status-resolved 35 members in live chat

[Kenny]

The chat room is temporarily disabled.

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:31 AM.


Must be a private party. :wave:

Peace,
Cy

 

[Eric Lyon]

Nah, chat was being worked on a little more last night and another glitch occurred that was counting every visitor as a chatter and adding the "In Live Chat" badge to everyone even after they left the chat page. We've now removed the badge from the postbit and removed the join chat link up top while we continue to sort a few things out.

Thanks for the report

Eric Lyon

 

[oberheimer]

When will the chat be open Eric, i know it's hard to say but is it a small fix or a larger one?
i really need the chat. It's hard for me not to think about the chat...

 

[Eric Lyon]

When will the chat be open Eric, i know it's hard to say but is it a small fix or a larger one?
i really need the chat. It's hard for me not to think about the chat...

Chat is closer to the bottom of the list of priorities at the moment. We have some more high priority bugs we are working on in relation to the database and bug reports. There's still no ETA on live chat.

Maybe jump in on a few more forum topics for now

 

[Ted.T]

Chat was cool. People spent time discussing, asking, answering, helping. It was interesting. It was the best way to find a solution for your problems, or ask about new opportunities in selling/buying/parking. I think chat should be opened as soon as possible. It was an entertainment part of the forum.

 

[NPer]

Chat was certainly cool! I went in that java chat often during the 2010-2011 period, and here and there over 2012-2013.

It was cool to just talk about anything actually, or give a lecture or two on the subject of crack-domaine and it's dangers.

35 members in NP chat does seem like a lot in 2013, but if this was 2010, that number would seem kinda normal.

Times have changed.

 

[Kenny]

Chat was certainly cool! I went in that java chat often during the 2010-2011 period, and here and there over 2012-2013.

It was cool to just talk about anything actually, or give a lecture or two on the subject of crack-domaine and it's dangers.

35 members in NP chat does seem like a lot in 2013, but if this was 2010, that number would seem kinda normal.

Times have changed.

Yea it was a great place to hang out while you were doing whatever you do.... it was a fun place.... talk to friends, help ppl coming in just to ask a question, flirt with the pretty girls :notme you know ... chat.
But then it kinda slowed up, mostly it seems when ~mm~ stopped coming in, and then it just turned into a morgue, which is why I dont think NPStaff is all that excited to get it back up and running.

But.... if enough ppl snivel loud enough, and long enough to make "them" think we are serious about using it, maybe, just maybe, it will work its way back up that "to do" list.

Maybe...

Thanks NS, that was the real reason I started this thread...
I saw 35 and thought, hell yea... back to normal.. lets party.

Cuz you know, anybody that knows me in chat, knows that I am a funny MF. :lol:

Peace,
Cy

 

[JFS]

no more chat?

??

 

[Eric Lyon]

??

Chats been disabled working on 2 months now. We found lots of bugs and security issues in the platform and disabled it. At the moment we are working on higher priority issues with NamePros and will review the chat issues again at a later date.

 

[zoomactive.com]

NamePros Chat - where did it go?

Where did the NamePros chat go?

 

[snowbird]

The chat was disabled. I am not really sure why since I enjoyed going to it now and then. But apparently they must be trying to keep the discussion in the forum and not live chat. I would however like to see it come back.

 

[Paul]

It was more of a security issue. It was quite easy to go into chat as another user; while we have no reason to believe that this was ever exploited, we weren't about to wait for it to happen.

 

[.NJ]

What about just making the chat room accessible to VIP members only?

This way the members that actually enjoyed and used the chat room can continue.

If there was going to be any shananigans going on inside the rooms, it would have been from a scammer.

I would like to think that all the VIP members here are in good reputation standing.

Just a thought.

 

[Paul]

What about just making the chat room accessible to VIP members only?

This way the members that actually enjoyed and used the chat room can continue.

If there was going to be any shananigans going on inside the rooms, it would have been from a scammer.

I would like to think that all the VIP members here are in good reputation standing.

