Open Discussion suggestion - bluelight irc server

tathra

tathra

bluelighter
Joined
Jan 30, 2001
Messages
22,678
irc chat is currently located on irc.tripsit.me ##bluelight
webchat link


A long time ago, way back when the site was "The New Bluelight" at www.bluelight.nu, bluelight used to have its own irc server, where people could go to chat and socialize, and get answers and advice quicker than by posting. Even after the admins decided to shut down the site's irc server, some of the regulars went and established an unofficial bluelight channel, which lasted in various incarnations for at least a decade after the official irc server was turned off.

Given that there are social threads in the focus forums and an unofficial, occasionally used chat room for the lounge, there is a need for socializing that the lounge isn't fully able to satisfy, especially in its current state. Bluelight running an irc server again would fulfill all this pretty well.

Ideally, bluelight chat should be an official part of the board, with the BLUA and other rules applying there like everywhere else. Giving people a way to get quick, easy, and somewhat more anonymous HR answers can save lives; a lot of the people that were in the bluelight irc channels were members that were never really active on the boards for one reason or another, and by making irc an option again we can grow the community and engage members that wouldn't really be active otherwise.

Running an irc server and managing the channels is relatively easy, and not very resource-intensive, so there is little cost involved but a whole lot to gain by having an official bluelight chat server.
 
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I 2nd this idea. I used to be a regular in the bl IRC.

Us irc OG's are still around on irc, but it would be nice to build an irc community again where everyone was respectful and nice to each other. Some of the best meetups I've been to were organized by members of irc.

rip coolio, nchz and many others that would come in.
 
wasnt it bluelight.ru at one point as well?

The IRC used to function as a "Lounge" and a quick way for users to get information that they needed. There was a lot of love and respect in the old days. Wheres sonic?
 
Yeah I get that, but IRC is fraught with security problems, so I'm guessing that this is the reason.
 
holy smokes... it's not bluelight.ru anymore?!?! I haven't been here in years, have I...?

Yeah, I was in one of those unofficial channels for ED back in the day. It was an awesome experience, and it saddened me to see it fall to pieces. It would certainly make sense to have a method for people to communicate with one another using a more rapid method of communication. The younger generation (i'm in my 30s) is used to text messages, snap chat, Discord, Skype, Kik... Message boards have their place, but chat engages the more intimate human interaction that is the cornerstone of our very social species. In other words, it's like a PB&J. You have the peanut butter right now, and a peanut sandwich is alright, but the jelly is what makes it into something awesome.

IRC isn't necessarily insecure. It can be secured via SSL if necessary and communication encrypted. If you're really paranoid, SSH to a shell and THEN use SSL. It can be just as secure if not moreso than any http or https messaging medium.
 
Lets get this thing going again. We could use an extisting irc server but it would be nice to have our own like the old days.
 
White_Rose said:
Yeah I get that, but IRC is fraught with security problems, so I'm guessing that this is the reason.
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Such as? You can run an ircd with encryption and all that, but theres not really a need for that when the primary use is socializing and quicker/real time harm reduction advice.
 
I dont really see the HR advantage. If people really need help, thats what 911 (or the numbers in other country equivalent to) and if its not, it can wait for someone to post a clear answer. It will just be another social forum of which we have plenty.
 
Ambulances are crazy expensive, and not everybody wants police involvement and "DRUG SEEKER" in their medical record because, say, they got a bag a cocaine spiked with fentanyl. And sometimes people will be unable to be awoken but their life isn't in danger (as long as breaths are at least 10/minute they're fine), but when somebody is freaking out, being able to get a response in seconds or minutes can make all the difference.

And with non-life threatening things, like say somebody took more of a psychedelic than they could handle, having people to talk to in real time can help keep them from flipping out and ending up in the hospital or jail. And those are only the first few things off the top of my head.

And I'll reiterate again, the ones that were always in the irc channels were people that never really participated on the boards, or didn't anymore (look at ayla's and chompy's post counts compared to their join dates). It serves as a way to grow and better engage the community for people who otherwise wouldn't participate. Even when i wasn't posting here for years, i was still giving out HR advice on irc - its pretty much the only place i do anymore ever since i got mod burnout in the focus forums.
 
