Chat Features
Auto Launch of Chat Room
If you want your chat room to launch automatically when someone goes to your
chat page, you can accomplish this by having only one chat room active. To
prevent the room from automatically launching, either create a second room,
or enable dynamic rooms from your Forum Chat in Controls.
Away Status
Type /away off having coffee, and when someone sends you a Private Message,
they'll get the message you've left. To return, type anything.
Chat
Listing
Would you like to join another chat room? Type /list while in a room, and a
list of other open chats will pop up. Click on the join button to switch rooms
instantly!
Closing (Deleting) a Room
Hosts should use /close to delete any permanent rooms. Once closed,
nobody else can enter, and the room is deleted when the last person leaves.
This is the correct way to delete a permanent room. When you delete a room
from the control center, the room stays active on the server until the next
time the server restarts (which we hope isn't very often!) or until you /close
it. You can use the /unclose command to reverse a /close and allow normal
chat room operations. Caution! Closing a room with the /close command will
delete any chat logs for the room!
Dice - Roll
/ROLL rolls dice. The default is one six-sided die, but you can specify multiple
dice with as many sides as you wish. For example, "/ROLL 2d18" will give
you the result of rolling 2 18-sided dice. You can even add multiple dice
of different types--like "/ROLL 2d6 1d4" for two six-sided dice and one four-sided
die. If you wish, you can add a number to the total. For example "/ROLL 2d6+3d8+4" rolls
two six sided and three eight-sided dice and totals them and adds 4 to the
result.
Firewalls
The web server is on standard port 80 (you download the applet from the web
server). The chat server listens on other port(s), in this case, 23. Make
sure port 23 is open.
Gag
Moderators may gag a member to prevent them from talking or sending whispers
or private messages in the room. The moderator will see the membername with
a strikeout line through it, until they again click on the name, and ungag. DisruptiveMember You
may also use /gag membername. A member who has been gagged can receive
whispers, but not send them. Gagged members can use
Private Messaging. If you want to block a member from
PM'ing you, use the Ignore button on the PM box. For a stronger gag, use
forum gag in your controls. Moderators are unable to release this gag, and
will receive a message that the member has privileges/restrictions in this
forum.
Ignore
You can ignore anyone else in the room, and see no messages from them, public
or private messages. Ignore and Unignore are items on the popup menu that
comes up when you click on a nickname in the display panel. You can use /ignore
and /unignore if you like, as well. On the user display panel of people in
the room, there will be a line through the name of anyone you're currently
ignoring. AnnoyingChatter
Kick and Kick and Ban
Kick is a temporary command, that will remove someone from your room for 1
minute. If you kick and ban someone, it will last for an hour. These two commands
are available to C, A and W flags. You can kick using the text command (/kick)
using the nickname, or the membername. Either will work. You can kick and ban
by typing /ban membername. Kick, and Kick and Ban are also available as clickable
commands from the drop down menu. Click on a name in the roster on the right
side, click on the action you want to take place.
Mac users can use the text commands or triple click on the name in the roster to make the drop down menu appear (Mac users with a two-button mouse can right-click).
W and A flags
have the option to do a Forum Gag, Ungag, or Lockout right from chat.
W flags can gag or kick A flags, A flags can gag or kick C flags, C flags can
gag or kick unflagged members.
You can use a single word in your text command to indicate a reason the member is being kicked. Type /kick membername swearing. The member will see: (Membername) has been kicked off by (moderator) for swearing.
- Members will see no indication that a kick or a kick and ban has taken place. They will only see that someone has left the chat.
- Moderator who kicks and bans sees: (Membername) has been kicked off by (moderator name).
- Member who has been kicked or kicked and banned sees: (Membername) has been kicked off by (moderator name).
- If member tries to reconnect after a kick, they will receive the message "You have been banned from this channel. Connection closed". After the second reconnect attempt, the reconnect button is removed completely. If they have been kicked and banned, they see: You are banned from this channel. Connection closed.
- If the chatter attempts to post to the board, they'll see: Your message is not complete: Posting not currently allowed. They are not informed that they are banned from the forum.
- Once the member has logged off Delphi, if they try to return, they will see: There was a problem with this page. Please try again.
Language Filter
Your forum's language filter works in both chat and your message board.
