Previous Chat Planning Thread

Update as of Jul 15 2004

UPDATE as of May 21 2004: I'll move this to Off-Topic Archive for a while, as everyone is busy with school and work. Anyone who wants to revive this thread need only ask a Mod to bring it back to the main page. ~gal-texter

UPDATE as of May 9 2004: No chats planned yet, as many PK-ers are busy with RL. But keep an eye on this thread for updates. ~gal-texter


UPDATE as of Apr 21st, 4:53 GMT: The Aussie/Kiwi/Eastern Asiapoll is now up! Got complaints about the colour?

LATEST UPDATE as of April 17, 10 AM GMT: Help plan the next scheduled PK Chat! Please take a look at this and this post for further, important information!


IMPORTANT:
In case -- just in case -- of another Portkey downtime, go to the portkeyorg livejournal account for updates.

If you can't make it to this chat, then try to come to the future ones.


~~Time Zone Conversions~~
Use this Time Converter (thanks to phoenixwriter) to check your local time.

Repeating important thread info:

THREAD PURPOSE: To organize a regular chat with PKmates
IDEA BY: phoenixwriter and Aurora North (in a hidden forum)
WHO CAN POST HERE: Anyone who wants to chat with fellow Portkey-ers!
NOTE TO PK Chat Mods: Feel free to take charge of this planning session!
For the technical stuff:
About using a client: Read this post and the 2 that follow it. Rach recommends this for Mac users *cough* Sandra *cough*.
For other questions (download & configure chat client, using IRC on your browser): Read "How To Chat in Portkey".
Nicole's (hpnic06) instructions on alternate access to the Chat Room

What do people talk about in the Chat? Nielle answers that:
You can talk about anything you want, provided you remain within PK rules. So no Ship-Bashing [or Character-Bashing either]. ... no one has any idea what we'll talk about! Just keep it PG-13.



~~USEFUL IRC CODES courtesy of Rach / Scrivenshaft~~

/me [action] = The action command. Eg, /me dances will appear in the channel as *Scrivenshaft dances

/msg [screen name] = sends a message to another channel member privately. It's the IRC equivalent of PMing - so I could send a message to Pen by typing /msg pen hello pen! How are you?

/describe [screen name] [action] = a cross between the first two! So, if I wanted to say to Pen that I was worried about something, I would type /describe Pen am worried, and Pen would see on her screen "*Rach is worried".

/nick [new name] = changes your screen name.

/query [screen name] = opens another window for a private chat with someone. So if I wanted to open a window to talk to Pen in private, I'd type /query pen.

