Old Chat/New Chat/Newer Chat

[Emily]

Just thought i'd chime in to say I don't think the chat should be archived.  The chat is what it is, a chat.  It's like a bunch of people getting together in someone's living room, some drunk, some sober to listen to and discuss a completely gnarled radio show, and whatever else pops into their heads.  I don't think it's something to be studied, analyzed, etc.  Someone on the chat once referred to it as a "constantly flushing toiletbowl" (of, thoughts, comments,  brilliance and idiocy, maybe).  There's a certain freedom to that.

i hear what you're saying. i just like things to be archived because i just like saving things. i'm not a big participant in the chat room, so i was just putting my one cent in. also, i may have mentioned this before, but i have this idea & it may be totally whacked (as many of my ideas are) but ! another reason it might be interesting to archive the chats is if it would be possible to use some file manipulating program to sync the chat logs with the corresponding audio archive, so that if you were listening to an old show you could also watch/read the chat progress in time with the audio from that episode.

i just thought this would be cool, just for the people who are fans of the show, but were unable to tune in during the live broadcast.

i know this probably won't happen. and that chats are things that people participate in, not necessarily read after the fact. but i just thought it might be interesting. maybe if they had been archived all along this might be a neat endeavor. if its at all possible.

anyway, im sure the new website will be fabulous, regardless of what happens with the chat.

[Fido]

I agree.
We haven't really had any trouble here, we only had one troll and even he wasn't too bad and only got banned when he decided to mess up the chat.
This has to be one of the most sensible and best behaved boards on the internet.

Well behaved, yeah, I'd have to agree for the most part.  The exceptions to that statement have had me thinking that it would be nice to incorporate some kind of feature that would detect abuse on the part of chat participants and administer an electric shock to them through their keyboard when that occurs.  Other than that, I've been pretty happy with the chat and thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of the Glorious FOT community, Jason. 

[Sarah]

I don't care if the chat is archived; I just want to have the option of saving it--or  bits of it--for myself.  Now, I believe one can only go back a certain, fairly small number of lines, and copying them is awkward (if the chat moves forward, text becomes unselected).  In the first incarnation of the present chat, there was a "text" feature: once it was selected, the chat would run in a separate window from which it could easily be selected and copied.  Restoring that feature would satisfy my craving. 

[sleepytako]

Who's ever gonna really read the chat archives, really...
Chat stats however are cool: http://www.mircstats.net/

Again, if you go to IRC anyone could archive really easy if they wanted to on their own in their own client.

[Grimlock]

On Archiving:

I would like to triple the idea that the chat shouldn't be archived.

The good thing about the "constantly flushing toilet bowl" is that even though there might be something interesting in there (hey, that broccoli came out broccoli!!!!) it's all, in the end, better left to the mythic alligators down in the tubes.

I for one have said many things in the chat that I'm glad live on only as anxiety-inducing mental spurs, and would love for those to not be archived by G**gle.

But the freedom of the chat is that for every couple of zingers, you're allowed a few groaners, a handful of "WTFBBQs," and, every once in awhile, something actionable by Homeland Security.

But being able to copy and paste is certainly a good thing, as long as it is done wisely, and that there is a gentleperson's agreement not to repost them to a "FOTBLOGCHATARCHIVE.BLOG.BLOG" site.

Let the chat be the fourth tier, bastard stage to the Best Show, the one that even the tapers avoid!

Pax humana via chata

Grimlucky

[Josh]

Grimlocked on point. Agreed!

[Sarah]

I promise that if it becomes easier to cut-and-paste from the chat, I will not use this feature to accumulate incriminating comments for the purposes of blackmail. 

[Richard_From_CHI]

I agree, don't we leave enough of a damn trail as we go through life without adding to it by archiving the chat.