Chat?
 

Any thoughts of opening an IRC channel?

good idea ... although it may get a little too crowded and flooded with questions from time to time ;)

sounds good

How do you start one?

Well, first you find an IRC network that you like and then, depending on it's rules, etc., you can create a channel. I've created two for the sites that I run on the OpenProjects.net network.

Are you familiar with Internet Relay Chat (IRC)?

How much are you paying for access, or does it cost? Fill me in a little bit and maybe I would look into it further.

Regards,

OpenProjects is a free IRC network dedicated to technology. What I liked about them was that they don't allow Porn or Warez, so all the channels are technology related. Just open any IRC client (like mIRC) and use "irc.openprojects.net" for the server name and then any nick for your name and you're in.

The only cost comes in providing a web based chat client. JPilot is probably the most popular and runs $50 bucks. There's even a hack that will tie it into vB [link].

If you're not that familiar with IRC, I'd be more than happy to set everything up for you. And give me a few minutes and I'll have a working copy running on my new board, so you can see what it looks like.

Ok, I've got a working demo in place. It's a little clunky, but I've got it working enough that you can see it in action.

Step One - go to http://www.npug.org/forum

Step Two - log in with "tashby" as the username and "npug" as the p***word

Step Three - after you've logged in, go to this URL: http://www.npug.org/forum/chat.php

In a few minutes, you'll be logged into the #npug channel on OpenProjects.

A few things to keep in mind. It's a java app, so you'll be promted with a box to approve the install of the java applet. Also, this really only works with Windows machines.

It is not bad, but I am not sure that it is worth $50.00 :) - Do you know of any free based clients that could be used here? Most of the money I receive is placed back into ViperHost to maintain/pay for the servers :).

I agree. I did find a free option and hack here. It appears to be the same client vBulletin.org is using. :)