Election Day Jabber Server

November 6, 2012 10:59 AM

We have live chat right now! You can log in with your brand new MetaFilter Jabber ID.

If you'd like to share your US Election anxiety with other mefites in real time, you can join our chat server. How? You can use any chat client that supports Jabber like Trillian, Adium, or iChat. Or you can try it out via a web client that we have set up at chat.metafilter.com.

The key thing you need to know is your MetaFilter Jabber ID. That's an all lowercase string like this: [your username]@chat.metafilter.com. The group chat room is called MeFi, and if you need the full address for your client it's [e-mail].

Thanks to everyone who helped out with testing late last night.

posted by pb (staff) to Feature Requests at 10:59 AM (165 comments total)

For folks like me who are using Adium, here are specific instructions.

1. Log in to the Jabber server just like you'd add another account like Yahoo/AIM

2. Once logged in, go to file - join group chat

3. Once you get the window for that, select the jabber server from the pulldown and type these things in

Chat Room Name: mefi
Server: conference.chat.metafilter.com
Handle: your-username-in-lowercase

4. Then click join. Should work. Let us know here if it doesn't.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:01 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is this only for today?
posted by grouse at 11:12 AM on November 6, 2012

Let's chat about the chat.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:13 AM on November 6, 2012

Is this only for today?

We're not sure yet. We're going to see how today goes and then talk about it.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:15 AM on November 6, 2012

let's chat about the cat.
posted by elizardbits at 11:15 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

le chat = the cat
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:16 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

mindblown.gif
posted by shakespeherian at 11:18 AM on November 6, 2012

Does Jabber go by a different name or something in Adium? I just don't have the option in my list of account types to add.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:19 AM on November 6, 2012

it's working..it's working!!!!
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love that chat room. Thanks for setting it up. Is there an app I can view it with on my (android) phone?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:22 AM on November 6, 2012

I think any app that supports XMPP will do it.
posted by ignignokt at 11:23 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow, Jabber! I haven't heard about that since it was that option on Trillian -- wow, Trillian! -- I'd never heard of, back when there was a need to bridge the gap between ICQ and MSN. Around Y2K-ish?

I'm kind of amazed those are all still things, tbh.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:25 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Are there any good recommendations for iOS Jabber apps?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:28 AM on November 6, 2012

I've only found one iOS app that works: JabberB. I've tested Trillian, Monal, IM+, and imo. None of those support group chats.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:30 AM on November 6, 2012

iamkimiam, yes it's called XMPP in the latest version of Adium.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:31 AM on November 6, 2012

I can't imagine being able to use this chatroom on iOS. It moves very fast.
posted by OmieWise at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2012

So...how do I get a Jabber account?
posted by maryr at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2012

Thanks ignignokt -- the one I installed last night (Xabber) didn't allow for a place to add the server (or I didn't find it.) But I wasn't sure what words (like XMPP) to look for. I'll mess around with it today. Or, god forbid, use my laptop at home tonight.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2012

how do I get a Jabber account?

You have one! You can connect to the MetaFilter jabber server with the MetaFilter Jabber ID that I described in the post.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:33 AM on November 6, 2012

oh god they're talking about lentils

LENTILS
posted by mendel at 11:34 AM on November 6, 2012

Is it my Metafilter password that I need, then?
posted by maryr at 11:34 AM on November 6, 2012

FWIW, it doesn't work at all in Apple's Messages app.
posted by mkultra at 11:35 AM on November 6, 2012

XMPP + jessamyn and pb's instructions worked great, thanks peops!
posted by iamkimiam at 11:36 AM on November 6, 2012

mkultra, the key for iChat/Messages is to make sure your Nickname is either blank or set to your username.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:37 AM on November 6, 2012

ahhhhhhhhh!
posted by mkultra at 11:38 AM on November 6, 2012

no we need to ban this chat thing forever because i will never do anything at work ever ever again
posted by elizardbits at 11:41 AM on November 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

Is it my Metafilter password that I need, then?

