Oh crap, it didn't say "18 hours ago on that last post, did it"?
Indeed it did, and I'll take the opportunity that there will not be a geekchat hosted by myself tonight. Unless somebody else wants to do it, be my guest.
It would be really cool if geekchat had some direction and maybe some topics instead if just people making poor jokes and geeking out about the latest memes on the interwebs. I would really like to join you guys, but I have no wish to hear 7 guys laugh about internet jokes for 2 hours. Does anyone else dislike this geeking out over skype for 2 hours, or is it just me?
Have you been to any Geekchat? Also, we don't laugh about internet jokes (all the time), we also largely make our own jokes. Like ninja-recording me... laughing. Also, it's not supposed to be Friday Night Party Line. Geekchat is supposed to be geeks chatting and having fun. How this fun results depends on the participants, so if you're annoyed at people laughing and making jokes, participate and steer the chatting into what you conceive to be a 'better' topic.
Have you been to any Geekchat? Also, we don't laugh about internet jokes (all the time), we also largely make our own jokes. Like ninja-recording me... laughing. Also, it's not supposed to be Friday Night Party Line. Geekchat is supposed to be geeks chatting and having fun. How this fun results depends on the participants, so if you're annoyed at people laughing and making jokes, participate and steer the chatting into what you conceive to be a 'better' topic.
Yes I have been. We have talked. What's his name is an interrupting kid who we had to ask to stop interrupting people. We, well you guys, fucking talked about angry microwave or some other boring crap for 30 min. That was not the latest, but the one before it. I had no wish to do the latest one after that crap.
"annoyed at people laughing and making jokes, participate and steer the chatting into what you conceive to be a 'better' topic.
Yeah, I was that guy that didn't interrupt people by yelling that did do that. Someone, churba maybe, even mentioned me as the guy who didn't interrupt anyone. (If that ends up being my nick name, what does that say about the quality of people I am trying to converse with?) But after 2 ta 3 times of having to pull us away from posting 4-chan memes I gave up and left. I don't have time to pull you people into a real discussion, I can just talk to real people about stuff and let you all wallow in your interweb in-jokes.
Like it's cool if you all wanna just geek out about stupid in-jokes that 4-chan started, but I want no part of it. So please don't invite me to your chats and skype calls unless there is something substantial to talk about because it's just not enjoyable to me hearing people with little skype grace speaking about internet jokes. If I wanted that I would listen to a bad podcast since it's not like I will even be able to say anything of interest anyway.
Sorry if this sounds like I'm targeting all my hate toward the person who we called out for interrupting us a lot. It wasn't just you dude.
I dunno, all the chats I've been in revolved mostly around talking about television and movies that I've never seen. Not much better in my case, but it was hardly two hours of 4chan jokes.
I dunno, all the chats I've been in revolved mostly around talking about television and movies that I've never seen. Not much better in my case, but it was hardly two hours of 4chan jokes.
Maybe I am just unlucky that the ones I am around for, there is rarely discussions about, well, anything. and if things are brought up, they never really get discussed. One guy talks about his experience, another interrupts him to say something personal in his life that happened that he found funny and the topic never goes back to anything. It just gets away from the group because of the lack of focus and the group as a whole doesn't realize that since there are like 10 people, maybe everyone wants to talk about topic X before people move on since they are personally done talking about it.
Not to mention the 1 hour of 'Who can host the call", "yeah someone on the East, West, Central America, Japan, needs to do it." This goes on and on until enough people leave where the quality is good enough to speak and hear people.
It's most likely a problem of numbers, then. When you get that many people in a chat it just can't be anything but stupid jokes, because everyone has to be talking about the same thing. Unfortunately Skype is not like a dinner table where everyone can have a different conversation going.
EDIT: There's an idea; once the problem of bandwidth is solved in VOIP programs, have a function where you and any number of users can enter a conversation within a large conference call. The other voices are made quiet and muffled, and anyone inside or outside of the conversation can get in or out with the press of a button.
It's most likely a problem of numbers, then. When you get that many people in a chat it just can't be anything but stupid jokes, because everyone has to be talking about the same thing. Unfortunately Skype is not like a dinner table where everyone can have a different conversation going.
I think it is a problem based on numbers, but it could also be remedied by people just not having to speak ASAP. They can like talk and discuss something like people do when you and your friends discuss something. I mean if it works in real life, and the people talking aren't ass hats, it should work on the interwebs right? I don;t know, I mean maybe getting that many people with the same personality together always ends up being that way, if you ever see an anime club before a video starts it's all just nerd jokes and yelling internet jokes together as bonding. So maybe thats what people want and I'm the outlier, I just figured I would post to give my opinion. And if others noticed it too, we could like try and change it like we did with that interrupting kid. (Not trying to harsh on ya, you just an example that works to portray what I'm talking about. :P )
Why not make a Google Calender or use some other scheduling service for this?
