Lemma Soft Forums

On January 25th, the Lemma Soft Forums will turn 5 years old. I'm starting this thread so we can plan out ways to celebrate our half-decade of existence.

One idea I've had is to set up a voice conference call, using a program like skype, that members of the forums could attend. Is there any interest in holding this, either on Friday the 25th or Saturday the 26th?

Also, any other ideas people have will be gladly accepted.

PyTom wrote:One idea I've had is to set up a voice conference call, using a program like skype, that members of the forums could attend. Is there any interest in holding this, either on Friday the 25th or Saturday the 26th?

I'd be quite interested, if I wasn't busy that whole weekend. I've got a friend coming over to got on with some prop construction, so I probably wouldn't be able to make much. :/ (Not to mention that I wonder what sort of time it could be held at to allow for the geographic spread of forum members...)

PyTom wrote:Also, any other ideas people have will be gladly accepted.

My first thought was something along the lines of what you suggested here, so...

I could participate, Saturday is okay for me (Friday is a working day, which takes away a lot of the time). I don't have skype (yet) or voice gear, but maybe I can dig some old microphones out... at worst, there is surely a text option.

Perhaps the conference could be established for the whole day - since there are bound to be time problems, there could be two or three specific times in the day (e.g. 08:00, 14:00, 22:00), where people would be especially encouraged to join (to help with the timezone problem). So you could expect most of the people at these happy hours. But you could also join anytime to see if someone is online. I have however very little experience with live chats and conferences.

I do get the other form of celebrating (community service), but actually I also like this social form of celebrating, especially when it can be seen as a major one-time event and it has a "realtime" charm. It can be nice, I think.

I wouldn't call myself a super active/involved member of this community, but I would be interested in attending such a meeting anyway, if I'm invited. I lurk quite a bit, so that counts, I think?

Someone could make a LSF birthday VN, featuring the members or something? Iunno.

What about setting an IRC channel for those of us who don't have the equipment for Skype or whose English skill aren't good enough (my case).

Other than that I should be available for both 25. and 26. so I guess I will at least hang around.

I dunno if I'll be available on the 26th (you see, I've just started my work in a call center) but I can try.

denzil wrote:or whose English skill aren't good enough (my case).

My case exactly... Even though some people say my pronouncication is okay, I get too nervous because I've been told that it's not good many times. ^^; So I'm all like "YesI'msorrymypronouncicationsucksaaaaaaa @_@"... Eh.

But in general, this sounds fun and I think I'll be available on those days. I hope timezones won't be a big problem... And if they are, I guess I'll just have to try to stay up late. Well, it'll be weekend after all!

Hime wrote:My case exactly... Even though some people say my pronouncication is okay, I get too nervous because I've been told that it's not good many times. ^^;

In my experience, anyone who can write decent English on a forum has been able to speak it at least understandably, if not perfectly - and understandably is enough, no? It's not like anyone's asking for an important business presentation or anything! Given the range of different places LSF members come from, I doubt anyone's going to be particularly picky about pronunciation.

(And to be honest, the overall standard of written English on this forum is much better than some entirely native-speaking populations I can think of...)

Qu-ko wrote:I wouldn't call myself a super active/involved member of this community, but I would be interested in attending such a meeting anyway, if I'm invited. I lurk quite a bit, so that counts, I think?

Someone could make a LSF birthday VN, featuring the members or something? Iunno.

Hmm that's a pretty cool idea.

denzil wrote:What about setting an IRC channel for those of us who don't have the equipment for Skype or whose English skill aren't good enough (my case).

Yeah, I don't have the equipment unfortunately. IRC is good, though I haven't used it in ages and don't really remember how ^_^;. Any other ideas?

Won't there be a problem with timezones?

Hmm. I'd certainly be able to pop in for a bit, on Saturday, any time between perhaps 10am GMT and 2am GMT, for an hour or so. I've got a headset mic for Skyping purposes, that I've not yet used; it'd be good to have its first use be with such a great group

Having a text channel at the same time would probably be a good idea. If nobody can find an IRC channel, I can point people at a HTTP equivalent that just uses Javascript.

I'm definitely interested and will be able to make any time on the 25th or 26th, although I don't think I have a functioning microphone I can use.

If I remember well Skype is limited to up to 5 or 10 participants don't remember...
When I was mmorpg hardcore gaming, my guild used Teamspeak or Ventrilo, but they are also limited and one player need to dedicate a server in order to reach a decent ping.

Also Skype = push to mute, TS and Vent = push to talk, the latter are like talkie walkie programs, the first can provide surprise if one don't mute and go AFK (especially if users tend to watch tv or heavy music near their computer)

What would be nice is a video chat program like MSN which allow both typing and talking, but most of them are well known for their..."software weakness"

What would be best is a chat environnement software like an online game or a Second Life one, but as usual they are not easy to handle for all...

Edit: A Painchat server would be adequate, or Gmail board system

Adorya wrote:If I remember well Skype is limited to up to 5 or 10 participants don't remember...

Skype is limited to 24 people in a conference call at once, and unlimited people in chat rooms.

denzil wrote:What about setting an IRC channel for those of us who don't have the equipment for Skype or whose English skill aren't good enough (my case).

Other than that I should be available for both 25. and 26. so I guess I will at least hang around.

Second. Not that my English is bad -- I'm just a shy type when it comes to talking.
It'd be even better if Renpy could have a permanent chat channel this way!