Yes, it's your MetaFilter password.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:44 AM on November 6, 2012

I'm kind of amazed those are all still things, tbh.

Well, Jabber is basically just the original name for XMPP, and Google Talk is also based on XMPP - so you may have used Jabber, FSVO Jabber, more recently than you think...
posted by running order squabble fest at 11:46 AM on November 6, 2012

Pidgin Client Instructions for Windows 7 (its very good!)

Go: Manage accounts: Add
In the Basic tab:
Protocol: XMPP
Username: mefiusername_in_lowercase
domain:chat.metafilter.com
resource:
Password: mefi_password
you can assign a local alias if you like

Click Add.

In the main window: go Buddies (terrible menu name)
Click Join a Chat

VIP Select you MEFI CHAT ACCOUNT
Room: mefi
Server: conference.chat.metafilter.com
Handle: mefi_handle
password: mefipassword

Viola: talk about lentils to your content.
posted by zenon at 11:53 AM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Not going to register for that, I give myself about 20 mins tops in a chat room before I'd be banned from mefi forever.
posted by stagewhisper at 11:56 AM on November 6, 2012

No.

dragged out screaming from the room
posted by infini at 11:59 AM on November 6, 2012

Are people who have MeFi Mail disabled also protected from having a "private chat" started with them?
posted by Egg Shen at 11:59 AM on November 6, 2012

No. If you log into the Jabber server people can try to chat with you.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:04 PM on November 6, 2012

Messages says it can't connect due to network error. Is there something wrong with these settings: http://imgur.com/a/4o03z ?
posted by jjwiseman at 12:06 PM on November 6, 2012

If you use the web interface, and it's scrolling too quickly to read, hit the anti-autoscroll button - it's at the bottom right, near the smiley-face and speaker icons.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:08 PM on November 6, 2012

Is there something wrong with these settings?

No, those look good to me. I'm connecting with the same settings. Could it be a local network issue? Maybe some software or network rules blocking iChat ports?
posted by pb (staff) at 12:12 PM on November 6, 2012

This is awesome. I hope it stays open as a normal subsite, and once interest dies down the participation will be at an intelligible level instead of 144 smartasses all trying to make jokes at once. And my jokes are the best, too.
posted by Think_Long at 12:22 PM on November 6, 2012

Where's the dead chat, for those who want to talk and hang out with the undead or zombie mefites?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:26 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Our passwords are stored in a txt file. It's actually just at http://www.metafilter.com/passwords.txt
posted by shakespeherian at 12:28 PM on November 6, 2012 [8 favorites]

Jabber, I hardly even know her...
posted by Confess, Fletch at 12:28 PM on November 6, 2012

So, uh, does this mean you're using SSO, or that you store our passwords unhashed?

I think most Jabber servers support LDAP.
posted by atrazine at 12:45 PM on November 6, 2012

Passwords are hashed. Openfire supports external data sources for auth.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:07 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Should I be using regular spaces or pipes for the spaces in my username? I'm having problems connecting with Pidgin either way, it seems. (I remember there was some other MeFi chat where pipes were supposed to replace spaces.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:28 PM on November 6, 2012

Yes, it's your MetaFilter password.

Damn, what's my password?

*blank*

Hell, when was the last time I was logged out of MeFi?

*blank* *blank*

Whenever it was, I've done a lot of lsd since then.

*swirls*
posted by Catch at 1:30 PM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

The web client is pretty good!
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:32 PM on November 6, 2012

AHHH I'M HAVING AN mIRC ACID FLASHBACK RIGHT NOW
posted by The Whelk at 1:33 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Holy fuck I logged in at the best possible moment and we're talking about James Vanderbeek. I'm lurking so hard right now!
posted by carsonb at 1:35 PM on November 6, 2012

needs more cowbell, for desktop clients you should replace spaces with \20. So in your case your MetaFilter Jabber ID is:

needs\20more\[e-mail]
posted by pb (staff) at 1:47 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Please let us keep this going forever!
posted by leesh at 1:59 PM on November 6, 2012

If anyone's looking for a desktop client that works relatively hassle-free with our particular Jabber server (openfire), Spark does the job. It's made by the same people.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:05 PM on November 6, 2012

pb: "If anyone's looking for a desktop client that works relatively hassle-free with our particular Jabber server (openfire), Spark does the job. It's made by the same people."