That would be cool, but people are very reluctant to step up to some like leadership position and take charge. (The fiasco regarding who hosts the call is a prime example of this)
The last geekchat I was in, I left after half an hour to chat with someone else. The conversation we had was probably just as geeky, if not more so, but we didn't have to worry about it being relevant to a big group of people. It was a lot of fun. And there wasn't some guy constantly saying the first thing that came into his head, the exact moment it came into his head. Unless there is some kind of topic posted for the next geekchat, something that I either ant to hear or talk about, I probably won't make much of an effort.
I agree that having a couple of actual topics to bring up is a great idea. Personal anecdotes get old quick and quoting memes also doesn't hold too much interest for me personally. One idea would simply to keep a casual eye on any hot topics in the forum, like the Teacher/Bully thread, and use that as one of the topics. Another would simply to watch the news, since I know many of us are politically minded, and see if any interesting news comes up. Or, everyone could pick one topic and we could go around and talk about the ones we find most interesting.
It would keep the conversation moving a bit more and stop people from repeating the same things we've heard several times before.
I agree that, yes, there does need to be some actual discussions instead of pissing time away with memes and stuff, but we shouldn't go overboard otherwise it'll turn into Friday Night Party Line. That isn't a bad thing, but I think that podcast is so good that I wouldn't want Geekchats to be a direct carbon copy of it. There is one thing I've noticed over time as I've been attending/hosting these Geekchats. It seems to me that when there is a member of the FRC or similarly minded person (such as Luke, James Lawson, etc) present, there seems to be a sudden injection of civility which leads to actual conversations occurring. Is it just me or has anyone made similar observations.
This. I've never been a part of a GeekChat, but I have had to manage conference groups before, and Wave is perfect for it. I imagine that if hosting duties given on a revolving schedule to various people, and a Wave was establish for the next week's GeekChat while the current one is ongoing, you could vote on an build a loose agenda of topics for discussion for the next week, and have participants vote on them. Once rough times were established for topics, people could move in and out as they please to discuss what they're interested in, and then the rest of the participants wouldn't get so much audio kipple.
I have a plan - How about Instead of "ZE GEEKCHAT MUST BE ON ZE TOPIC! MEMES? NIEN NIEN NIEN NIEN NIEN!" or "Hey dude, lets all be, like, chilled out and stuff, so we can, like, chill and stuff dude." - If you want to have a serious one, Say so when you propose hosting it, maybe lay out some topics, all that. Then, you will attract the people who want to have a serious discussion. If not, just say it's a regular freestyle geekchat(or something) and don't get cranky when it meanders all about. Easy done, sort the rest of the rules out for yourself, you can thank me later.
That isn't a bad thing, but I think that podcast is so good that I wouldn't want Geekchats to be a direct carbon copy of it.
I have to say that this makes no sense whatsoever.
I disagree. In my career as an alchemist, I have often said to myself, "Gold is so shiny and priceless that I wouldn't want this lead to be anywhere near as shiny and priceless."
I'm afraid of actually typing something (excluding this statement) as it's a certainty that it will either be criticized or taken out of context...but whatever.
I'm afraid of actually typing something (excluding this statement) as it's a certainty that it will either be criticized or taken out of context...but whatever.
I was just messing with you, but I seriously think that an ad-hoc discussion on the level of GeekNights is what we should aim for.
Comments
If no one else wants to host something tonight I'll start it in about an hour.
Like it's cool if you all wanna just geek out about stupid in-jokes that 4-chan started, but I want no part of it. So please don't invite me to your chats and skype calls unless there is something substantial to talk about because it's just not enjoyable to me hearing people with little skype grace speaking about internet jokes. If I wanted that I would listen to a bad podcast since it's not like I will even be able to say anything of interest anyway.
Sorry if this sounds like I'm targeting all my hate toward the person who we called out for interrupting us a lot. It wasn't just you dude.
Not to mention the 1 hour of 'Who can host the call", "yeah someone on the East, West, Central America, Japan, needs to do it." This goes on and on until enough people leave where the quality is good enough to speak and hear people.
EDIT: There's an idea; once the problem of bandwidth is solved in VOIP programs, have a function where you and any number of users can enter a conversation within a large conference call. The other voices are made quiet and muffled, and anyone inside or outside of the conversation can get in or out with the press of a button.
The last geekchat I was in, I left after half an hour to chat with someone else. The conversation we had was probably just as geeky, if not more so, but we didn't have to worry about it being relevant to a big group of people. It was a lot of fun. And there wasn't some guy constantly saying the first thing that came into his head, the exact moment it came into his head. Unless there is some kind of topic posted for the next geekchat, something that I either ant to hear or talk about, I probably won't make much of an effort.
It would keep the conversation moving a bit more and stop people from repeating the same things we've heard several times before.
Easy done, sort the rest of the rules out for yourself, you can thank me later.