's ease of use (some would disagree with me on that, but it's my opinion) , it's functionality, and it's controllability. IRC is a text-based chat system (Although some clients, like mIRC offer a right-click menu for ease of use.) using commands that you've probably all seen before! Such as /me for actions, and /join or /part to join or leave a channel. Many networks offer written programs called "Services" that one can utilize for specific things, such as changing your nickname (username) or for giving you access in certain channels. Services such as ChanServ offer channel security, and control, allowing you to issue chanserv typed commands such as !ban <username> to remove someone, rather than having to type it out manually. These services also secure the chatroom when no operators are available, many of them can be configured to kick/ban users who don't follow specific channel rules. Some networks even allow people to write their own programs, called "Bots" to enforce their channels! Meaning one can have a completely customized service running their channel, and enforce their rules.

IRC's customizability is amazing, channel Operators (Very similar to the mods we have now) can be given specific access to certain things, and not to others, allowing for personalization of access for each individual Operator. Channel Operators are clearly marked with a symbol next to their username, often a "@". Channel modes can be changed simply, and controlled with channel services such as ChanServ. Channel modes are specific sets of rules for channels, such as allowing only people who are invited into a channel, or only allowing people with registered nicks(explained in a minute) join a channel.

Many networks' services include an ability to make your Nick (short for nickname, same as your Username, here on the boards.) yours, and yours alone. Network services allow you to control your own personal settings, aswell as the channels your in. Some services are often very customizable, certain features can be enabled or disabled, and even still, services require cetain amounts of access to use. With services, you don't need to worry about users running amuck in your channel, because some, like chanserv, require Operator status to utilize their full abilites, or even to the abilities to alter the channel as a whole.

I don't intend to propose that Cannabis.com start it's own network at all, because starting a new network can be a difficult and time (as well as money!) consuming project! IRC is completely free, and the networks offer channels and services for websites like Cannabis.com. There are also many free web-applets that allow you to access an IRC network without a client, but I do suggest people download a client so they can experience all the IRC has to offer!

Some free clients include:

mIRC, a free Windows client. http://www.mirc.com

X-Chat, a free Linux client, but the windows version is not free. http://www.xchat.org

Colloquy, a Mac OS X client, it's a free download aswell.
http://colloquy.info/

This is just a taste, there are hundreds of clients out there, you can find a list of them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC_Client

Now I propose, everyone, that the owners of Cannabis.com and it's staff, take a look at some of the IRC networks, that would possibly host our new chat! I would appreciate it if everyone would take a look at the websites, find a network you like, and post it on here, and tell me why you feel Cannabis.com should be affiliated with that network. I still have yet to look through the EULAs, so because of the content in which Cannabis.com is composed of, we might not be able to utilize one of these networks.

Undernet, one of "The Big Four", everyone knows about them, the four largest IRC networks in the world...Undernet is the fourth I believe. Undernet uses the "X" Service, that provides, nickname security, channel security, and hostmask control. This was to simplify the services, as many networks were getting overloaded by having a service for every aspect of the network. You can find more information about undernet here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undernet and Undernet's website is here: http://www.undernet.org/

IRCnet, what a perfect name eh? IRCnet is not one of my personal IRC networks, I don't visit it often, and have only been a few times, but from what I've seen, it's pretty secure, I'm unsure about the services IRCnet offers, but it's supposedly a very good network, it's also a member of "The Big Four" being, second in line with over 100,000 users. You can find more information about IRCnet here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRCnet and IRCnet's website can be found here: http://ircnet.com/

Freenode, one of the larger networks, but not to the rank of "The Big Four" just yet. Freenode is known as the Open Projects Network, because it tends to be popular with free and open source software designers. Freenode also hosts the #Wikipedia channel, the official IRC chatroom of Wikipedia. You can find more about the Freenode network here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode and you can find the Freenode website here: http://freenode.net/

Rizon, another one of the larger networks, Rizon has a bit of a shady repuation, but considering their lack of qualms with illegal material, I'm sure they'd have no problem hosting a Cannabis.com channel. Rizon tends to be a place to find copyrighted material, for free, and as such, has a repuation for a "Warez Network". You can read more about the Rizon network here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizon and you can find the Rizon homepage here: http://www.rizon.net/

This is only a taste of the networks out there, you can find a list of just a few of the larger networks halfway down the page, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC. You Can also find a large amount of information on IRC and IRC protocol at that URL, please take a look if you're a bit confused.

Please feel free to ask me questions, I want to make this happen, and I also want the process (if this does happen) to be as painless as possible for everyone, I'm quite knowledgable on the subject, and BobBong has also communicated to me that he is quite an avid IRC'r ;) So please, feel free to ask questions!

I hope I can count on your support, and I thank you for listening to my extreamly long rant. I appologize for it's length but anyone who knows me, knows I tend to be long winded!

Thank you,
Cylon

Hi Cy (good to see you big d.......og)
I agree with you. Also appreciate the research you put into the proposal.
Should be interesting to see the responses.
luv/Cathy

I'll back you up 1000%

I despise java

plus IRC is way better

I have the worlds shittiest computer and I can run IRC pretty good, I gave up on java a long time ago

I hope this works out

Hey thanks for your feed back, yes there's also something I should have included, you can run IRC on Windows 3.1! So come on people, no hyped up connections or video cards required! Hell...IRC used to look like DOS :P

I think Cannabis.com should install MKPortal Chat, it allows audio and web-cam and when I'm high here with nothing to do it'd be fun to talk and be on cam rather than just sitting here typing.

