I turned off Email notifications from Chat for everyone. To enable them please check the settings in User Preferences → Chat .
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I don’t think I qualify as one of those “younger users,” and I have no idea what the hell this chat room bs is.
Do you still have to type to “talk?” If you do, how exactly is that different than typing within a given thread?
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All “chats” are chatrooms just like in youtube chat or twitch chat or discord chat. They even look the same, they are just on the side most of the time instead of the entire screen.
Good question! If you’ve ever used online instant messaging it’s a lot like that. Stuff like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and others. Yahoo and MSN both had their own versions.
Millenials and Gen X will likely be the most familiar with chat rooms and instant messenger. They were quite popular from the late ‘90s through at least the mid/late ‘00s before text messaging became widely available and freely included in cellphone plans. (We used to have to pay for a limited # of texts, anyone remember that?)
A chat is not part of the publicly available internet, i.e. the chat is not indexed by search engines. So the things said in chat will not appear in Google searches. This is different from any and all of the public threads. Aka any thread that you can view without logging in. Anything you can view without logging in is part of the public Internet.
So in theory it should be a more secure and private place for members to speak with one another without those conversations being seen by potentially anyone in the world.
Edit: Also, as @CocoaCoir mentioned, it functions similarly to things like Slack, Discord, Teams, and the live chat features on YouTube and Twitch streams.
Don’t be intimidated 
It’s just another space for folks to talk. I’m guessing that we cannot link comments in a chat like we can copy links to posts.
Chats are fun, but I have to treat them differently than I treat threads. I always want to catch up on everything. And it’s hard to keep up with everything in a busy chat room if you spend a day away
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lol I remember that and those 30 sec song ringtones that costed 2$ each
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For awhile I was on a prepaid phone. Tracfone was the name, I think.
They would charge me half a minute for every text 
Send one? That’s half a minute. Receive one? If you want to read it you’re gonna use up half a minute.
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Thank you. I thought so.
I have not. Ever. I never had an AOL/Yahoo/MSN/etc account.
Well fuck, not surprisingly, I guess I’m more out of it than I realized. I had no idea that what I say here, on OG, is somehow publicly available for anyone anywhere to read. Not that that fact will change anything about what I say, but I didn’t know it.
Thank you for that clarity.
Again, I have no clue what any of that means. I mean, if you still are required to type, what’s the real benefit?
That definitely won’t happen. I may choose not to participate (since I don’t yet see an upside for me), but it won’t be because I’m somehow intimidated.
To me, that seems like more of a downside than an upside.
Thank you. 
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Actually you can… Message #1567 by Sintax – #Lounge
Synchronous vs. asynchronous messaging.
Then asynchronous is for you.
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Synchronous vs. asynchronous messaging
Imagine you have sick plants. You take some photos and then you can:
-
Ask in the chat because you need help right away. You’ll receive a quick response, usually within minutes, from whoever is online. It’s similar to a quick brainstorming session.
-
Ask in the forum if you can wait. It may take a bit longer, possibly a few days, to fully understand the issue. More photos might be requested, additional information shared, and links to other resources or similar cases provided. The feedback tends to be more detailed and thoughtful since people can respond on their own time, without the pressure of providing an immediate answer.
Pros  |
Cons  |
|
|---|---|---|
Chat  |
- Instant, real-time response | - Responses may be brief or surface-level |
| - Great for quick brainstorming or urgent needs | - May lack thorough research or in-depth explanations | |
| - Conversational, fast back-and-forth interaction | ||
Forum  |
- More comprehensive, thoughtful responses | - Responses may take time (hours or even days) |
| - Ideal for complex or technical issues | ||
| - Crowdsourced knowledge with multiple perspectives | ||
| - Forum structure allows for discovery of related topics |
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Me too, depending on how busy of a chat it is.
I like being able to pop in and out. Someone else here said kind of like a “bar atmosphere” haha, and I get that because it’s always a rotating cast of who is there at any given point. It’s meant more for a “live” feeling as opposed to the asynchronous feel of a thread where you can reply to any post at any time.
