AW communities IM [Archive] - Astraware Forums

Howard

Jan 16, 2003, 07:48 PM

I have noticed that there are more than 8 members logged in. The ninth person has the bottom of his name chopped off because there isn\'t enough space in the box. Is this something that can be fixed?

Could be fixed, but I don\'t think its such a productive use of my brainpower to fix :) We don\'t often have that many users logged in.

I could always just make it kick off some of our ruder members when it gets full... mentioning no names... ahem.

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 16, 2003, 10:37 PM

I also noticed that when you send IM\'s, it doesn\'t seem to get to the other person until they login the next day, could you speed up the process?

Howard

Jan 16, 2003, 11:48 PM

I also noticed that when you send IM\'s, it doesn\'t seem to get to the other person until they login the next day, could you speed up the process?
Short answer: No.
The IM system works by each time a user requests a page from the board, it checks to see if there are any IMs waiting.
It\'s a passive process, like POP3 mail collection. It only happens when you ask for a page.

Howard.

Cheryl

Jan 17, 2003, 12:25 AM

I could always just make it kick off some of our ruder members when it gets full... mentioning no names... ahem.
*lol* Great idea, Had! Nah.. seriously though, I don\'t want anyone kicked off. Everyone adds their own little \"spice\" to the board :)

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 17, 2003, 02:50 AM

Oh ok. I alsop like your idea :) (kidding?, I think you are).

MP3

Jan 17, 2003, 07:35 AM

Short answer: No.
The IM system works by each time a user requests a page from the board, it checks to see if there are any IMs waiting.

Note to Howard: if you feel that I did the wrong thing by quoting your email message, feel free to edit/remove this post.

Long answer: The following is a quote from an email that Howard once set me:

Hi!

The IM system is not real-time - what happens is that at the top of the code for each page is a section that checks the database of messages, and if there is an \'unread\' one for someone then it pops up and marks it as read.

Of course, this only happens when the page gets refreshed...

Its a nasty system and I\'m not going to fix it... I do want to replace it with a realtime online chat system for our beta testers.

Howard.

MP3

Jan 17, 2003, 07:43 AM

I could always just make it kick off some of our ruder members when it gets full... mentioning no names... ahem.

*AHEM!* Can I nominate someone for your first victim? His username is \"Had\"... (Oooooh boy! Now I\'m really treading on thin ice!) ;)

Seriously, though, how hard can it be to do one of the following:
1) Extend the height of the window.
or
2) Add a scrollbar to the window.
or
3) Make the window user-resizeable?

I\'ve had the case several times where the buddy list window was closest to the foreground when I clicked a link in an email message in OE, and my browser attempted to load the page in that tiny little non-scrolling window... ugh :(

Cheryl: you can work around this: to scroll, click some of the text that\'s not a link (e/g/ \"Guests Online\") and drag downward - i.e. as if you wanted to do a \"Drag \'n Select\" in your local word processor.

Cheryl

Jan 17, 2003, 10:03 AM

It doesn\'t work for me. Maybe I am trying to drag the wrong thing? Oh well, not a big deal, but thanks for the suggestion :)

BigGoodBig

Jan 17, 2003, 04:38 PM

No MP3, you can not make the screen bigger.

Howard

Jan 17, 2003, 09:48 PM

Seriously, though, how hard can it be to do one of the following:

I don\'t know, but I\'m scared of the bulletin board code, and it knows that. It keeps sending me email taunts.

I\'ve got a fair list of bulletin board changes to make, and as quoted from above, I do want to move to a better beta chatting system than the IM system. Without the IM requirement, the popup is pretty pointless (since the same info is also in your main web window.)

Howard.

jael

Jan 17, 2003, 11:51 PM

If I can chime in here from my cell phone that\'s trickling in data through a narrow straw to my notebook, have you considered a news server instead of a web-based bulletin board system?

Cheryl

Jan 18, 2003, 12:24 AM

Cheryl: you can work around this: to scroll, click some of the text that\'s not a link (e/g/ \"Guests Online\") and drag downward - i.e. as if you wanted to do a \"Drag \'n Select\" in your local word processor.
I tried again today. It works, it works! :) Thanks for the info!