Just a thought.

Well, that was the problem. While the website was (mostly) secure, the chat servers themselves had no knowledge of these forums. Someone could've easily connected to them directly, bypassing any website-based permissions, and masquerading as anyone.

We looked a few other chat protocols/servers and threw around some alternative ideas, but we didn't come up with anything that we though you'd find satisfactory. Ultimately, we would've had to do some rather fancy coding. We're working on a lot of cool stuff right now, especially having just switched to... The Cloud. We couldn't work on everything at once, so chat got put off for the time being.

Feel free to keep brainstorming, and I'll help as much as I can. Personally, I love live chat, so I'd be happy to see a solution that we can implement sooner rather than later.

Here's my unofficial list of considered factors:

• Easily integrates with HTTP-based login (for example, OAuth)
• Cloud-friendly: supports multiple interlinked servers for horizontal scaling, load balancing, etc.
• Does not use an RDBMS, such as MySQL
• Offers a PHP-based frontend; Zend Framework integration would be a plus
• Open protocol for mobile and desktop application support; existing compatible applications would be a plus

Right now, XMPP (previously known as Jabber) seems like the best fit; that's what Google Talk/Hangouts uses. However, it'd be a lot of work to integrate it, and we've got a long to-do list.

I do have a relative idea of when we're going to get some basic chat integrated, and we're working steadily toward it, but there's still a lot of work to do.

 

[snowbird]

Well, that was the problem. While the website was (mostly) secure, the chat servers themselves had no knowledge of these forums. Someone could've easily connected to them directly, bypassing any website-based permissions, and masquerading as anyone.

We looked a few other chat protocols/servers and threw around some alternative ideas, but we didn't come up with anything that we though you'd find satisfactory. Ultimately, we would've had to do some rather fancy coding. We're working on a lot of cool stuff right now, especially having just switched to... The Cloud. We couldn't work on everything at once, so chat got put off for the time being.

Feel free to keep brainstorming, and I'll help as much as I can. Personally, I love live chat, so I'd be happy to see a solution that we can implement sooner rather than later.

Here's my unofficial list of considered factors:

• Easily integrates with HTTP-based login (for example, OAuth)
• Cloud-friendly: supports multiple interlinked servers for horizontal scaling, load balancing, etc.
• Does not use an RDBMS, such as MySQL
• Offers a PHP-based frontend; Zend Framework integration would be a plus
• Open protocol for mobile and desktop application support; existing compatible applications would be a plus

Right now, XMPP (previously known as Jabber) seems like the best fit; that's what Google Talk/Hangouts uses. However, it'd be a lot of work to integrate it, and we've got a long to-do list.

I do have a relative idea of when we're going to get some basic chat integrated, and we're working steadily toward it, but there's still a lot of work to do.

I actually own licenses for a couple of chat server products. I have an owned license for a ParaChat server and I also have an owned license for RealChat which is the chat server NamePros was using. I would be more than willing to setup a chat solution on my server dedicated to NamePros use that could be linked to from this site. Members will just need to remember though that since this is an external solution and not operated by NamePros, members would be advised against doing business through chat since usernames would not be able to be instantly verified. People could enter under any username. HOWEVER, I could create a user database and each member here who wants access to the chat could be manually verified by me sending a PM to them. In that situation, a member of the forum could PM me asking for access to the chat room and I would create a username for them and reply back via PM telling them what their password is. At least this way there would be more assurance about the usernames belonging to the appropriate people and it would be a temporary solution which would satisfy those who want something right away until something is setup officially by NamePros.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Thanks for the suggestion snowbird, however as you already pointed out, the RealChat you have is basically the same as the RealChat we were using on our server. So it doesn't really make sense at this point to farm out the same unsecured software on someone elses server that we took down for security flaws.

If and when we have more time to look into the chat topic again, we'll more than likely keep everything inhouse so we have more flexibility, security, and integrated control. There's still no ETA on when we'll be looking more into this with all the other great things we are working on. While I can see how the 10 to 20 people that actually used chat at least once a month miss it, we still have to prioritize and don't want to cut corners and just toss anything back out there that isn't secure and up to standards.