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We cant treat medical emergencies. Our only advice to someone worried of some misadventure is seek medical help.

Ill accept the second paragraph isnt a terrible idea but it could do harm as well.
 
Nothing is perfect, refusing to try something because its imperfect is faulty logic. And when somebody is freaking out, they can easily think something is an emergency when it isn't actually; even I'm guilty of doing this. Having calm people to talk to can help calm one down and help them properly evaluate the situation to determine whether its an emergency or not. Given the nature of the forums, "when in doubt, call emergency services" is the best we can do, but when real time discussion is an option, you can help calm somebody down and coach them through a quick evaluation.

This kind of thing rarely happens though, i can only recall maybe a few times in the past 10+ years that somebody came in saying their friend wouldn't wake up and asking what to.
 
I totally disagree but lets ask another question. What is wrong with the lounge or social forums that calls for this? It seems like a giant waste of time where we can talk about the same shit just faster.
 
Its not meant as a replacement for the lounge or other social forums, so thats not really a valid question. It would serve as a replacement for the social threads in the focus and other non-social forums though, which never should have been tolerated in the first place.
 
I said social forums but meant social threads (sorry I havent slept and for once no drugs). If nobody has a problem with them, why eliminate them just to push them off to something that seems harder to moderate.
 
the focus forums arent for socializing, thats what the social forums are for, literally their entire purpose. i get that people want to stay in their 'circle', with their group of like-minded people, but the focus forums arent for socializing, they're the focus of bluelight, the harm reduction forums of a harm reduction board; the social threads never should have been allowed in the first place. and irc channels are easy to moderate and run, there's nothing difficult about it. if it "seems harder to moderate" its because you've probably never used it before, but its pretty easy to learn and its no more difficult than moderating the forums here.
 
Does it run like Tinychat or messages on youtube live videos with like scrolling chat?

And Id argue HR gets done directly (because I see it talked about) and indirectly through that bonding and sense of security that is made among those who frequent the social threads of focus forums. I dont think it takes away from anything the forums do.
 
its basically like group texting, or multiplayer notepad. here's a random image i found to show what it basically looks like:

mircshot.jpg


Kittycat5 said:
And Id argue HR gets done directly (because I see it talked about) and indirectly through that bonding and sense of security that is made among those who frequent the social threads of focus forums. I dont think it takes away from anything the forums do.
Click to expand...

all of that would be done even better with irc; HR would be done directly and indirectly in the same way that you claim the social threads do, except better. the same bonding and sense of security, except it would be quicker, easier, and stronger because you'd be able to talk to people in real time, in the group or have private chats with other individuals separate from the group, or be part of multiple groups at once. as an analogy, the difference would be like using a board in a common area to post notes to talk to each other vs actually talking to each other (except, you know, still using text, because people like me are a lot more comfortable using text to talk than voice). there is nothing the social threads do or can do that cant be done better using irc.

it can be run through a web page, so nobody needs to download or install anything to use it unless they want to; back when bl was running its own irc server, there was a webchat page set up here on bluelight that people could go to that would send them right into the main channel, or the channel of their choosing. the social threads could be changed to a link to the webchat page set to send the user into the #psychedelics or #otherdrugs or whatever channel.
 
Idk still seems kinda superfluous to me but if the brass want it what can I do. Is all that chat readily retrievable? That was my worry about being harder to mod. Anyway I have no power.
 
Kittycat5 said:
Is all that chat readily retrievable?
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The chats aren't logged by default, although they can be set up to do logging. Channel management is basically responding to people who break the rules, like by sourcing, trolling, or harassing people, or whatever other rules are determined for a channel. Rather than content management, like on the forums, its more user management, from forcing a problem user to be quiet for a while to kicking or banning them from the channel or even the whole server, temporarily or permanently. There are ways to set it up to automatically silence or kick/ban people for using certain words (so for example the offensive pejoratives and slurs that are not allowed on the forums could get one instantly silenced or removed from the channel, rather than having to wait for somebody to see it and respond), and reporting problem users is as easy as messaging an op, if theres not already one there and paying attention.
 
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