Reflections on the Miracle of Democracy at Work in the Greatest Nation on Earth

Dress rehearsal 2

I’ve got an IRC channel #pollbludger open at Austnet, so I’d be keen for any of you IRC fans out there to jump on and road test it. The most helpful Davidoff offers the following advice to newcomers in comments:

For anyone unfamiliar with IRC - here are some suggestions on how to get going.

Download an IRC client. The following instructions are for the Pidgin product which is available for most platforms.

In the list of control icons (sound, network, skype, time, etc.) you should see a ‘Pidgin Available’ icon. If you right-button-click on that icon you should see a ‘Accounts’ menu item.
Click on that and then you should have a new dialog box with several options. Of particular interest right now is the ‘Add” button. Click on ‘Add’ (to add a new account). Now you should have a dialog box listing login and user options.

Under the login options enter the following:

Protocol: IRC
Screen name: ‘your-alias-name’
Server: irc.iinet.net.au
Password: ’something-I-will-not-think-of’

And click on the remember password box to make things easier.

Then click on ‘Save’ and a new window should popup. At the bottom of that window is a dialog entry panel. In that panel you should type ‘/join #pollbludger’ and you will be connected to the #pollpludger IRC channel.

/davidoff

Still investigating other chat hosting options, but for the time being here’s another Meebo room to play around in. Note that troublemakers will be banned without warning. Bearing in mind that there’s a limit of 80 users, please do not remain logged in if you are not participating. You do this by clicking the green circle in the top right. If you want to view this in a more malleable format, go here. If you have any feedback/complaints/technical inquiries, leave a blog comment to ensure I will see it.

48 Comments

  1. 1
    cb
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:11 pm | Permalink

    so if im just looking i get kicked out???

  2. 2
    Amused
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:20 pm | Permalink

    Meebo. Don’t like it. Hard to read and have to log in to see comments. What’s wrong with what you’ve got now?

  3. 3
    sesh
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:22 pm | Permalink

    You’re at capacity already. 80 users is not going to be any where near enough on the night. You need to look into some other solutions.

  4. 4
    slartybardfast
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:24 pm | Permalink

    well, ya did warn me :-)

  5. 5
    StanS
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:27 pm | Permalink

    Your format is fine, perhaps another whip around will keep you up (so to speak).

  6. 6
    cb
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:29 pm | Permalink

    i think its gunna be ok - william is this going to be a direct feed so you don’t have to refresh all the time? excellent if thats the case - I’m sick of all beejeezus refreshing

  7. 7
    Harry 'Snapper' Organs
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:30 pm | Permalink

    Bugger, William. Some of us comment only when we think we have something to say.

  8. 8
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

    William

    If it only has a capacity of 80 its not going to work. I can’t get in now and I suspect people once they get in are not going to log out for fear of being locked out.

  9. 9
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    I won’t be around on the night, but might I suggest an IRC channel?

  10. 10
    Harry 'Snapper' Organs
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    I’ve actually gotten used to this format, William. Perhaps it’s selfish, but I really enjoy what evolves on your site. Can I provide some support financially, as I wouldn’t have a clue technically?

  11. 11
    slartybardfast
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:36 pm | Permalink

    It BLOWS!

  12. 12
    slartybardfast
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:38 pm | Permalink

    its no use, everybody is over in the mirc thingy… Time to go look for whales at night in the boat. (scary stuff actually, but very rewarding sometimes)

  13. 13
    Julie
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:39 pm | Permalink

    80 people there now so I can’t log in *BUT* if you use this on Saturday night and it has an 80 person limit, isn’t that blocking out a good portion of us? Isn’t there an option that will let everyone in? Its kind of like the 250 char limit on the crikey site when you tried to use that …..

  14. 14
    Dr Duck
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:41 pm | Permalink

    I definitely prefer the blog format, and will happily kick the tin if there are likely to be bandwith probs.

  15. 15
    cb
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:46 pm | Permalink

    lucky its a dress rehearsel i guess

  16. 16
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:09 pm | Permalink

    Fills up quickly doesn’t it? :(

  17. 17
    pjk
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:13 pm | Permalink

    stick with the blog the chat site is moving to quickly and it is hard to make sense of it all

  18. 18
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:19 pm | Permalink

    Hmm, I think it moves too quickly because we all get chatty. The blog comments stand better on their own in comparison.

  19. 19
    bryce
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:43 pm | Permalink

    William, your commenters provide breaking news. At the moment I check at every opportunity to see what’s been happening - and an occasional post.
    The new format would change all that. If I can’t log in I can’t find out what’s going on. Thumbs down from me.

  20. 20
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:50 pm | Permalink

    I’m going to have both. No one thing will be enough to cope. Slartybartfast, I’ve put you in moderation.

  21. 21
    bryce
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:57 pm | Permalink

    I do understand the problem.
    Will there be more than one Meebo room (thread) on saturday?

  22. 22
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 9:58 pm | Permalink

    YouTube Poll 22/11/07

    (based upon the performance of the last ten videos submitted by Liberal and Labor on YouTube)

    Ratings average 4 : 3.2 = 55.5% vs 44.5%
    Hits average (weighted for days present) 522.68 : 408.84 = 56% vs 44%
    Combined average 55.8 % vs 44.2%

    I like the AC Nielsen Poll!

  23. 23
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:01 pm | Permalink

    Bryce, yes there will. I’ll try to direct political debate to chat rooms etc and encourage people to keep blog discussion to actual news. Also experimenting with IRC and maybe forums.

  24. 24
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:04 pm | Permalink

    I think IRC is the way to go. There are some decent web interfaces available, for example: IrcAtWork.

    Just enter a nick, enter a server (can I suggest irc.slashnet.org) and pick a channel name (can I suggest #pollbludger) and you’re done. Capacity unlimited, and people can use their own clients if they wish.

