Chat

[DbPhoenix 42]

Lots of problems with crashes, people being bumped, long delays in postings today. Doesn't appear to be browser-specific.

[Head2k 10]

Stuck at Initialization screen both with FF and IE.

[dwg0 10]

Yes it crashed Firefox after a while when I tried it.

 

By the way, if you use Firefox the add-on "Session Manager" works great, when you restart Firefox after a crash it will restore all your windows and tabs as they were:

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2324

[DbPhoenix 42]

Still messed up, but James is in bed, so this will all have to wait until tomorrow.

 

See all of you then. I hope

[Hlm 10]

I'm not in there today, but just tried and as someone else said, it freezes at the initialization screen. It's probably a good idea to keep the other chat room running with a link somewhere in a thread like this incase this happens again down the road. The topic for the old room could be permanently set to something that signifies that it is a backup room only and to see website menu for link to main room (incase someone has it bookmarked).

[DbPhoenix 42]

I'm not in there today, but just tried and as someone else said, it freezes at the initialization screen. It's probably a good idea to keep the other chat room running with a link somewhere in a thread like this incase this happens again down the road. The topic for the old room could be permanently set to something that signifies that it is a backup room only and to see website menu for link to main room (incase someone has it bookmarked).

 

Good idea. I'd hate to be without tog for an entire day

[firewalker 10]

I see I picked the right day to be MIA

[Soultrader 12]

Hi, technicians been working on it all day trying to install the whiteboard and push to talk. This has created issues as I can see and have informed them. I am doing my best to get this fixed by today but knowing these guys it may take some time. Will keep you posted.

[Head2k 10]

Thank you, James, for all the effort you put into this. But (speaking for myself only) I don't need any Whiteboard, GameZone or Push-to-talk. I wouldn't like to discourage you or to suggest that I am not grateful for the environment you provide us, but I mean what is the purpose of the chat room?

The chat IMHO cannot compensate for forum. The chat rather supplements the forum, it brings the static theories into life. And all that is needed to fulfil this task is the ability to chat in real time and to post and view charts in real time. If one wishes to elaborate or to present theories behind his actions he can do it in forums, rather than drawing sketches on a whiteboard. If one wishes to play games he can run his own ones.

I just want to say that I would prefer something simple and stable. No need for all these fancy features.

 

Everything only IMHO, of course.

[DbPhoenix 42]

Thank you, James, for all the effort you put into this. But (speaking for myself only) I don't need any Whiteboard, GameZone or Push-to-talk. I wouldn't like to discourage you or to suggest that I am not grateful for the environment you provide us, but I mean what is the purpose of the chat room?

The chat IMHO cannot compensate for forum. The chat rather supplements the forum, it brings the static theories into life. And all that is needed to fulfil this task is the ability to chat in real time and to post and view charts in real time. If one wishes to elaborate or to present theories behind his actions he can do it in forums, rather than drawing sketches on a whiteboard. If one wishes to play games he can run his own ones.

I just want to say that I would prefer something simple and stable. No need for all these fancy features.

 

Everything only IMHO, of course.

 

If these opinions matter in the course of events, I have to agree with Head. I suspect that what members wanted most of all was something stable. The games, the drawings, even the cams and the audio are fine, but how important are they to how many people? Far more important -- at least to me -- are stable and reliable forums, at least in terms of being able to post charts.

 

We do appreciate what you're trying to do, but don't drive yourself crazy over it.

[Soultrader 12]

Thank you, James, for all the effort you put into this. But (speaking for myself only) I don't need any Whiteboard, GameZone or Push-to-talk. I wouldn't like to discourage you or to suggest that I am not grateful for the environment you provide us, but I mean what is the purpose of the chat room?

The chat IMHO cannot compensate for forum. The chat rather supplements the forum, it brings the static theories into life. And all that is needed to fulfil this task is the ability to chat in real time and to post and view charts in real time. If one wishes to elaborate or to present theories behind his actions he can do it in forums, rather than drawing sketches on a whiteboard. If one wishes to play games he can run his own ones.

I just want to say that I would prefer something simple and stable. No need for all these fancy features.

 

Everything only IMHO, of course.

 

I am adding these due to request by members. Though some may not need these features, it has been a common request.... the entire system is costing me money and time to implement. So I do hope members do enjoy these features.

[Hlm 10]

I am adding these due to request by members. Though some may not need these features, it has been a common request.... the entire system is costing me money and time to implement. So I do hope members do enjoy these features.