Thanks again for your suggestion and for understanding,

Eric Lyon

 

[snowbird]

Thanks for the suggestion snowbird, however as you already pointed out, the RealChat you have is basically the same as the RealChat we were using on our server. So it doesn't really make sense at this point to farm out the same unsecured software on someone elses server that we took down for security flaws.

If and when we have more time to look into the chat topic again, we'll more than likely keep everything inhouse so we have more flexibility, security, and integrated control. There's still no ETA on when we'll be looking more into this with all the other great things we are working on. While I can see how the 10 to 20 people that actually used chat at least once a month miss it, we still have to prioritize and don't want to cut corners and just toss anything back out there that isn't secure and up to standards.

Thanks again for your suggestion and for understanding,

Eric Lyon

The primary security flaw mentioned was that someone could enter the chat impersonating some other user from my understanding. As I mentioned, if someone just wants to chat and not do actual business and enter the chat under any username that is fine. No database integration from namepros is required.

I also indicated I have another chat server which is not RealChat which is called ParaChat and it has a built in user database where if people did want to retain their identity, they could PM me in the forum to verify they are who they say they are and I could manually create their username on the chat server's database which is more secure than RealChat and again, the method of authentication would be independent from NamePros which would again pose no security risk to NamePros for those few members who do actually want to continue chatting until a more official solution is found.

While I see and understand administration's desire to keep things in house, I also don't see a problem with a member wanting to help out by providing a useful tool or solution to other members if they so desire to use it. A community is about people working together to make their own atmosphere more enjoyable and if a chat room is something that would make some people happy, I have no problem implementing a solution to use for the time being.

DMOZ which is a well known web directory on the inside actually encourages editor contributed tools to help other editors perform their jobs easier. So I don't see any harm in a member contributed tool at this point in time if it meets the needs of some of the community members here as long as it's under the understanding that there is no official affiliation between the chat and the NamePros site. It will simply be a tool created by a member for the members.

 

[Eric Lyon]

@SnowBird, Again, I appreciate your suggestion, however NamePros would like to keep all NamePros services on NamePros servers. We have the servers, the resources, and the ability to recode and secure a chat application our self once we get to a point that we are ready to take another look at the subject. However, we are not looking to outsource, farm out, or 3rd party our services.

If you want to go start a RegisterBird chat for yourself, that's fine, But NamePros is not going to send it's members to someone elses chat servers, nor would I endorse such a thing. We want to fully (100%) monitor all activity and security of our members and any service with the NamePros brand on it (to insure their safety).

Keep in mind, we're only talking about 10 to 20 members that actually used chat at least once a month for the last 15 months before it was removed.

Thanks,

Eric Lyon

 

[Rich]

you should try to make it IRC based, I can create a domain name trivia via eggdrop and it will be fun for everyone :D

 

[snowbird]

@SnowBird, Again, I appreciate your suggestion, however NamePros would like to keep all NamePros services on NamePros servers. We have the servers, the resources, and the ability to recode and secure a chat application our self once we get to a point that we are ready to take another look at the subject. However, we are not looking to outsource, farm out, or 3rd party our services.

If you want to go start a RegisterBird chat for yourself, that's fine, But NamePros is not going to send it's members to someone elses chat servers, nor would I endorse such a thing. We want to fully (100%) monitor all activity and security of our members and any service with the NamePros brand on it (to insure their safety).

Keep in mind, we're only talking about 10 to 20 members that actually used chat at least once a month for the last 15 months before it was removed.

Thanks,

Eric Lyon

Umm, again, I was not talking about a permanent solution. I was talking about a temporary solution that was NOT affiliated with namepros. But rather a member tool to benefit other members and it would be at each member's own risk on if they want to utilize a non affiliated chat for the purpose of communication until namepros has the capability of creating their own official solution.