/away [away message] = lets everyone know you're not at the computer right now. Eg /away eating would let everyone know I was away because I was eating


~~~~Advertising The Chat ~~~~


To help attract more people to the chat, can everyone help advertise this thread? You may copy and paste any of the following codes in your signatures, and keep it there until the first chat is over. Save your original sig/s in your PM boxes for the moment. Feel free to change the wording, colors, and/or font sizes.

Want to chat with Portkey-ers? <-- this will appear in the smallest fonts in your sig

Gems: a little hint: at around 8 PM GMT and later, there's almost always somebody in the chat. And I guess it's a lot easier to talk to people then, than at the official chats - because on the official chats, it's quite crowded, and you don't really know what's going on, most of the time. Although the regular chats aren't as exciting as the official ones, I have to admit.

Ri, who has given up hope that she'll ever make it to this one.

CONCERNING THE NEXT CHAT:

We should start organizing the next one as soon as possible - the sooner we start, the sooner the chat will be. Any help is welcome! I will help organize the next one as good as I can. But I've got a question: should we make the polls like this time, or like last time? Meaning:

option A: first ask for a timeslot, then for a date

option B: first the date, then the time

I find option B a lot better. The easiest way to explain why is by giving an example: Mrs. P has time from 5 PM GMT to 7 PM GMT on all days of the week except for Friday, when she has her Yoga class at that time. Naturally, Mrs. P votes for 5 PM - 7 PM. In the poll for the date, Friday gets the most votes. Tough luck for Mrs. P. The same could of course happen with option A (it did to Gems), but I figured that the possibility for that happening is smaller than the other way round.

Ri, who hopes that she is making sense

Hey I just realised the times I said before were wrong I only added 8 not 10.

Well actually I didn't only just realise I realised last night but I haven't had a chance to tell u guys.

any 8pm GMT would be 6am

and when i'm normally on 9am my time would by 11pm.

Anyway I did manage to make the chat though my parents thought it werid I was up that early in the morning on a sunday.

Gems

Okay people... how was the chat? I hope you liked it! Did anybody ask whether you want to keep the day and time for next time? *sighs* I guess not.

We'll have to make another poll. Pen said that she'll be online again, today. At least I think it was today *digs out PM*

I don't know who has the attach new poll option, and who hasn't got it yet, so I'll just stick to asking Pen to make a new one for the next chat. I'll PM her as soon as I'm completely awake Feedback would be very welcome, especially since I couldn't make it to yesterday's chat.

Ri

Nielle suggested having 2 schedules for the chats? One that's convenient for Americans and another that's convenient for Asians / Australians / New Zealanders? Europeans are in between these time zones. Maybe the chats can be held on alternating schedules every week or 2 weeks or whatever you guys decide on.

Good job organizing this one, Ri! "Pick date before time" does seem easier.

Hm, the thing with the two chats isn't a bad idea, actually. I say we have the chats on the same day, though, and just make a different poll that will be linked to in this thread concernding the timeslot. It's just a proposition, though. The most important thing is to vote for a date now. So, how about these poll options:


Thursday Apr. 22nd, 0:01 AM GMT - Thursday Apr 22nd 23:59 GMT
Friday Apr. 23rd, 0:01 AM GMT - Friday Apr 23rd 23:59 GMT
Saturday Apr. 24th, 0:01 AM GMT - Saturday Apr 24th 23:59 GMT
Sunday Apr. 25th, 0:01 AM GMT - Sunday Apr 25th 23:59 GMT
Monday Apr. 26th, 0:01 AM GMT - Monday Apr 26th 23:59 GMT
Tuesday Apr. 27th, 0:01 AM GMT - Tuesday Apr 27th 23:59 GMT
Wednesday Apr. 28th, 0:01 AM GMT - Wednesday Apr 28th 23:59 GMT

Anything else would have been to soon. I guess it'll be Saturday anyway

Pen, there's some posts that I'd like to have in the new thread: the first post, this one, the information of this one, this one (at least a link to it, so we know the poll results of last time's timeslots), and links to these two posts: one two. Most of them are just a help for me to remember some things.

Ri

Ri, I've inserted a poll for the date. If you want, you can make a separate poll for the timeslots. You can link them in your first post here. Check the "Make Poll Only [No Replies Allowed]" box.

Yeah I think having the 2 chats scheduled is a good idea. Well it works well for me anyway as if I can't make the main chat (which I normally can't because of the time difference) I can make the second one which will probably be at a more convenient time for me.

Anyway in the poll I voted for friday. I could have voted for pretty much anything but I figure Friday is better for the rest of you. The only day I can't make is Saturday.

Gems

Unfortunately I can't make it Saturday this time *grumbles about stupid parties* Friday and Sunday are good for me, though.

I'll vote later. Sorry!

Yeah well it looks as though I won't make this one. Anyway I figure it will be on saturday. I assume a time will be picked soon and then I guess it depends on what time it is as to whether I can make it or not.

Anyway is anything going to happen from the 2 different chat times idea or not? I'm sure someone other than me brought it up too. I think it will be convienient for some people.

Gemma

Since I don't know who has the 'Attach New Poll' option, and who hasn't got it, I'm gonna ask this here: could somebody please attach a new poll, in order to vote for the European/American chat?

The times we would need are: Saturday, Apr. 24

GMT early morning 12:01 am - 3 am
GMT 3 am - 6 am
GMT 6 am - 9 am
GMT 9 am - noon
GMT 9 pm - midnight

Ri

Ri - I added the new poll. Hopefully it'll [the chat] inspire more people to come to it, in spite of the impeccable timing.

I (finally!) voted for GMT 9 pm - midnight, although sadly I won't be here on Saturday, if the chat's then.

Nitya - I can't see the poll! Are you sure you added it?

Ri

What the - ?

Yes, I did. I know I did.

Can you see the poll now? I readded it.

Yeah, I can see it now. But it tells me that I already voted! What's this? Is there something wrong with my account?

Ri

Phoenix's explanation is the only one I could think of too.
(Don't be embarassed, Nitya! It's a common mistake! )

I understand PK had technical problems lately? (I've been mostly offline myself due to my own computer troubles.) I fixed the poll for the time, but I suppose you'll have to reset the date? It's already Apr 24 noon GMT as I post this. Perhaps you can use the results of this poll for another Saturday?

Ri, I'll be online for 4 hours more. If you need help, you're welcome to PM me (as well as the others.) I've borrowed my sister's laptop again for this week, yipee!

I guess we'll just have to ask whether we want to keep the day and time for the future. It's always gonna be Saturday, 9 PM to Midnight GMT anyway.

Pen: will do, though I doubt that there will any problems now that the poll is up.

I agree that it's a little late, though.

Ri

Well, the chat didn't happen, because of the downtime.

About the poll: Sorry about that It was easier to edit the previous poll than make a whole new one. And that way I preserved the votes that had disappeared.

Oh well.

Welcome to the planning thread for the next official PK chat

There's important note here. Just watch out for the big red font.

Previous Chat Planning Thread (Note to co-mods: I made a new thread because I thought people might get confused with the stuff from the old one. Feel free to merge the threads, though)

I just noticed Moglie asking whether there was gonna be another PK chat anytime soon and took initiative. So, here goes:

We will decide on a date first via poll, and then a timeframe that would be most convenient for the majority of people interested in chatting with other PK-mates, also via poll.

I have decided not to put up a poll concerning dates yet, because I'd like opinions on when to hold it in general. Would next week be too soon? *crosses fingers that the "attach new poll"-option will be there when the time comes*

Shamelessly stealing some information now to make things easier for chat (planning) newbies:

In case -- just in case -- of another Portkey downtime, go to the portkeyorg livejournal account for updates.

~~Time Zone Conversions~~
Use this Time Converter (thanks to phoenixwriter) to check your local time.

Repeating important thread info: (Pen's handiwork. I just hope the links still work)

THREAD PURPOSE: To organize a regular chat with PKmates
IDEA BY: phoenixwriter and Aurora North (in a hidden forum)
WHO CAN POST HERE: Anyone who wants to chat with fellow Portkey-ers!
NOTE TO PK Chat Mods: Feel free to take charge of this planning session!
For the technical stuff:
About using a client: Read this post and the 2 that follow it. Rach recommends this for Mac users *cough* Sandra *cough*.
For other questions (download & configure chat client, using IRC on your browser): Read "How To Chat in Portkey".
Nicole's (hpnic06) instructions on alternate access to the Chat Room

What do people talk about in the Chat? Nielle answers that:
You can talk about anything you want, provided you remain within PK rules. So no Ship-Bashing [or Character-Bashing either]. ... no one has any idea what we'll talk about! Just keep it PG-13.



~~USEFUL IRC CODES courtesy of Rach / Scrivenshaft~~

/me [action] = The action command. Eg, /me dances will appear in the channel as *Scrivenshaft dances

/msg [screen name] = sends a message to another channel member privately. It's the IRC equivalent of PMing - so I could send a message to Pen by typing /msg pen hello pen! How are you?

/describe [screen name] [action] = a cross between the first two! So, if I wanted to say to Pen that I was worried about something, I would type /describe Pen am worried, and Pen would see on her screen "*Rach is worried".

/nick [new name] = changes your screen name.

/query [screen name] = opens another window for a private chat with someone. So if I wanted to open a window to talk to Pen in private, I'd type /query pen.

/away [away message] = lets everyone know you're not at the computer right now. Eg /away eating would let everyone know I was away because I was eating