  25. 25
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:06 pm | Permalink

    (Oh. It looks like slashnet doesn’t allow ircatwork to connect. I guess it’s more difficult than I thought…)

  26. 26
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:09 pm | Permalink

    Setting up IRC as we speak

  27. 27
    AJH
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:15 pm | Permalink

    I’ve just been mucking around with a web-based chat program called phpFreeChat. It looks pretty decent.

    One or more chatrooms based on that could possibly be an option.

    I’ve got about 5TB of bandwidth quota left for the month on my hosting plan, so I could even possibly host a chatroom.

  28. 28
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 10:18 pm | Permalink

    I’ve got an IRC channel #pollbludger open at Austnet, so I’d be keen for any of you IRC fans out there to jump on and road test it.

  29. 29
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 11:30 pm | Permalink

    FYI, Club Troppo’s channel is #clubtroppo on slashnet - vortex.slashnet.org is the best server for Australians on that network.

  30. 30
    Paul Kavanagh
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 11:33 pm | Permalink

    Surprised to hear Mr Rudduck on Lateline lecturing about the presumption of innocence and AFP independence.

    For one who always knows who’s responsbile for international terror incidents, it’s strange that the names of Liberal Party heavies playing dirty in Sydney are “not available”.

  31. 31
    Megan
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 11:47 pm | Permalink

    Someone mentioned meeting near the Opera House on Election night…any other PB venues in Sydney?

  32. 32
    Clarence the Clocker
    Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 11:55 pm | Permalink

    Is Phil ‘he lives’ Ruddock angling for a judicial appointment, he certainly sounded like a judge. Perhaps an appointment to an irrelevant international tribunal in Rudds honeymoon period will create an opportunity to pick up his safe seat in a bi election or give Turnbull an opportunity to reenter the fray.

  33. 33
    Megan
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:01 am | Permalink

    Bushfire Bill,
    I delivered pamphlets in your electorate for an Independent last election who stood against Ruddock because of his anti-refugee/asylum views(someone had to!). Those who are conservative and yet have Muslim family members have really felt torn by these draconian tactics. Lovely neighbourhood though and that is the problem…people are too content.

  34. 34
    Gecko
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:32 am | Permalink

    What is IRC?

  35. 35
    davidoff
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:36 am | Permalink

    #34

    What is IRC?

    IRC is the abbreviation for Internet Relay Chat. Its a protocol used for chat common in the unix world. There are lots of programs that provide support for IRC for just about every available operating system.

  36. 36
    davidoff
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:38 am | Permalink

    William: I’ve just jumped on to the #pollbludger channel on irc.oz.org but nobody is there!

  37. 37
    Gecko
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:49 am | Permalink

    Thanks Davidoff

  38. 38
    Gecko
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 12:59 am | Permalink

    William found it. Seems okay 2 x rooms.

  39. 39
    Stephen Tardrew
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 1:00 am | Permalink

    Quote of the campaign.

    I (GOD) HAVE NEVER LIED

    This is surely a lie because research on deception demonstrates it is a normal human trait. We all use lies and deception: so what? This guy really is a fool and he governed this country for eleven years. Sheesh at least we got sumpin to laugh about.!

  40. 40
    davidoff
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 1:02 am | Permalink

    For anyone unfamiliar with IRC - here are some suggestions on how to get going.

    Download an IRC client. The following instructions are for the Pidgin product which is available for most platforms.

    In the list of control icons (sound, network, skype, time, etc.) you should see a ‘Pidgin Available’ icon. If you right-button-click on that icon you should see a ‘Accounts’ menu item.
    Click on that and then you should have a new dialog box with several options. Of particular interest right now is the ‘Add” button. Click on ‘Add’ (to add a new account). Now you should have a dialog box listing login and user options.

    Under the login options enter the following:

    Protocol: IRC
    Screen name: ‘your-alias-name’
    Server: irc.oz.org
    Password: ’something-I-will-not-think-of’

    And click on the remember password box to make things easier.

    Then click on ‘Save’ and a new window should popup. At the bottom of that window is a dialog entry panel. In that panel you should type ‘/join #pollbludger’ and you will be connected to the #pollpludger IRC channel.

    /davidoff

  41. 41
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 1:24 am | Permalink

    Pibb (https://pibb.com/) can be used to configure neat, web-2.0ish web based chat that integrates with existing IRC channels.

  42. 42
    krosbitexta
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 7:24 am | Permalink

    I have found 3 pollbludger channels, ausnet, the davidoff one and the freenode one …. freenode has the largest capacity …
    ausnet has the most visitors but its early

  43. 43
    dembo
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 8:50 am | Permalink

    I think IRC is a great idea.

  44. 44
    Megan
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 11:59 am | Permalink

    Found Meebo fun,fast but no time to reflect. Good to have both it and PB Feedreader running.
    However IRC,despite davifdoff’s careful instructions ,has me lost…..couldn’t find ‘pidgin’ but found pollbludger site on feeds. However can’t access.
    Would it be possible just to have a link for those of us not so techno-savvy?

    So grateful for these sites ,William…not only for the info but also a relief to share the anxiety!

  45. 45
    mr awesome
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 1:24 pm | Permalink

    Wait a minute isnt irc.oz.org different from austnet?

  46. 46
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 3:02 pm | Permalink

    #44

    The link for the Pidgin download is:
    http://www.pidgin.im/download/

  47. 47
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 3:08 pm | Permalink

    #45
    what is the full domain name for Austnet IRC server?

  48. 48
    Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 at 8:22 pm | Permalink

    What would be really good is a forum as people can have different converstations in different threads etc. about different issues.

    The problem with IRC is that you have to download