The Only Thing This Site is Missing

Is a Garden "Chat" Room! Garden.com used to have a very good one, but then Burpee bought it and got rid of it. I miss it! :-)

We have a chatroom that is open on Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings. Welcome to DG!!

"eyes"

We have chat here twice weekly, and it's moderated because of some abuses that took place in the past. Tuesdays from 7-10pm (EST) and Thursday mornings starting at 7am (EST).

Come on by! :)

I will try to remember those times - I am on the West Coast. Is there a particular link for it?

Under your menu it will say, "Chat room is open"

Ok! Thanks! I wish the chatroom was open longer for those of us on the the West Coast! :-(

While we are on the subject. I would like to see several 'smileys' available. It would definitely make our thoughts more understandable.

Lots of times I write as if I am talking to someone in the same room. This doesn't work, as I am often misunderstood. A sense of humor doesn't come through either.

Just a thought. I would imagine this is difficult to do.

:)

Karri20x My coast is further West than yours and I sign on around 5 am and find myself alone lots so I guess you should try the day thing. Ernie

I think you'd better just stick to the standard smilies - like :-) :-( ;-) :-X

I know Dave doesn't want avatars on DG, so I doubt graphical smilies are something that's going to show up here. He prefers to keep it uncluttered.

Ernie, I'm in B.C. and chat once in a while....lots of fun! Elaine

Elaine add about 15 miles to the distance from the border to your house and thats how near you are.

It hasn't been much fun for me between my non typing skills and continual problems with aol . The hunt and peck is a little better and I think the problems seem over for the last three days anyway. Now maybe I can enjoy the chat.Ernie

:) You will find my smile in almost everyone of my posts. :) Kathy or a sad :( face....:(

Karrie20x, I am further west than you also. When i flew into Spokane day before yesterday, it was raining, was also raining when i left Dulles, WA DC. we were an hour late leaving because the plane had to circle the airport for some reason. When I got to Seattle an hour late, i was really lucky as my gate was 6 and I was leaving at gate 3, but they were calling my name as the plane was ready to leave, but i made it. Stayed all night as it was after 10pm when we landed. Was very foggy when I left yesterday morning, I don't have fog lights, drove almost all the way to Coulee Dam with my lights on low and not very fast either. Was really glad to get home after being gone 10 days. Donna

Karrie you think you have it bad. It doesnt come on until midnight for us in the UK and later for the rest of Europe. It them comes on while most of us are at work.

If you West-coasters and non-US subscribers could have one other date/time for chat, what would it be? (Disclaimer: I'm certainly not promising anything, and Dave might kick my shins under the table for even offering a ray of hope here.)

But my guess is that if a third date/time for a chat session is agreed upon by enough people, AND it's at a time that one of us administrators can moderate it without giving up an entire night's sleep, it's possible Dave would consider it.
JMHO...
Terry
(who's now going in search of some soccer shin guards just in case I need 'em!)

what about 8pm ish UK time?

Why not just check the verbiage after the fact? and give the boot to the bad boys and girls. I surely would not wage war on anyone nor would most people I have encountered here.

I guess you have the experience though but it was prior to my joining so anyway it was just a thought delayed justice. Ernie

How about 7pm to 10pm Pacific Time? and 7am to 10am Pacific time. The morning schedule they have now ends just as I am waking up, and the evening schedule they have now is when I am getting home from work or cooking dinner! I do, however, understand if this is not possible. It's too bad they can't find a member on the West Coast to offer moderating.

Karrie, sounds like Tuesday should be pizza night. ;) Seriously, I agree it would be great for there to be one alternate time for West coasters and folks abroad.

I have noticed that on Thursday mornings the chat room is rarely occupied early on (12pm for us), maybe moving that a couple of hours on or so might work?

Eweed

We all have days where we are a mite more sensitive than usual and chat doesn't afford the same luxury a private conversation does. Everyone becomes involved (even if they are only just reading and opting out of it at that moment) and it sours the experience for all. My Mum says that sorry is too late, while that's quite harsh, it's also true where feelings are concerned.