~~~~Advertising The Chat ~~~~


To help attract more people to the chat, can everyone help advertise this thread? You may copy and paste any of the following codes in your signatures, and keep it there until the first chat is over. Save your original sig/s in your PM boxes for the moment. Feel free to change the wording, colors, and/or font sizes.

Want to chat with Portkey-ers? <-- this will appear in the smallest fonts in your sig

*Replying in this thread because Ri told her to*

Erm, next week? A weekend, or ...? Either way, you know me, I can probably make it whenever it is.

For people who may not remember or weren't around at the time, these chats are quite fun, and you'll get to know your fellow PK mates a little better. I encourage people to make an effort to drop by and see what they think.

Nielle,

Ah, *boings it, I'm jost gonna put up a poll and pin this. Everybody who complains that next week is too soon gets *boinged.

Bad news though: I just got a call from my friend, and it seems that the only evening of next week that she hasn't made a plan for is Wednesday. We'll see whether I can wriggle out of anything, though.

Ri

*Replying because I'm an insufferable know-it-all [Sarcasm] *

I think this time we ought to have a topic, you know a real topic not just anything written and anybody ignore's it. A bad, bad thing to do anyway.

What kind of topic? Guys we have summer, just use your little naughty brain, please- eh right - what about everybody who manage to join the chat starts what he/she take with on a lonely Island. Muaha I did know what, dear my mind belongs in jail. You get the draft so with this soonly we don't get a dead chat. A bad thing to do. I killed it often enough with my comments.

Did I mention one who is kicked out and joins again must do it again but think about a new thing (not replaying thats boring) and those guys who are already in can mock him/her.

Good job, idiot I knew you would love it.

~Diana *Just old plain me only bit mad because of a lack of sleep*

haha! I found it! I am SMRT! I also seem to be addicted to the ! punctuation.