I've been using Psi with great success, too.
posted by vasi at 2:08 PM on November 6, 2012

If this doesn't become a permanent thing, I'll be sad.
posted by killdevil at 2:09 PM on November 6, 2012

Hey guys, can you tell me what's wrong with my settings?
posted by Strass at 2:09 PM on November 6, 2012

(Psi has username autocomple! Start typing 'goodn' and press Tab, and it'll fill in 'goodnewsfortheinsane' without making you type the whole thing.)
posted by vasi at 2:12 PM on November 6, 2012

That looks perfect Strass. Not sure what's failing for you—do you get an error message?
posted by pb (staff) at 2:13 PM on November 6, 2012

That looks perfect Strass. Not sure what's failing for you—do you get an error message?


Nope, I hit join and then nothing happens... I've never used group chat in Adium before... Are there any other settings I have to finesse first?
posted by Strass at 2:15 PM on November 6, 2012

Interestingly, if I sign on to web chat, then try to join using adium it kicks me off web chat.
posted by Strass at 2:15 PM on November 6, 2012

Yeah, you can only join with one client at a time.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:16 PM on November 6, 2012

Yeah, you can only join with one client at a time.

Yeah, so I guess adium is managing to join, but fails to actually open the chat room? Oh well, I guess I can just use the web interface.
posted by Strass at 2:20 PM on November 6, 2012

I can't get Spark (in Ubuntu) to connect to the server (but I'm very inexperienced with chat clients.
posted by Mngo at 2:23 PM on November 6, 2012

This seems like a very, very bad idea. I support it.
posted by ColdChef at 2:23 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

I had a little trouble figuring out Adium for the first time too, Strass, and had some odd "but where is the chat window?" problems. Possibly it was just coincidental flailing, but quitting and launching it again may have helped.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:25 PM on November 6, 2012

Our Founding Fathers with great foresight spaced presidential elections at four year intervals so that some work might be done on the first Tuesday in November in the other three years. That was BI - Before Internet! How canny those guys were.
posted by Cranberry at 2:27 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have the full server name in, but Spark says 'can't connect to server, invalid name or server unreachable"--any thoughts?
posted by Mngo at 2:31 PM on November 6, 2012

Oh, duh. Just plain "chat.metafilter.com" works. Cool.
posted by Mngo at 2:33 PM on November 6, 2012

Is activity to the room logged anywhere?
posted by Mitheral at 2:34 PM on November 6, 2012

Nope, there are no public logs. Messages are being stored in a database as part of how the system works, but we're planning to remove them periodically to free up space.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:36 PM on November 6, 2012

I'm logging everything, hth.
posted by ryanrs at 2:42 PM on November 6, 2012

I like this. I also recommend Pidgin. It's what I use at work for my Yahoo IM account as well.
posted by Roger Dodger at 2:42 PM on November 6, 2012

Too bad, it would be nice to go back and read the logs when momentous news hits when one is away from the keyboard.
posted by Mitheral at 2:42 PM on November 6, 2012

Pidgin simply does not want to be installed on my work machine. So. Many. Errors. It's like a sign from the fates that I should be working or something
posted by Doleful Creature at 2:45 PM on November 6, 2012

that was wondrous. hope we get to keep it.
posted by batmonkey at 3:02 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

No worky for me. I logged in from my phone, found that the client I was using didn't support group chat, so disconnected and uninstalled it. Now the web client just says "disconnecting..." Boo. :(
posted by wierdo at 3:12 PM on November 6, 2012

Ctrl-F "jibber"

:(
posted by entropicamericana at 3:27 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

The chat, it moves so fast!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:30 PM on November 6, 2012