Just never mention if you dislike roses, you'll never live it down *G*

(before anyone wants to knock my mum for her saying, she is a very forgiving person, it's used as a wake up call to think more carefully next time, not to make us feel terribly guilty for ever and ever!:)

This message was edited Dec 3, 2003 5:54 PM

How about Saturday mornings? That's about the only time I can really relax and log on for more than a few minutes at a time..

7-10 (pm) GMT is 12noon to 3 pm CST in the US, yes? (Still doesn't help the West coasties, though, unless it's on a weekend, and I don't know how many chatters we'd have on Saturday night in the UK, or how coherent they might remain :)

What offends one person, may not offend another.

Isn't there a way that each individual user can put a block on the offending person so they no longer receive their posts?

If the offender "offends" too many people, then they would find no one responding to their posts. Think they would soon get the idea they are being offensive.

That way, the chatters can monitor it for you and your time is no longer tied up.

IMHO

arlene

Why not 'hire..nominate' one person from that time zone to moderate??

Face it folks, the only way to make everyone happy, as we are from everywhere, is to have it non-monitored, 24 hours a day, with an "ignore" option so that it doesn't have to be monitored. Another great feature would be an "abuse" button, so that you can easily report someone if they are in the chatroom harassing or being ugly, and be able to copy and paste whatever that user has said into your report.

Those options might cost more money for Dave. I wouldn't know, I've never had a site like this. It is unfortunate that there has to be a moderator to begin with, as I would hope most gardeners have the decency to not "troll" the internet.

We've had a 24/7 chat which one of our old members started a couple of years ago. I found that it was not visited on a regular basis. Many times I would go there and be the only one, so I would leave. This was tried for several months, but it finally just dried up.

I beleive that having a set time for the chat keeps more interest - it gives us something to look forward to.

Unfortunately, only a few of you can enjoy it that way. Those of us on the West Coast have a hard time making those times. :(

Karrie,
Dave is such a wizard when it comes to web design, I doubt that it would be difficult to install an ignore button.

Saw it work really well years ago in a chatroom; it was part of my ISP offerings when on dial-up with Pacific Bell....a big telephone company. Didn't know what a chatroom was at that time so I went in and tried it out.
It was programed so that if someone typed abusive words, an email went out to them that they were banned from the chatroom and they could no longer access it.

In addition it had an ignore button. People lose interest in a chat room when everyone is ignoring them. What you can't see can't offend you.

IMHO

A.O.L. sorry as it is still employs the ignore button .

My feelings are it takes more than one person to have meaningful conversation unless you are talking with your pets and it takes two people to engauge in stupidity.

To debate is one thing to beat the proverbial dead horse is another and to just ban people who are vulgar and make disparaging remarks is justice.

I kinda think I don't need to converse with a jerk and usually just let people flame on allowing social justice to do it's job that usually works for me.Ernie

Proverbs 15:1
...A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger....

I have tried to enter the chatroom once or twice, but even though the screen opens, I cannot enter any message. Any specific software requirements here?

Dinu your question may get answered but you will probably get a faster answer in computer forum. There are some sharp people there. Maybe I am wrong because I see a couple of them have posted here maybe they are watching and will be back to help you. Ernie


This message was edited Jan 7, 2004 10:13 PM

Dinu; When you tried to enter in conversation in the chat room, did you scroll down to find the outgoing message line?There is a chat that opens this morning at 7:00. Give it a try, see if you have any luck.

Dinu I just came from the chat no one was there. Ernie

Does anyone know why the chat rm. is not always available??? Denise

Denise, we had some problems in the past with people abusing the chatroom. Instead of pulling the chatroom plug altogether, Dave and Trish decided to offer two scheduled chats each week, and monitor them to prevent abuse. The scheduled chat times are

Tuesday evenings, 7-10 PM
and
Thursday mornings, 7-10 AM

I was there at 9:59am., just squeaked in, there were 6 of us there til about 10:15.

It's 4:00 in the morning here when the chatroom opens on Thursday! I'm off in dreamland! :)

And sometimes I'm still up! If not, I'm sure not awake by 7:00am, LOL. ;)

I look at it at about five and seldom find people there but once in a while I do then its fun because it is so small usually all can chime in.

Gw if I was still in bed at seven linda would call 911.Ernie


Karrie being in dream land should not be a problem I can just call you on the phone.Ernie

This message was edited Jan 9, 2004 7:07 PM