[amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?

Wed Mar 21 13:45:05 UTC 2018

Devin,

My point was that if whoever becomes the "admin" on a Discord server decides they need a private channel for administrative functions for whatever reason, they can't consider it in any way secure, and should be aware of this from the start.

The problem with your suggestion of "not having one true chat" is that the more different avenues of discussion you have for something, the more disjointed and fragmented things become, the harder it becomes to find information and the more overwhelming it is for a new user who hasn't been involved before and just goes "erk, that's a lot of stuff, where do I even start?". People will then respond on one platform to a question with "this was discussed somewhere else" (and in some cases, flaming a user for "not searching properly before asking" - I've seen this before in other similar situations), to which the person asking the question would end up saying "well how the heck was I supposed to know I've got to check ten different platforms, hundreds of mail archives etc etc first?"...

I like Discord myself, as I said, but I figured it was important for people to know about the privacy/security issue.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Devin L. Ganger <devin at thecabal.org> 
Sent: 21 March 2018 13:27
To: John <john at amber.org.uk>; 'Brad Brooks' <brad.wf7t at gmail.com>; 'Sterling Coffey' <kawfey at gmail.com>; amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?

Since we're a public hobby, I don't see how the points you make below are actually a problem for this community -- in fact, might help get more people interested! Discord is widely used by many gaming and hobbyist communities already, so using a popular service like this might help improve our "curb appeal." 😊

Having one channel for, say, general questions, another for FM contacts, another for SSB contacts, seems like it would be a nice deal.

And, most important to my mind, we're not putting the burden of making a usable place for the community on one lone programmer's shoulders. Discord is a major app that has a big team developing and supporting it, which means that it "just works" for everyone -- smartphone users, PC users, Mac users, Linux users, people who want to use a browser, etc.

Finally, there's no reason there needs to be "One True Chat" for this hobby. Seems more in the spirit of things for there to be multiple resources for folks to use as their comfort level dictates. The key, to my mind, is getting AMSAT to publicize *each* of the resources we have available so folks can find them and use the ones right for them.

--
Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG)
email: devin at thecabal.org
web: Devin on Earth
cell: +1 425.239.2575

-----Original Message-----
From: John <john at amber.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 2:19 AM
To: Devin L. Ganger <devin at thecabal.org>; 'Brad Brooks' <brad.wf7t at gmail.com>; 'Sterling Coffey' <kawfey at gmail.com>; amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?

I'd second Discord for two main reasons. 1) all of the below. 2) Slack has a 'buffer limit' of 10,000 messages server-wide unless you pay them an exorbitant amount of money every month (circa $10 per user every month or something). I tried applying for a not-for-profit upgrade for one of the organisations that insisted on using Slack that I'm part of, and they basically said "unless you're a registered charity, no chance".

As an aside though, Discord too has its flaws - anyone with the url can join and there's no way of monitoring who is joining without having a bot that actively welcomes every user by name, which gets quite spammy. The "secure"
channels on a Discord server are not secure either - people with a third party client can dump all the contents of every "secure" channel without even having to try too hard. However, it's a perfectly respectable platform if you feel the need for multiple channels.

If you only care about a single "channel" or stream of chatter, go for Telegram - cross platform including most desktop OSs, web client for those who don't want to install a native client, and 'just works'. Joining either by link or invitation from an existing member, and shows when someone joins.
Persistent history, as with Discord.

This debate could get heavy, but work out what you'd want (single stream of chat, multiple channels etc etc) and then work out what the best platform is for the specific job you want to do.

73, and a firm left handshake,
John (XLX)

-----Original Message-----
From: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org> On Behalf Of Devin L. Ganger
Sent: 21 March 2018 04:36
To: Brad Brooks <brad.wf7t at gmail.com>; Sterling Coffey <kawfey at gmail.com>; amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?

If we are going to have a hangout on one of the modern comm sites, might as well go for Discord -- it has all the Slack features plus is easier to hook into with scripts and programs and bots, AND offers the option of voice chat as well as an alternative to help folks connect/troubleshoot.

