Daewootech Chat Room...support this site

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:12 am

Hey everyone..... I know there are lots of you out there that use the General Off-Topic as a daily "chat" with your other friends..... and there were lots of guys asking for a dedicated chat room.

So.... I'm curious how many of you would still want this added to the site..... so I set up a poll to get opinions.

I personally haven't talked to Efrain about this..... and I really don't know what is needed to set up a chat room.

Does anyone have a good idea about which programs could be used to integrate a chat room into a site like this?

How much bandwidth does it use?

How much space does it use?

If everyone says they want a chat line and Efrain is cool with that..... is there anyone that can help set it up? ( If Efrain is not familiar with setting one up)

If there are added costs involved to set up a chat room..... are there people willing to shell out a couple bucks here or there to make it happen?

I'm still financially supporting this site....and there was some hope that offering Daewootech webspace and email would help eliminate or minimize this..... but so far there really hasn't been all that much interest in financially supporting this site.

It's not just the cost of hosting that is an issue..... Efrain does a lot of work on keeping this site up and running.... I'd love to see him get something out of it.... even if it's just a few bucks a month.... he might not admit it but life in the Dominican Republic isn't as easy as it is for most of us here in North Amercia... a little cash would go a long ways to keeping his Daewoo on the road.

Please see here..... http://www.daewootech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1989 if you don't know what I'm talking about.

As for the issue of payment.... like I said before.... I will accept payment to go towards this site and Efrain to make it easier for everyone.

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:17 am

I suppose one option would be to offer a "premium membership" like other forums.

It could include use of the chat lines, posting picture adds in classifieds, and discounts on products from companies such as 360 Dynamics (if he's willing)

If a whole year's membership was paid for up front perhaps we could get some t-shirts and stickers made up.

I suppose there are lots of options..... hopefully Efrain will see this and jump in to say what he'd like to see happen with the posibility of a "premium" membership.

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:21 am

It could also be split up so an "Ultra" member gets the webspace and email and all the extras while a "premium" member just gets access to the chat room and picture based classified adds.

This way there could be two different levels of payment for different levels of membership.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:26 am

i think OZ got a chat section in his site, maybe he can give us some advice about that.

MMamdouh

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:55 pm

I've really liked the fact that this site has been wide open without having to be a member to get to the good parts. That being said... an alternative to asking members to pay for a 'premium' account could be a simple PayPal donation link somewhere on the site. Members could donate $5-10 or whatever they feel like (I know I would donate). This is how I have funded gaming clan websites and such in the past and it has worked out great.

As for a chat room... Essentially what we need is an IRC channel somewhere and a simple link on the website to get to it. There are some java bits that will allow you to have a web based client to interact with the IRC channel... but those can eat up a lot of bandwidth for your site over time.

I think someone already set up an IRC channel, I haven't visited yet (as I am sometimes lazy).

If the IRC channel solution is acceptable, I can help get "How-To" posts created for how to get connected to the channel.

It's been my experience in the past that 'premium' memberships, unless they offer something really spectacular, tend to lower the amount of new people signing up..

Slammed · Post by **Slammed** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:17 pm

I dont like the IRC Idea their are up grades that will install a chat to the forums or a shout box

a few examples can be found here

www.djjeffa.com

www.worldofgeekz.com the exact link says wog chat heres a link http://www.worldofgeekz.com/forums/chat/flashchat.php

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:00 pm

yeah i agree wit ha johnny c, if there was a please donate link for a paypal account i would throw some cash to you, and the chat room is a great idea

Slammed · Post by **Slammed** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:42 pm

well I think you guys cant see the chat room unless you log in so I took a pic of what it looks like

also found a link where you can buy it for 5 bucks!!

http://www.tufat.com/script2.htm

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:45 pm

JohnnyC wrote:I've really liked the fact that this site has been wide open without having to be a member to get to the good parts.

Don't get me wrong..... the site would still be free to join up..... and we would still continue to try and make this a pop up free site.... it's just that payed members would get additional benifits on top of what's allready here.

The only thing I mentioned that would change would be the addition of restrictions to classified adds..... so if your not a paid member you can only post text adds instead of picture adds.

I don't think that's an unreasonable request.... as people are making money off of posting in this area of the site.... even in local advertisements.... you can get a simple text add for free but you have to pay a few bucks to get a picture posted.

Efrain mentioned .............

#1:
- A 300 mb email@daewootech.com account and a 100 mb FTP* (web space) for USD$5.00 per month (USD$60 a year). But if i you decide to pay a full year the price will be USD$50 (a $10 discount).

#2
- A 500 mb email@daewootech.com account and a 150 mb FTP* (web space) for USD$10.00 per month. (USD$120 a year). But if i you decide to pay a full year the price will be USD$100 (a $20 discount).

I would think that $5 or $10 per year would be fair to ask in order to get access to the Chat lines and picture classifieds....especially for those guys out there selling parts on a weekly basis.

I agree that a donation link would be a good idea..... but I highly doubt that it will make much of a dint in the cost of the site hosting and a high speed connection for Efrain. ( last time we talked he was on an extreemly slow dial up connection which makes it hard for him to work on the site unless he's at work )

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:02 pm

just show me where to donate, ill throw a few $$$$ in to help daewootech.com its sure helped me alot!

Slammed · Post by **Slammed** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:05 pm

Yeah same here I dont need email I already have like 10 of them LOL or webspace (I sell it ) but the chat would be cool for only $5 Look at my last post above

daewoomofo wrote:just show me where to donate, ill throw a few $$$$ in to help daewootech.com its sure helped me alot!

Post by **Efratech** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:44 pm

Hi,

For me is not big issue to install some chatroom,

my main problem is that i have a dialup connection at home and i dont use it too much to work, just to look at sites and email stuff.

ill let u guys know when i get the chatroom ready to be up,

and for the paypal donate buttom. ill be doing that in the next couple of days.

Efrain.

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:39 pm

Have you been able to set up a Paypal account for yourself?

I wasn't sure if Paypal worked in DR.... I was meaning to ask you about it.... it would certainly be easier than Western Union or bank transfer.

cpd · Post by **cpd** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:14 am

I'm thinking although you have the idea of the membership premium, also just have something open for donations, for instance, I can't really afford that much per month, nor do I need FTP space or email, but if I can donate say $10US, I will.

Somethin for thought.

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:48 am

$10 bucks would make you a paid member with full access to chat lines, photo classifieds and the rest of the forum for the entire year .... that's why I suggested a small yearly fee.... don't get me wrong.... the donation thing would work too.... I just thought that having a "paid membership" for extra feature above what is allready offered would make sure that most of the heavy users of this forum chip in a couple bucks to help out.

Efrain's lack of high speed internet is a pain for him.... and given the significant amount of money I've sunk into this forum.... I don't think I can help him out with that.... I don't know how much a connection like that costs in the DR but I have a feeling that if most of the main users chipped in for the $10 paid membership that should at least help out with the cost.

I guess the other thing is that if your status was changed to "paid member" people would know that your supporting the site....

I guess you could say "site supporter" for those who donated money...but then again someone could get that for donating $0.10 and get the same status as someone who donated $2000.00 USD

I don't know what the best solution is..... but that's why we are talking about it.