Erm, I don't agree with that, it'd be annoying to have a bunch of people talking or asking for webcams and slowing my connect and stuff, I think that should stay on MSN/AIM/Yahoo where it belongs :P

i like our chat room, but i dont like that the java takes so long to load, otherwise dont change it

That's not the only issue, it causes several problems computer-side, I constantly have to clean out my Java cache, just for it to load without error...It's badly written and it's very insecure...IRC is much more reliable.

I understand why you are so upset about chat. You have been a member here what all of 30 dayâ??s or so. It must be very trying for youâ?¦..lol j/k

Anyway I was just wondering since you brought up the subject here. If you had to pay a member fee to pay for the upgrade in the software and bandwidth for a separate chat server would you pay?

I don't think you would but I just thought I would ask. IRC chat servers have always been big users of bandwidth. They allow file transfer and many other features that would not be a good idea for us. That's just my opinion. From my understanding though the new owners are thinking about new chat software.

First thing is to finish upgrading the new servers, improve hosting and bandwidth.

Hey Zandor,

Any chance in the proposed upgrade of giving us the ability to edit or delete our messages?

I know we can edit our posts up to 5 minutes after posting them, but after that we are SOL.:D

I say if you want a chatroom on IRC thats called cannabis.com,you can have it.fairly simple task.then you can invite who you wish to join you there.but you can't expect www.cannabis.com to consider itself affiliated in any way,shape,form or fashion.my personal humble opinion of mirc is a big waste of bandwidth with thousands of trollers and flamers sitting back waiting to drop ya a trojan or some other hack.been there ,done that.mirc's older than the trolls that go there.I too don't have the highest post count at the site either;but I'd rather rock back here first and support the site's new owner's to see how they upgrade this site before I try to fix something thats not quite broken yet.see ya in the funny papers,'Buz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brother Schenker

Hey Zandor,

Any chance in the proposed upgrade of giving us the ability to edit or delete our messages?

I know we can edit our posts up to 5 minutes after posting them, but after that we are SOL.:D

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I understand what you are asking. Even moderators posts are treated the same way.

The administrator sets the duration of how long a thread can be edited. Moderators have no control over that feature.

The old rules of donâ??t say it if you will regret it later is still the rule here too. Not that I agree totally with that, but there needs to be more of a middle ground. I understand both sides but even I don't have an answer as to where the middle ground should be.

Think what a thread on growing would end up like if every third post was not there but they were the ones that had the correct information. Now you have a thread that had no point to it and the information was wrong. So some where there needs to be a middle ground.

I just wish I had a better answer.

Cheers for the reply, Zandor.

I guess the middle ground would be unlimited time to edit your post.
It didn't seem to cause many missing posts at Overgrow. Once in awhile you might have to scratch your head and figure out what had been said due to a post having been edited to nothing, but that would usually only happen in the Lounge rather than the Grow forums. It's the Lounge where we usually fly off the handle and say something we later regret and want to remove.;)

Well....as I've said before...I don't expect Cannabis.com to open a server, I suggested they affiliate themselves with an already popular network...I wouldn't pay for the extra bandwith you're right, but then again, I have to pay for my own bills long before I'd pay for a websites. I know I'm new here, but that doesn't make my opinion any less valued, why should it? If I honestly didn't care about the site, why would I even suggest this, and do the research I did? I'm a big supporter of open source software, you'll find that I'm very anti-capitalist and commercialism. It's not my limited funds that prevent me from paying, but also, I don't believe people should have to pay for services rendered on the internet, I believe the fee we pay to our ISP should cover that...

Now, as to the File transfer thing, that's hardly an issue for the chat, people have the ability to disable or enable CTCP (Client to Client Protocol) file transfers with every IRC client i've ever used...Security is hardly an issue if you know what you're doing...It's the same issue with anything in relation to a networked computer, as long as you know what you're doing, you're safer than most. As for "Dropping a trojan", please...be real here...I've been an IRC user for almost 7 years now...I've been friends with computer hackers, and network administrators ever since I started using IRC. People honestly don't prowl IRC, looking for people like you, to hack. Honestly, what makes you think you're important enough to attract the attention of a hacker? These people you refer to aren't true hackers, they are script-kiddies, who use other people's software, and research, to "hack"...

As to the chat not being an issue as of yet, I find that hard to believe, I already answered on a thread that was related to someone's problem loading the Java Applet. Java is an unreliable means for chatrooms in my opinion, if you want to talk about security, I think we should address Java exploits! :P

Besides the obvious issue here, I want to address concerns, a lot of people have agreed with me on this matter, and I don't suggest we give up the web-based chat completely at all! A web-based IRC-link can be used on site, and those of us who use IRC clients, can connect via a way that would benefit us...

I understand your arguement, and I wanted to make it clear I wasn't talking about running your own server! I've been there, it's a difficult and rather tedious process, hardly worth the attention. I suggested that we use an already established network, to host a #Cannabis.com channel, If you truely look at the ParaChat software, I don't see how you can so completely oppose the idea.