Question on HTF Chat with Peter Staddon (1 Viewer)

[BlakeS]

My question for anyone involved in the chat before is, after the Mod's say we can type "yo" I type it and see my post included in the first 8 replies, yet I am not included in the 8 people that the Mod's say replied first. Why is that?

 

[Bill Buklis]

the order that ron sees the replies on his screen is usually not the same order tht you see it on yours with these very fast responses. Since Ron's calling the shots whatever he sees goes...

 

[BlakeS]

Hi,
Well reason I ask is because everone else who shows up on my screen is the EXACT order the Mod's call it as, that is everyone except for me?

 

[Michael*K]

Don't feel stiffed. My name usually appears in the first reply or two but I don't get called on the first few rounds. In fact, I used to never get called on until I switched to broadband. Damn dial-up connections are slow as molasses.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Blake I see that you were able to ask a question just a little while ago.

 

[BlakeS]

Yep, I did. Thanks!

 

[Greg_Y]

Where's the transcript? C'mon, what's wrong with you people?
(Sorry, I just figured I'd be the first to ask this time. )

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The transcript just went up. I know you were
kidding about the timeframe of getting it up, but
I ask in the future to give us half a day to get
the work done. Editing that transcript takes a
lot of time. I have to remove all the extra IRC
garbage that gets thrown into the log.
You'll find the transcript here....
HTF Chat Transcript Page
Something else I need to talk about, and this
certainly gets to be quite repetetive.
One of the reasons we decided to stop doing chats
for almost a year was the fact that there was always
a small percentage of people who never bothered to
read any of the posted rules or chat procedures before
waltzing into the chat area.
Once again, I had a fair share of people whispering
to me that I intentionally skipped their turn. One
person got so overly rude with me that it reminded
me of the reasons why we stopped doing these chats.
No matter how many times I posted in advance that
names do not appear in the same order on every
screen, I still had people accusing me of skipping
over them. No matter how many times we asked that
there be no whispering/private messages during the
chat, I received a boatload of such messages
complaining that I skipped a turn or if I would make
exceptions and sneak an extra turn in.
We enjoy doing these chats and we feel that our
members benefit greatly from them. However, if you
guys want to see these chats continue on a regular
basis, you are going to have to put some trust in
our decision making process, and let us run the chat
as we see best fit. Last night we had at least 100
people in that chat room. It's very difficult for us
to deal with dozens of people typing "YO" to get a
turn. Due to server lag, the order is not
going to show up the same on every screen. We
don't care how certain you are that you were next --
we have to pick the way we see it.
I apologize for a rant about one of the best chats
we have held to date. As much as the chat was a real
blast for everyone involved, it greatly becomes a
burdensome experience for us when we get a few members
that don't read any of the procedure notices and
rules we post in advance.
We look forward to seeing many of you again for
future chats.

 

[Bill Geiger]

I'll admit I was one of those who sent a private message... GUILTY!!! I didn't think I was overly rude... didn't swear or anything. I even thanked for the chat.
Since the question was answered.. I won't ask.
And was this really necessary? "We
don't care how certain you are that you were next --
we have to pick the way we see it."
You might be angry and a little PO'ed over some who didn't listen, like myself, and you say you don't care what your members think? Nice.
Secondly, because they are the hosts, they get their fair share of questions near the start, the middle and end. Doesn't that seem a little unfair? Yes, you brought us a studio rep (which is appreciated), and you have your own questions, but wouldn't it be a little more fair to the others who were invited to join the chat and participate have their chance first and then the mods finish?
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is just a time killer but.. I digress.

 

[Michael*K]

IBTL

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Bill,

Having hosted more than a few dozen of these
chats over the years it has become tiresome to
continually have to deal with people that simply
don't care to read the procedures of these chats
and disrupt them in the process. My lack of care
for those individuals comes after years of dealing
with it. I have nothing to apologize for. We made
considerable effort to remind our members of the
rules and procedures not only well advance of the
chat but during the chat as well.

Furthermore, consider it a privilidge of ours to
be able to ask an additional question or two at the
end of each round. I think our staff works hard
enough around here that they deserve the opportunity.