I’m sorry for using a bunch of words that are not relatable. Partly they were a shot in the dark in case you’d be familiar, but mostly honestly it’s info for anyone who comes through and reads it. Someone may find it helpful. 
I sometimes include too much info at once lol
To me the benefit is being able to talk to whoever is there at that moment, as opposed to making a post that is meant for folks to come thru and read later. It all depends on how someone is already using the site. Something like a grow log would not work well in a live chat, while something with a back and forth real time discussion could benefit from a chat. Say, like a morning coffee club or something. Or a thread where a lot of dudes suddenly decide to share pictures of their faces - which I saw happen recently on a post thread (publicly available internet!)
Also do keep in mind that some parts of the site are not publicly available. DMs are an example. And any category/topic that requires TL2/TL3 status means that it is not public. Because to reach that part of the site the user must be logged in AND the user’s login must have the correct permission level. In computer security speak it’s referred to as Authentication (logging in) and Authorization (having the correct level of permissions).
I do not want to give the impression that everyting in a post thread is public. It’s not. But a lot of it is, and I think the chat can help keep private things to a more private area 
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Oh snap 
Thanks for the info @LemonadeJoe! Looks like I gotta use the chat first before I try to explain it, huh? 
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Thank you. Your comments and the chart are most excellent! It brings clarity on this subject to my otherwise muddled mind.
Thank you and absolutely. Hell yes hopefully someone will find it helpful! I have.
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3 posts were split to a new topic: Moving light schedule a hour or 2 back?
IRC…old school. I like it, Linux and IRC is a great combo.
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Thank you for elaborating @LemonadeJoe, it’s helpful. I am really enjoying the layout for the chat function and how seamlessly one can toggle back and forth between the forum and chat. Many blessings and much love
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Yeah, they’re different because it moves… You talk like you are in a room with somebody in the moment. I actually wish the folks in charge would eliminate the ability to like, reply to, or post pictures of any kind, to make it more spontaneous and fast-moving, “in person” feeling, but I know people like all that stuff, so whatever. You just talk about whatever when in one, and everybody is polite and cheery… Like going to a bar, having a smoke or drink, and just shooting the shit. None of the care about how people are going to interpret crap, you’re just hanging out.
Edit, also usually short responses, nothing too elaborate or out of conversation.
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Outta likes/responses (which you may like! HA!).
@SF0, thank you for your response, however…
I don’t feel that you have really addressed my question. My question was one of structure. Your answer seems to be about behavior. There are fast moving conversations within threads here. I’ve been a part of many of them. It’s true, that’s not the norm, but it does happen.
As for photos, this is a weed growing site. How exactly would eliminating photos make OG better? I’d say the same thing about more thoughtful, in depth discussions on any number of topics (e.g., soil, genetics, hardware, etc, etc). Without thoughtful discussions, how would growers share often specific and detailed information? How would that improve growing techniques? How would that make OG a better site for growers?
And you’ve added that by calling a digital space, in this case a thread, by a different name, a chat room, that that somehow changes peoples’ online behavior? That “everybody is polite and cheery” when they’re in a chat room? (I’d like to partake of some of your weed with you, brother, cuz clearly you got the good shit!)
I’m probably not like that many other folks. I’ve never liked bars or drinking. I accept that I’m odd that way.
What other people may think and how they may interpret what I say is important to me. I like being thoughtful and considerate of others. It’s that whole golden rule thing for me.
Of course, I also like being stoned. And speaking of that…
Where is that bong?!!
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no, it’s not like anybody is saying anything offensive, they just didn’t used to be concerned with “likes”… it wasn’t about how many people are noticing you, and not about the idea that people would remember you, you just talked. Open, I guess… that’s the best way I can describe it… it was more of a just, everybody’s talking at the same time, all in real time, and it doesn’t matter how you present it all. more of a real communication, i guess. less thoughtful, more as you are, kind of thing.
edit: i didn’t even realize it back in the day, not until everything on social media became about all that stuff, and everything became more permanent and a record… but recalling the old chat rooms, it just wasn’t at all like what it is today, when the internet first became popular. a more primitive kind of thing, but it actually ended up having a more involved aspect. re-edit, by involved, i mean involved in the coversation, not in the content. that’s more today.
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