I voted for the Saturday because that is when most of the chat mods are free. I am assuming that we are going with the 9pm-midnight GMT timeslot on each day though.

crazy people are afoot and we must have enough mods on hand to take care of those that take the crazyness too far.


As far as an official chat topic...I'm not sure I like that idea since the chat has always been a place for people to talk about whatever they want. I do like it when the chat is on one topic at a time though. None of that junk with the convo going in ten different directions at once.

I vote for no official topic. Just let the chat mods give a good'ole smackdown to those that annoy the other chatters.

I voted for Friday because I have less of a chance to be kicked off the computer then. But hey, if I strike a deal, any day will be good.

Jennifer

Ahh whoops I voted the wrong day. I forgot I'll be back at school next week. Oh well I voted Sunday cos that's likely to be monday here and I was off school but I'm not school goes back this coming tuesday. So yeah I meant to put Saturday. Stupid me.

Gemma

Any day but Monday is fine for me. I'm going to Colorado that day.

Diana: I didn't quite get most of your post, except for the thing about a topic for the chat But I agree with Moglie there: let people talk about what they want, but try to make them talk about the same thing at least.

The chat mods as I remember are:

Sarahkitty, Darkstar, Moglie *moi*, ECR, Nappa, James, Nic, and anyone who one of the existing chat mods chooses to be a mod. *note begging an existing chat mod for modly powers is cause for a beat down with said modly powers *

since ECR is on hiatus from the fandom, I think it's safe to say he won't be there.

No, I'm not a Chat Mod. Though Moglie gave me temporary Mod powers in one session. (Poor Pat had to give me a crash course on certain Modly commands, hehehe!) Afraid I'm not big on Chatting/IMing. Not by most PK-ers' standards anyway. I'm not coming to this one, but I hope you have fun!

Ooh. Well, I voted for the 23rd -- that's the best time for me.

That and I can stay up late

Gems -- You're not stupid!

- Nitya

*clears throat* It is quite obvious that Friday is going to win, and I'd rather we have a timeslot sooner than later, so I'm closing this poll. The outcome:

Monday, July 19th GMT [ 0 ] [0.00%]
Tuesday, July 20th GMT [ 1 ] [6.25%]
Wednesday, July 21st GMT [ 2 ] [12.50%]
Thursday, July 22nd GMT [ 0 ] [0.00%]
Friday, July 23rd GMT [ 7 ] [43.75%]
Saturday, July 24th GMT + 1 vote for Gems [ 3 ] [18.75%]
Sunday, July 25th GMT - 1 vote for Gems [ 3 ] [18.75%]

Actually Friday would have gotten one vote more and Saturday one vote less from me, because I forgot that I have to babysit for someone on Saturday.

I cannot attach a new poll at the moment, so I'll have to wait until Pen gets my PM and adds a new one.

Ri

Well the only time that there is even a chance I will get on for friday is the 4:01 - 8:01am slot. Even then I'd still miss at least an hour and a half of it. Actually I'll have to see if I can get on the chat section at school If I can I think I can get on for the start. Though I highly doubt I'd be able to get on at school. Anyway that's the only time there's a chance of me getting on because all the other times I'm either at school, sleeping or at youth group.

Gems

Ug. 16-20 is 12-4 here. Oh well. I have been up that late every night anyways.

*feels really stupid for the 3rd time today* ok i would love to join it but i really dont understand that time zone converter thingy so i dont really no how to find out what time it will me for me on friday, can someone pleeeeaaaasssssseeee help *very stupid* me?? thank you

Well, Ali, for that you'd need to tell me which time one you're in

Ri

Ali, you're in Toronto aren't you? Which means you're on Eastern Daylight Time at the moment. You need to subtract 4 hours from the times in the poll to get your local time.

Al

yay thank you Al ....i really dont understand the stupid time zones....oh well thanks

Oh well the time picked is 2am were I am so I won't get on.

Gems

So what is the timeslot now? Anyone can tell poor confused me? Has it already been chosen?

Anto

So, what exactly is the time? I need to know to set my schedule accordingly.

Okay, I'll add a new poll in a second. Just recording the poll results like that good girl that I am

00:01am - 04:00am [ 4 ] [26.67%]
04:01am - 08:00am [ 1 ] [6.67%]
08:01am - 12:00pm [ 0 ] [0.00%]
12:01pm - 16:00pm [ 2 ] [13.33%]
16:01pm - 20:00pm [ 4 ] [26.67%]
20:01pm - 23:59pm [ 4 ] [26.67%]

Errr Ri...isn't it a little late to vote for 00:01am - 04:00am, given that that was this morning or do you mean tomorrow morning?

Al, not being deliberately obtuse. Honest.