Lastly, there were over 100 people in that chat
room last night. Looking at my scribble pad, I see
that approximately 60 people got to ask a question
in the course of nearly 2.5 hours. That's not bad.
Despite how you personally feel, I think most would
agree that every attempt was made to make the chat
fair for everyone - and most people got their
opportunity to ask a question.

I care very much about this membership and those
who attend these chats. I am not pointing my finger
at you, but I really have no patience for the few
that continue to complain about our procedures when
they didn't even take time to read what was expected
of them. It's this sort of thing that made us stop
these chat sessions for an entire year.

 

[Michael*K]

Man, after seeing the 90 or so minutes I missed in the transcript, I'd have to agree that it definitely was one of the best chats to date. LOTS of info!

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Just a rough and basic technical explanation on this timing issue:

Some interfaces (the JAVA web interface the HTF uses specifically) are actually a "shell" which is interpreting data from the IRC channel. In the case of posting using a certain type of shell- the process is actually two fold:

The text is sent to the local window and broadcast to the IRC channel in two separate procedures. Often, this means it is able to pop your response on screen faster than it is actually sent to the channel. If there is excessive silmultaneous traffic on the IRC end (like when there is YO'ing for example)-- your text post gets placed in a que to be posted to the channel- but the procedure that shows this post to you locally on your screen is not at the mercy of any of those type of delays.

So, often it will pop up on your end the moment you type it, only to not make it to the channel for a second later. Ron is monitoring the channel on his end- and sees when it actually reaced the channel, as much as a second or two after you saw it on your screen (depending on volume of traffic). In these situations, a second makes a lot of difference.

The best advice is to use a IRC client instead of a web interface if possible. While some delay may still happen with certain clients [depending on their interface design]- the client will be far more reliable than the web interface. I use Mirc and have found that I always end up in Ron's list exactly where I saw it on my screen.

-Vince

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Vince,

Thank You.

 

[Orvisg]

Any idea why on chat page i'm getting John Badham as being last chat session ? Not even showing Peter's session. Thanks

 

[Andrew Chong]

Are you using the correct link?
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/files/staddon2002.txt
from
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/files/chat.html

 

[Jason Quillen]

Just thought I'd try to change the tone of this thread a bit and say Thanks to Ron, Parker, and Peter (and anyone else involved last night) for the great chat. I've been fortunate enough to see 3 Fox Chats here at the HTF and this was the best. So, thanks for doing the chats again - We appreiciate all the hard work you put into getting the chat off the ground and keeping it in control...Thanks!
JQ

 

[Jon_Are]

Ron,
Thanks for orchestrating the best HTF chat I've yet seen.
As for members not reading/abiding by the rules, I'm going to offer my two cents...
It is going to happen. You can suspend chats for a year, you can bold italicize underline your requests to your heart's desire, you can travel to each member's home and slap a sticky-note on their foreheads. Still, you are going to get a significant amount of members who will not follow your rules. It is going to happen.
So, because I am (slightly) older than you, I will not hesitate to impart a small share of wisdom: Expect it. Allow for it. And ignore it. Consider it as part of "the cost of doing business". Once you come to terms with the fact that you will be PM'd and you will be fussed at for calling names out of turn, that festering ulcer in your gastric lining will fade to nothing but a sour memory and the chats will live forever.
Remarks like this:
...sound like a parent berating a naughty child.
All of the hell-raising you've done over the past several chats has had no effect on the offenders.
The chats are wonderful. And much appreciated. Please don't threaten to deprive us "law-abiders" because your frustration with the inevitable gang of scofflaws is getting the better of you.
Thanks for listening,
Jon

 

[Michael*K]

Am I correct in assuming that nothing can be done on the server side to block all PM's? Heck, there's always a parallel chat room running along with the moderated one. If people want to PM each other, they can do it in there.

 

[Nigel McN]

your IRC client should be able to ignore private messages, mIRC has that option, start an admin room for you, and whoever else you feel the need to converse with (including the guest) during the chat, the same way I make #htf2 *plug* so that some of us can chat while the main room is moderated.