List Rooms
To see a list of open chat rooms, type /list . You'll get a pop-up box,
where you can click on a room name, and change rooms.
Logging
The /log command (/log on, /log off) allows you to create a transcript
of a chat. W, A, and C flags can turn on or off the logging. To see if a
room is being logged, type /log. Transcripts are retrieved via the "Forum Chat" administration
page in the control center. Only W and A flags can retrieve the logs. There's
a link at the top of the page that says "View Chat Transcripts." Transcripts
are kept on file for two weeks. Timestamps are now available for your chat logs.
There's a link at the very top of the transcript that will allow you to view
the log with a timestamp for every line.
Chat messages are truncated to 400 characters by the chat applet. The IRC standard is that the total length of a line sent to the server can't exceed 512 characters, but that includes various header information (such as the message type, room name, etc.) The server truncates messages longer than 512.
Moderated Rooms
A room host can make the room "moderated" in which only other hosts and participants
with V flags can speak. Permanent forum V flags are honored, so hosts can give
permanent voice to their regulars without giving them any other privileges
(such as ops) in the room. There is no confirmation text on the screen, to
show you if the command is successfully implemented at this time, but something
may be added later.
To turn moderation on: /mode #room +m
To turn it off: /mode #room -m
To give someone voice: /mode #room +v nick
To take it away: /mode #room -v nick
These are IRC type commands, the voice flags are available both in text, and on the action pop up menu. If your room name has more than one word, you should replace any spaces with a dot. Example: "My Chat Room" becomes #my.chat.room The entire command to put a forum on moderation, then remove it, would look like this:
To give a Voice flag, then remove it, the command would look like this:
/mode #my.chat.room +m
/mode #my.chat.room -m
/mode #my.chat.room +v nick (this can be the membername, or nickname)
/mode #my.chat.room -v nick (this can be the membername, or nickname)
Nicknames
Nicknames have a default maximum length of 20 characters. DelphiPlus and DelphiExtra
members can change their chat nickname by entering /nick nickname. The new
nickname must start with
a letter (A-Z) and can only contain letters, digits (0-9), a minus sign,
or an underscore. You may not use the membername of anyone else currently
logged on the chat server as your nickname. An error message will be returned.
Private Message
A "private message" (IRC PRIVMSG), when sent to another user, is not associated
with a particular room. Most IRC clients display them in a separate window
which allows for a continuing discussion between the sender and receiver.
The private message frame contains an ignore button. Clicking this closes the window and sets the user to the ignored state. This works on people who are not in your room, as well as those who are. The private message window can be resized, placed anywhere on your chat screen, or minimized to your task bar.
You can use the Private Message feature in two ways:
- Type message, click on a name, move down to the private message option on the pop up menu, click.
- Type /privmsg membername message, enter.
Publishing Your Room
To publish your room on the main Delphi chat listings, mark the "Publish" box
to the right of the room name in Controls > Forum Chat. Click update. You do
not have to delete and re-create a room to change the published status. When
you create a new room, the default is to publish, so if you're creating a staff
chat room, or a room for a private meeting, you'll probably want to unmark
the "Publish" box.
If you publish your room, it will show on the main Delphi chat listing. Please keep all room names, and topics acceptable for all audiences.
Room Limits
You can set the maximum number of chatters allowed in your room in Forum Chat
in the control center, or from the room itself. To set the limit from inside
the room, type:
/mode #my.chat.room +l 27 (substitute real room name for my.chat.room, l is lowercase L and 27 would be the number of chatters you want to allow.
Room Names
Room names can be a maximum of 50 characters long. Room names will show on
your My Forums page, on the main chat listings for Delphi, and on your start
and chat pages. Do not use special characters like tildes ~ , smiley
faces, or quotation marks " in room names. They can prevent logging, as well
as prevent the room from opening or deleting properly. Remember that
if your room is published, the room name shows on the main Delphi chat listing.
Please keep all room names and topics acceptable for all audiences.
Show URL
To send or show a webpage while you're in chat, use the /sendurl or /showurl
command. Type /sendurl http://www.delphiforums.com to show the Delphi Forums
home page for example. This command is available only to W, A, and C flagged
members in the forum. You can also send a URL to a single person.
Use the right-click action menu.
