Real IRC, possible?

[babbitt]

Would it be possible to move the "chat" feature to a real IRC server with a java plugin?

I for one would like to just hang out on a hero channel, and be able to ask questions and have discussions in real-time.

I've found that the dynamic between real-time/IRC and forums/mailing lists is quite different.

I could just start hanging out in the current irc-alike, but I don't like the UI..its too heavy for my low-powered computer.

If its a matter of knowhow, I'd be willing to at least help in setting it up/adminning it.

Thanks for the time and consideration.

[Simon]

More a matter of time/ROI.

My own requirements for any system implemented are:

No user-install requirements. The front end should be as lean and simple as possible. The current chat fails (slightly) in this by requiring Flash. I've got an AJAX-based chat that I wrote over on HC that is closer to what I'm talking about. While IRC tie-in would be nice, first and foremost comes the web interface.
Low load on the server. The current chat doesn't do too badly at this, but is non-ideal (IMO). The AJAX based chat that I've been running is much leaner and produces a lower load (which can be tuned as needed by altering the refresh rates on the threads).
Low load on the user's system. The current chat is pretty heavy in this regard.....the AJAX chat has done substantially better, but depends on the browser being used (earlier versions of IE have some memory issues with Javascript).
Tie-in with either the forums login or the site login. I'd probably go with the site login if I pulled the AJAX chat back over to this site, though the forums tie in provides other abilities which are desirable. By tying into the forums database, the current flash chat follows the forum rules for registration, banning, admin access, etc. A definite plus.The ROI for the chat is extremely low -- it's really only used twice a week for Steve and Darren's chats. Outside of that, it's pretty much deserted. As such, I've gone with the option that is the best plugin to the forum software (FlashChat).

[babbitt]

At another site I use, they use PircBot (http://www.jibble.org) and built a simple but very nice IRC<->javascript/html setup.

I see your quandry and the problem with potential ROI, BUT, I also see how many active users you have on the message boards and think that a substantial chunk of those users would utilize the chat service if it had a web-based UI that was lightweight and didn't time out or a real IRC backend with our choice of clients.

Perhaps a poll?

I'll do a bit more research or see if I can tinker something together, maybe AJAX<->IRC via PircBot or some other bot interface.

Alternately Flash<->IRC.

Thanks again for the time and consideration.

[Simon]

Honestly, I wouldn't spend too much time on it.

When I have available cycles, I'll look into it, but until then I'm highly unlikely to implement any outside solutions. Any chat that is implemented would need to tie into either the database that drives these forums or the database that drives the rest of the site. I'm not going to put in untrusted/untested code which connects into either of these databases.

The forums are under attack often enough that I'm not going to provide any other avenues for hackers to come in. The software is kept up-to-date and closely monitored to prevent any successful attacks on the database or server.

The database that drives the rest of the site handles financial transactions (no credit card information is stored -- EVER -- but address, phone number, order information, etc. is stored in the database). I've spent a fair bit of time and effort refining the code for the site to be among the most secure that I've come across (my job is to assess security on sites). I'm not going to open up any holes for the sake of an IRC/chat hybrid.

Also, I've had a thin-client chat running on this site in the past -- that's not the reason that it's only active during the bi-weekly (scheduled) chats. It's simply not what folks on the forums seem to be looking for.

[babbitt]

Understood.

I'm already coding one up for the fun of it, but I'll not waste too much time on it.

I may set up a channel for hero stuff at some other location though, see how it goes, and GPL my code if it turns out well.

Thanks for the chat and information.