--
Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG)
email: devin at thecabal.org
web: Devin on Earth
cell: +1 425.239.2575

-----Original Message-----
From: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org> On Behalf Of Brad Brooks
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 7:56 PM
To: Sterling Coffey <kawfey at gmail.com>; amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?

I vote Slack. Count me in. 73 Brad WF7T

On Mar 20, 2018, 7:58 PM -0500, Sterling Coffey <kawfey at gmail.com>, wrote:
> Does anyone have interest in a slack workspace or similar style of 
> hosted persistent chat? I know not a lot of hams have adopted the 
> paradigm shift in chatops. Most of my chats are shifting from IRC to
Discord and Slack.
> It's incredibly convenient to have an always on connection, be able to 
> send and receive notifications, and send images and have a searchable 
> chat log for almost all of time, plus all on mobile at zero cost.
>
> On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 6:51 PM, Ted Krempa <k7trkradio at charter.net>
wrote:
>
> > Hi Patrick, pls consider moving the D* net to a weekday, especially 
> > with summer coming up. Sundays usually involve a lot of family stuff 
> > or maybe traveling home from a weekend trip.
> >
> > Thank you, Ted
> > K7TRK
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of 
> > Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)
> > Sent: Monday, March 19, 2018 2:26 PM
> > To: Mr B r a d; AMSAT
> > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] weekly nets / live chat ?
> >
> > Hi, Brad!
> >
> > As I mentioned last night, I did not come up with the idea of a 
> > D-Star get-together focused on satellite stuff. Others have talked 
> > about creating - or relaunching - a talkgroup for this sort of 
> > discussion in the DMR realm. AMSAT operates an EchoLink conference 
> > server, which has been used for similar nets in the past. There's 
> > the HF net, if it is still operating (no HF at home presently, so I 
> > can't speak to that). Lots of options to do something online.
> >
> > What I seem to be hearing has a common theme... "AMSAT should do 
> > (some sort of chat, get-together, or net) on (radio, EchoLink, or 
> > something online)". If someone is interested in doing this on 
> > EchoLink, DMR, or some other mechanism - great! Do it!
> > Announce it here, on Twitter, Facebook, spread the word. It doesn't 
> > have to be "official", but usually requires someone to be the 
> > cat-herder-in-chief or ringleader for whatever is proposed. The 
> > D-Star roundtable I mentioned has not had dozens of check-ins on any 
> > given Sunday evening, but has had good discussions and 
> > question-and-answer sessions. If something is done on DMR, I don't 
> > have DMR capabilities - but it doesn't hurt if we have these sorts 
> > of roundtables or chats in different places. The D-Star roundtable 
> > has drawn in some local Arizona interest, given that the reflector 
> > we have been using is normally tied into several D-Star repeaters 
> > around the Phoenix and Tucson areas, along with other repeaters that 
> > may be connected to the reflector just for the roundtables.
> >
> > 73!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
> > http://www.wd9ewk.net/
> > Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 4:57 PM, Mr B r a d via AMSAT-BB < 
> > amsat-bb at amsat.org
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > > """ Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK" .....from the last dispatch of messages
> > > ....Re: trying to get back to the Sunday evening AMSAT roundtable """"
> > > I Guess that is on d-star ?? this would be great to listen in on 
> > > from a new Op perspective .....
> > > I have been looking for a Sat IRC or Sat-Op chat room or something 
> > > like "ping jockey" toget get some quick answers to operating 
> > > questions and
> > line
> > > up some QSO's and have not found anything for this. even a HF or
> > echo-link
> > > net could be helpful.this could also solve the ' no one else was 
> > > on the bird' problem.
> > > sticking my neck out here , but I could host it on my 
> > > valleymedia.org domain withone of the free chat room scripts if 
> > > nothing more official or better is out here or offered?
> > > one link on the 'easy sats' / work-sats page would fuel the live 
> > > sat-chat room very nicely
> > >
> > > new guy Ko6kLBrad
> > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and 
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program!
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> >
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available 
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect 
> the
official views of AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb