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Chat is Now in Wikia Labs
Added by Ohmyn0It's finally here — Chat is now available in Wikia Labs! This is the second most exciting thing to happen this summer (second only to the final Harry Potter movie release). Our previous announcements about this new feature created quite a bit of buzz, and many wikis volunteered to test it out. Now, Chat is available to all wikis via Wikia Labs. You can ask an admin to turn it on.
When enabled, a "Join the Chat" button shows up in the sidebar of article pages. Clicking this button will take you into a chat room for that specific wiki. Anyone with a Wikia account can join, and you can try it out on Community Central if you haven't already seen the feature in action.
Added by Ohmyn0In this version of Chat, we've added some features that you guys requested, most notably private messaging. We've also worked to increase speed and stability. Chat is not a finished product, and we still have a list of requested features that we will try to address in future versions.
You can continue to help us with this product by leaving feedback in Wikia Labs (just click the "Give Feedback" link next to Chat). We'd also love to hear how you plan to use Chat on your wiki in the comments below.
Enjoy!
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208 comments
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How long do kickbans last? Are they forever or only a few hours, or what?
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Well they last forever, unless a chatmod removes the bannedfromchat right from you.
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- Late comment* Since we're not able to edit the js of the chat.... It'd be nice if there was a feature that would allow us to create a headline in the main chat window.
For example, in the private chat, there's an editable mediawiki extension whose default is "Private chat with $1". This shows up at the top of the private chat window. It'd be nice to have something similar in the main chat, so we could put anything from a simple "Welcome to chat" to a link to the rules page. (:
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One thing I would like to see is an option called "Email me this Chat's History". It would basically be the conversation that the person chatted in, whether it be public or private. It would help keep track of any important facts talked among wikians.
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There is currently no way to ignore users in chat, only private messages.
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Well you can ignore them in your mind and not talk to them.
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In the rail module, the edit count displayed when hovering over user avatars "rolls over" if a user has more than 1000 edits; 1000+ edits are displayed as 1 edit, 2000+ edits display as 2 edits etc. Counts below 1000 work fine.
I'd also like to bring up the banning mechanic again; the current one can cause quite a bit of hassle on wikis with very active chats. In my opinion, it really should be more similar to the standard blocking mechanic, i.e. there should be the ability to set a ban duration and specify a reason (which, along with who made the block, should be displayed if a banned user tries to enter chat). Currently, the admins are getting swamped with questions like "why was I banned from chat?" or "when does my chat ban expire?". In addition, admins having to remember to manually remove each ban doesn't work out that well either.
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Yes, that is a bug we are aware of.
And yes, that is something we want to fix in the next version. We'll tidy up the system so you can kick people for a certain amount of time.
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Good to hear :-) Another thing that would help moderation a lot would be a chat log (of the last 3 days or so), so claims like "User XYZ disrupts/disrupted the chat when no admin was around" can be verified.
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Dopp mentioned previously that they'd like to log chat, but don't know what to do long-term yet. Only saving the past 3 days probably isn't the best option, as it would be difficult to reference important conversations far in the future.
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Well, it depends on what is perceived to be the problem with logging. From what I've read, it seemed more like it is the amount of data that'd eventually pile up, hence my suggestion. 3 days (or a week) is sufficient for administrative purposes; I'd rather have a log of the last x days than no log at all.
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I'd like to see a "Kick" feature in addition to "Kickban" that lets users who're in need of a very "in your face" warning (IE: They don't believe that moderators have the means to enforce the rules, act) that forces a user from the chat for a set amount of time (maybe have it so sysops can configure the timer or something). That way you could give someone a really obvious warning without actually banning them.
Also, if you ban someone, they should be banned from chat. I noticed on one occasion a user ended up banned and they weren't removed from the chat until we kick banned them, too.
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Well a kick is really useless since you can just say to the user, "this is your last warning before your kickbanned."
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IRC has a kick function even though most people have auto rejoin. Even if it doesn't do much, per Kitsufox, it gives them a warning they can't overlook. As for blocking someone, it does actually kick them from chat - it just takes about 3 minutes to do so. I've seen VSTF do it a couple of times.
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What would be nice, is if chat had a feature where any user could see who they've previously had a conversion with, rather than forgetting the user's name. Similar to the contributions list.
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My chat has suddenly decided not to load anything. I can see people online, go to "Join the Chat" and then nothing. the window opens, text box and everything but thats it. it basically stops just before "~Astrotorical has joined the chat~" and then nothing. Im going to try and see if it works on my phone (Sony Ericson Xperia, Android Powered. Browsers good and wikia chat works on it) and if that fails then somethings wrong. Anyone help?
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That just happened to me (Hence my appearance here). I refreshed the tab and it functioned correctly afterward.
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Our chat server went down for a short amount of time a couple of days ago. It's back up and running again. Let us know if these issues persist.
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Feedback: I think chat is great! It lets users chat instantly and i can easily use wikia and connect with friends! One thing i would like to add is that chatmods can time limit kickbans and users can multi private chat. I think chat is great but could use a new features!
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you know you've said that chat is great around 10 times already
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No first i say that its great then i say different stuff.
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yeah, and the majority of the "different stuff" are the same ideas
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Nah this is way different.
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One bug is that some times when i type a message it comes out blank or as this, ~~.
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Yeah, I had the double tilde bug for approximately one minute before the messages appeared normally once again.
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I resorted to refreshing
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Chat is great.
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dude, now it feels like you're spamming
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I just feel its the need to say chat is beastly!
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awesome!
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Is the "lol omg rotfl" in Wikia Labs supposed to be there?
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Aye
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I think chat is great! I can easily chat with my wiki friends instanly without waiting for a new message on my talkpage! But though chat is great, there are a few bugs to be fixed like messages lagging and a person having a status saying away when they really are not. There should also be a few more features like multi private chatting and censoring curse words. I think chat is great, but still needs a little "cleanup."
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You could have just reply'd to your previous comment....
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Yeah i know but i added to it.
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still...
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still what?
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still, you could have reply'd to your previous comment. Ironically, this conversation could have taken place in chat.
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kay
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I don't know if this is already mentioned, but wikicode doesn't seem to work. For example, something like the following:
[http://sly.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Affiliates this]
ends up like this: [http://sly.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Affiliates this] with the url as a hyperlink.
Also, if we could put a "status" like Umbrella said below, that would be nice.
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We don't allow wikicode to mask links so nobody gets rickrolled. ;-)
If you are on the sly wiki chat you can just link like [[Template:Affiliates]].
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I think chat is great! I can easily chat with my wiki friends instanly without waiting for a new message on my talkpage! But though chat is great, there are a few bugs to be fixed like messages lagging and a person having a status saying away when they really are not. I think chat is great, but still needs a little "cleanup."
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What would be good would be if features such as "busy", "away" or even "available" like those in google mail are added to the chat.
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Hi, I've never used chat.
I AM NOT A NOOBHow do you send messages? And don't say the enter key. I've tried it. -
You hit enter. If hitting enter is not working, you are not connected
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It works fine for me.
---****--- Roads
PS. Rex! Haven't seen you on BTFF in a while.
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Try to refresh the chat.
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Bug:Sometimes I will be disconnected from chat without knowing it. I will suddenly just realize that everyone has stopped talking. I will go to the sidebar on the wiki and check if I am still connected and I am not. This happens quite often.
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That's no fun! Does this happen when you are actively taking part in a chat, or when you have it going on in the background?
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Either or. Its random when it happens but it happens quite a bit
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We're always looking for ways to improve the connections. Could you leave feedback in WikiaLabs with your browser and OS so our techs can take a look? Thanks!
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Same here! It says I have been logged into by another browser, so I've been disconnected from the current chat. I'm still there, but I can't send messages, so I'm forced to refresh.
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Why are some features not available under windows 7 - it isn't allowing me to log out instead I'm having to close the browser/tab nor am I seeing the "Private Messages" feature. Is this for Mac OS X due to the image shown...
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It works on Win7 for me. Are you using a laptop or a desktop?
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I'm using a desktop PC - I've never actually used something like a chat feature before, its my first time seeing it in action. But the "Private Messages" feature still isn't showing nor the log out feature...
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There is no "log out" option - you just close the window. Private Messaging should be available for everyone on all OSs.
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Ok so we figured it out in chat, but I'll post it here in case anyone else is confused. Private rooms are not open until you click on a users name and select "Private Message" or receive a private message from another user.
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