I greatly appreciate the features (as I know many others that do as well) and hope that such a room will be used for more than just your standard chat. First of all, nothing is better than real time discussion with a hard right edge for intra-day traders. The ability to effortlessly have real time video feed or explain what you see with a whiteboard is priceless in my opinion. Too many times forums breed hindsight and cherry picking in their explanation and the true message gets side tracked and lost. If you have a strategy or theory, what better way than to create your own room and talk about it in real time. Charts and discussion can then take place on the forums after market hours. You will be amazed as to how much "cleaner" the questions and discussions are when you have already ran through most of them in a live setting. This brings me to my second point...the ability for a couple of users to jump into a room and start discussing and drawing without any software download required. Finally, it would be great if we could get some member webinars setup for some of the popular topics discussed on the forums. Actually, it could be as simple as "at this time and this place we will be having an open discussion about this...feel free to stop by". At first it might be slow, just like any forum, but after awhile if the train keeps chugging along things should pick up. The fact is that there are so many possibilities with this type of chat room and I hope the members take advantage of it even if it's just to chat with another member one on one. This website's forum already separates itself from others by quality. James has now given us a tool to take it one step further and create a highly dynamic and interactive community that focuses on actually trading that hard right edge and instant feedback on topic discussions. Don't most want a community that works off of "put up or shut up"? Don't most want a community where days of back and forth via a forum can potentially accomplished within a couple of hours via chat? Would it not be nice to condense pages on a forum to one or two posts summarizing the important points of a discussion. Of course forums do have a very important purpose and aid to the sharing of information to the masses. However, from people I have talked to, there appears to be a yearning for live interaction as well.

 

Haha...done rambling.

 

Added: Up until this incident, I have found this software to be much more stable than the previous ajax text only room across all browsers.

Edited January 27, 2009 by Hlm
Added last comment.

[Soultrader 12]

Thanks Hlm, appreciate your comments.

 

Just so you all know, the chat room is currently down. We are working hard to fix the bugs reported by users as well as finalizing the installation process of the various features requested by members. I am hoping to get this fixed by today but can not guarantee this as the development team that created the chat system provides the industry's worst support and response time. Its been a nightmare trying to work with these guys and it will be the absolute last time. Will keep you guys posted. Thanks.

[BlowFish 10]

The things that could be useful to traders sharing information in order of importance (imho of course)

 

text chat

sharing static images

voice chat

Sharing workspaces/ white boarding etc.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, with a commentary probably a gazillion. That would make movies priceless Mind you the latter two are quite sophisticated applications. Even the big conferencing guys applications don't seem to have fully matured. Anyway a few teething problems are inevitable.

 

Btw just for chatting with your crew IRC did the job (or whatever application is flavour of the month now....did messenger win that war?) but a bit like using telex compared to a telephone......ahh progress.

[Soultrader 12]

Hi all,

 

Chat room is officially completed and fully functional. This has taken us alot of time and resources to complete. I hope traders can utilize the chat room to the fullest.

 

Chat room features?

 

1. Whiteboard

2. Push to talk

3. Gameroom

4. Image upload

5. Audio and video support

6. Avatars

and much more!!!

 

Whats to come? We have added an internal mailing system just like gmail or hotmail for our members. I will be testing this throughout the week and will release it to a few select members to receive some feedback. If the feedback we receive is good, I would like to make this available to the entire community. Below is a snapshot.

[firewalker 10]

Sorry, not getting in... keeps saying 'Initialization' for minutes...

[DbPhoenix 42]

Yep. Same problems. Server crashes. Browser crashes. Can't get back in. *sigh*

[atto 20]

Here too. It was working fine until right after US open.

[Hlm 10]

Got disconnected at EXACTLY 8:30am CT and now it's hung up at the "Initialization..." screen. James, we had a similar issue every day on cash close with the old chat room. It would freeze most people for a little bit. Are there any scripts/backups/cron jobs that execute around these times? I did end up getting back in the room but couldn't type anything. However, smwinc was one of the small few that were still in there and didn't seem to be affected. Now that I exited I am unable to get back in.

[Soultrader 12]

Thanks for the notice. Looking into this asap... it was working just fine a few minutes ago.

[Soultrader 12]

Server has been restarted and the system is working. My apologies on this and looking into the issues.

[atto 20]

Hmm, I'm not currently on my trading computer or normal internet connection, but I still seem to get stuck at the "Initialization" phase. Anyone else?

[DbPhoenix 42]

Hmm, I'm not currently on my trading computer or normal internet connection, but I still seem to get stuck at the "Initialization" phase. Anyone else?

 

Yep. Same here....................

[Soultrader 12]

It seems to be our media server which keeps stopping. I am looking into this issue right now and figuring out why this is happening.

 

Just one more step until stability and I apologize for this. Its a very complicated system to implement and its taken us almost 3 weeks since we started development and installation. The media server is the only problem right now and I am having two different teams look into this. Thanks.

Edited January 28, 2009 by Soultrader

[Soultrader 12]

Ive restarted the server and is working for now. However, I am having some people looking into this issue. The chat room may be unstable until then. Thank you.