Cheryl

Jan 18, 2003, 12:25 AM

threephi

Jan 18, 2003, 09:03 AM

If I can chime in here from my cell phone that\'s trickling in data through a narrow straw to my notebook, have you considered a news server instead of a web-based bulletin board system?
Sorry to let my ignorance show, but what is a news server?Jael is referring to usenet newsgroups eg alt.banana.splits or rec.arts.tie-die (two made-up examples). It\'s a very powerful and widely used (and time-tested) internet message board system, but I personally don\'t think it would be appropriate for Astraware\'s message boards given how graphical they are.

Howard

Jan 18, 2003, 10:47 AM

If I can chime in here from my cell phone that\'s trickling in data through a narrow straw to my notebook, have you considered a news server instead of a web-based bulletin board system?

Yes :) It was actually the second solution we considered, after mailing lists.

Downsides... Not everyone can (or will) use a news server. It limits the more interesting things that can be done with users and graphics and posts, which I rather like about a BB system.

Finally, the sense of community from having a central board is quite important. I always feel that news servers are very remote.

Howard.

jael

Jan 18, 2003, 02:18 PM

Yes :) It was actually the second solution we considered, after mailing lists.

Downsides... Not everyone can (or will) use a news server. It limits the more interesting things that can be done with users and graphics and posts, which I rather like about a BB system.

Finally, the sense of community from having a central board is quite important. I always feel that news servers are very remote.

From a limited bandwidth perspective, I lean more towards a news server since binaries and screenshots can be placed in a separate group from text. Makes it very handy for following the discussion regularly if all I have for access is my Palm and my cell phone.

Re community, I\'ve found it kind of depends on the size and the makeup of the group. One of the private servers I follow is a group of people who migrated there from a defunct CompuServe forum. We\'re a very close knit group.

Anyway, that\'s my .02 worth.

Cheryl, I see that someone answered your question about what a news server is. If you haven\'t ventured out on usenet, try it. There\'s lots of interesting discussion on just about everything. Just take your thick skin with you along with a functioning delete key!

Cheryl

Jan 18, 2003, 10:17 PM

Thanks Jael, I will check it out :)

MP3

Jan 20, 2003, 02:36 AM

No MP3, you can not make the screen bigger.

Duh! I KNOW that already - re-read my post slowly and carefully, and you\'ll see why no one else tried to correct me like you did. ;)

BTW, Avi, call me on the phone tonight if you have a chance - I gotta ask you something about AoE2:AoK-TC. Thanks!

choiberg

Jan 20, 2003, 05:14 AM

Finally, the sense of community from having a central board is quite important. I always feel that news servers are very remote.

I agree with you Howard, you do get a more community feel with the BB. I don\'t know if I would personally check in as often as I currently do know with a news server. I think you also get more functionality in having the BB....

BigGoodBig

Jan 21, 2003, 02:46 AM

BTW, Avi, call me on the phone tonight if you have a chance - I gotta ask you something about AoE2:AoK-TC. Thanks!How about calling me, almost every time I call you, you aren\'t home. I get home about 11:00 every night. You can call till 12:30.

Howard

Jan 21, 2003, 03:03 AM

You can call till 12:30.
Can we all call you ?
(direct email may be better for organising your social life! Lol :) )

BigGoodBig

Jan 21, 2003, 03:27 AM

You can call till 12:30.
Can we all call you ?
(direct email may be better for organising your social life! Lol :) )There are some things that are easier to talk on the phone about then Email. And yes to can call me also Had. Remember EST 12:30am (by you 5:30am).

Howard

Jan 21, 2003, 03:35 AM

And yes to can call me also Had. Remember EST 12:30am (by you 5:30am).
For some reason do you think I\'m not around at 5.30am ?

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 21, 2003, 03:44 AM

You are kind of like the founders of our country, never get any sleep. For one, Thomas Jefferson. I did a report on him in 8th grade and he got a good four hours of sleep, on a good day (he graduated from Harvard, became a lawyer, and praticed the violin every day for about 4 hours or something like that).

BigGoodBig

Jan 21, 2003, 06:50 PM

And yes to can call me also Had. Remember EST 12:30am (by you 5:30am).
For some reason do you think I\'m not around at 5.30am ?NO, I see you have made posts at 12:30 my time.

BigGoodBig

Jan 21, 2003, 06:52 PM

Howard

Jan 21, 2003, 07:45 PM

Thanks for the history lesson, but Had is from England not US so I don\'t think he cares much.

:) Howard is quite interested in all world history - including the tiny fragment subset of it called US History. He does care much! The point about world leaders is interesting - Margaret Thatcher was similarly renowned for only requiring 4 hours sleep a night.

I do require about 8 hours sleep a night :) Just that my nights often happen during the daytime... Also, when I\'m really into a project, I do continue work in my sleep. Some of the more elegant solutions have been literally dreamed up :)

Of course, as a physicist, I\'m more interested in Franklin than Jefferson...

But I\'m much more interested in the History that happened before there was a US at all - in particular the middle ages. (I\'m a Longbowman, when I get the chance :) )

BigGoodBig

Jan 21, 2003, 07:53 PM

Sorry

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 22, 2003, 03:06 AM

MP3

Jan 22, 2003, 06:06 AM

LOL! :) Hey Had, have you ever palyed Age of Empires two? My favorite country is Britan/England with the Longbow men. Do you have a Longbow, is that what you meant? That would be cool. When I went to England about three years ago I went to the Warwick Castle and they had Longbow men there deminstrating.

Hmmmm... I also love AoE2:AoK. :) My favorite civilization was the Mongols (I liked their Mangudai - very powerful horse archers) - that is, until I bought \"The Conquerors Expansion Pack\" a few days ago. Now I\'m having a hard time picking a new favorite... ;)

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 22, 2003, 09:35 AM

I thought that the Aztec\'s would be relaly cool, but they didn\'t very powerful teh couple of times I played them. I am still in favor of the Longbow men (get a bunch of them and then horseman to gaurd them).

MP3

Jan 22, 2003, 06:43 PM

I\'m currently playing the Montezuma campaign (in which I control the Aztecs), and I HATE the Aztecs for one simple reason: they have NO cavalry.

I like using groups of horse archers (and, if possible, Mangudai), because A) they move fast, and B) an entire group can attack a unit at the same time (unlike hand-to-hand units, where the have to walk/ride ride right up to the enemy and surround him first). My standard attack squad when decimating an enemy town is a group of at least 10-20 mounted range units (i.e. horse archers, Mangudai, or Conquisidators), followed by 4-6 Trebuchets. The horses are \"Group 1\", and the Trebuchets are \"Group 2\". Thus, I can easily move my horses forward to make sure that the way ahead is \"all clear\", and then I can move my [vulnerable] siege weapons forward safely.

Howard

Jan 22, 2003, 07:40 PM

Wooo... Has this one really wandered off topic!

In answer to your question DBZ, yes, I do have a longbow, and perhaps when I get my personal pages up and in place, I\'ll put up links and info :)

Regarding AOE (one of David\'s favourite games, as it happens!), I reckon we need a good place to take discussions about other games! For that reason, I\'ve created a new forum with a place to post about PC games and about Web games that you love!

Howard.

Pritch

Jan 22, 2003, 07:55 PM

When I went to England about three years ago I went to the Warwick CastleSmall World - I used to live in Warwick, before I moved to Hamburg :)

Howard

Jan 22, 2003, 08:15 PM

When I went to England about three years ago I went to the Warwick CastleSmall World - I used to live in Warwick, before I moved to Hamburg :)

Heh - even smaller world, I used to live in Rugby (fairly close to Warwick as Pritch will know, but not everyone else might), and I used to know the chap who gave/gives the longbow demonstrations at Warwick Castle :) (And he\'s a bloody good Longbowman too :) )

Pritch

Jan 22, 2003, 08:28 PM

(And he\'s a bloody good Longbowman too :) )I should hope so too, if he\'s got loads of people standing around him, watching ;)

DBZ-GOKU-

Jan 22, 2003, 10:33 PM

Isn\'t Rugby not to far away from Bermingham? Becuase when I went with my dad, we came in through the Gatwick airport outside of London (where we stayed for a couple of days, in the London Hilton). Then my we took one of the trains to Burmingham, or one of the small suburbs for buisness, whree we also stayed a couple of days at Hampton Inn or something like that. Anyways, I think Rugby was where we went, it sounds familiar.

BigGoodBig

Jan 22, 2003, 10:56 PM

Join us here (http://board.astraware.com/viewthread.php3?FID=87&TID=1159) for a continuation on the discotion of Age of Empires.

Had, I waited up an extra 5 minuets for your call;) I was very sleepy the next day:(

BigGoodBig

Jan 23, 2003, 07:47 PM

Regarding AOE (one of David\'s favourite games, as it happens!), I reckon we need a good place to take discussions about other games! For that reason, I\'ve created a new forum with a place to post about PC games and about Web games that you love!

Howard.David has time to play games? I know you wouldn\'t, your on the board the whole day.