Show Real Names
Moderators may wish to immediately type /showrn when they enter the
room. They will see the membername in brackets, followed by the chosen nickname
of the member. [CSTAR1] Cstar: message. This is a toggle switch, so type /showrn
again to turn it off.
Text Size
You can adjust the text size that you see in chat by using the controls on
the message board for text size. You'll find this at the bottom of the right
frame inside any forum.
Topic
Typing /topic followed by your topic phrase sets the chat topic. This
is set by any moderator in the room, or by W or A flags in the control center.
Everyone can type /topic to see the current topic for the room. Topics can
be 50 characters long when set in controls, but longer when set from inside
the room. Topics will show under your room name on the main Delphi chat listings,
and on your chat page of your forum. Change your room topic as the conversation
changes in your room to attract new members to your chat.
Topics show on your chat page, and on the main Delphi chat listings. Please keep your chat room names, and topics acceptable for all audiences.
Whisper
A "whisper" is a private message in a room and is displayed inline, on the
chat screen display. There are three ways to create a whisper.
- Type a message, click on a name, click the whisper link in the pop up menu.
- Type /whisper membername message
- Once you've got someone's name entered in the whisper window, you can type a message, then click the whisper button at the bottom of the page.
Welcome Message
Welcome messages can be up to 200 characters long, and are editable in your
controls. Welcome messages show only from inside the chat room.
Wildcard Ban
The wildcard ban will ban someone for an indefinite amount of time, rather
than a fixed 10 minutes. (The previous /ban time.) If someone is banned using
the wildcard, the member can't return until the chat moderator uses
an
"unban" command.
For example, where you used to have to say /ban membername you can now say /ban membern* or /ban *ername The /unban command will reverse that, you must use the same syntax.
To see the current ban list, use /mode #roomname +b
Whois
To see someone's real membername, click on their name to bring up the pop up
menu. Click "whois". This will also show the amount of time since the member
posted onscreen, as idle time.
Chat Commands
A list of available text commands follows. Commands that are member specific,
like /kick, /gag etc should be typed as /kick membername and /gag
membername.
- /act - shows actions
- /away - indicates an "away" status when someone sends you send a PM. Type /away reason. Type anything to return to normal.
- /ban membername - bans member from entering chat until unbanned, or for 10 minutes - mod command.
- /close - the correct way to delete a permanent room - mod command.
- /gag membername- prevents member's messages from showing -mod command.
- /ignore membername - prevents member's messages from showing - member command.
- /kick membername - kicks member out of room - mod command.
- /list - shows a clickable list of all active chat rooms.
- /log - shows whether a room is being logged. Available to all.
- /log on - turns on logging - mod command.
- /log off - turns off logging - mod command.
- /me = /act Just another IRC version.
- /mode #my.chat.room +b - shows the list of people you have banned from room - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room +b nick - nick can be partial, to set the wildcard ban - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room -b nick - nick can be partial, to remove the wildcard ban - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room +l 27 - set the room limit - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room +m - puts room on full moderation, only Wizards and Assistants, and those with Voice flags can speak - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room -m - removes moderation from room, returning it to normal - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room -o membername - removes moderator flag temporarily, both the icon and the powers - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room +o membername - restores moderator flag, both the icon and the powers - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room +v membername - gives a Voice flag to chatter, allowing them to speak - mod command.
- /mode #my.chat.room -v membername - removes Voice flag from chatter - mod command.
- /motd - Message of the Day. An internet greeting message.
- /msg membername - sends a separate pop up window to member for private conversations.
- /nick nickname - changes your nickname in chat for DelphiPlus and DelphiExtra members.
- /notice - similar to private messages.
- /part - disconnects you from the chat server.
- /privmsg membername - same as /msg.
- /quit - use to leave the chat room.
- /roll - rolls dice
- /showrn - shows nicks and membernames together. Use once to turn on, again, to turn off - member command.
- /sendurl - sends a pop up of any webpage - mod command.
- /showurl - sends a pop up of any webpage. Same as /sendurl - mod command.
- /topic - sets (for moderator) or displays (for other members) the topic of conversation in the room.
- /unban membername - allows a banned member to enter chat again - mod command.
- /unclose - reverses the /close command for a chat room, restores it to active status on the server - mod command.
- /unignore membername - remove someone from your ignore list - member command.
- /whisper membername - sends a private message inline on the chat screen.
- /whois nickname - shows the real membername.