I feel like I'm in a room with ALL the MST3K writers EVER.
posted by tomboko at 3:56 PM on November 6, 2012

So it works in Chrome, but not in the current Aurora build.
posted by wierdo at 3:57 PM on November 6, 2012

doesn't work. perhaps it doesn't like the ":" in my username?
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 5:30 PM on November 6, 2012

That's a nice clean web client. Well played that man.
posted by flabdablet at 5:30 PM on November 6, 2012

quonsar, try escaping the colon with the ascii code. pb said earlier people with spaces in the name should use \20 in their clients.
posted by Roger Dodger at 5:40 PM on November 6, 2012

No no no no no no. I have no impulse control, and this is a bad thing.
posted by arcticseal at 5:43 PM on November 6, 2012

:(
posted by [@I][:+:][@I] at 5:51 PM on November 6, 2012 [11 favorites]

no love.

it finally accepted quonsar\20ii\58\20smock\20fishpants\20and\20the\20temple\20of\20foon as a valid username, now it is complaining about my password. which i just changed. *shrug*
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 5:55 PM on November 6, 2012

Please let us keep this.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 5:59 PM on November 6, 2012

What client are you trying to use?
posted by pb (staff) at 6:17 PM on November 6, 2012

by the way, here's how you escape reserved characters in jabber IDs. A colon is \3a.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:18 PM on November 6, 2012

If you're using Google as your DNS server then the DNS lookup for conference.chat.metafilter.com fails.
posted by Runes at 6:23 PM on November 6, 2012

Runes, just use chat.metafilter.com. The conference bit is needed to find the room once you're logged in. But it's not available in public DNS.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:28 PM on November 6, 2012

OK, next step. I got logged into the server, but it says I'm unable to join the room. I'm using Spark.
posted by Runes at 6:32 PM on November 6, 2012

Not sure offhand. Are you using a lowercase Jabber ID?
posted by pb (staff) at 6:37 PM on November 6, 2012

Hot dang, got in via iChat by using the chat.metafilter.com server name.
posted by Runes at 6:37 PM on November 6, 2012

The web interface thingy works just fine for me on firefox.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:02 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I tried testing out the chat last night and saw < 10 people. I just logged in a few minutes ago and there's just under 200 people now (and agreed, very fast moving!).

pb was up very late last night testing and fine-tuning, so I wanted to add my thanks to pb and the mods for making this available to us today.

And I know I said this way back when the feature launched, but thank you again for the in-thread automatic comments notifier! I was thinking of the 2008 election-related threads and how there was no notifier then...so very glad that we have it now for these super-active threads.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 7:04 PM on November 6, 2012

No love. 404 for conference, and nothing happens using just chat.metafilter.com.

Adium, XMPP, logged in, mefi room, chat.metafilter.com, middleclasstool, mypasswordformefi.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:27 PM on November 6, 2012

conference.chat.metafilter.com

no password, once you are logged in. catch me on IM if you can't make it work.

you are welcome.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:32 PM on November 6, 2012

middleclasstool, it didn't work for me using Chrome, but it works in IE.
posted by MexicanYenta at 7:41 PM on November 6, 2012

jessamyn showed me the stupid wrong thing that I did and I fixed it. Hooray!
posted by middleclasstool at 7:53 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

middleclasstool: You don't need your password, but you do need to use conference.chat.metafilter.com for the server in the group chat join.
posted by ChrisR at 9:39 PM on November 6, 2012

chat was kind of amazing, thanks people who made that happen and i want it to stay
posted by ninjew at 11:24 PM on November 6, 2012

Thanks for the chat, that was great.
posted by the_artificer at 11:30 PM on November 6, 2012

The last post on the blue was at 2:53 PM on November 6th. Guess every one was either at live chat, or watching the returns on TV.
posted by Cranberry at 11:30 PM on November 6, 2012

thanks mods! that worked out pretty well considering.
posted by twist my arm at 11:33 PM on November 6, 2012

The web client doesn't seem to want to leave me connected any more :-(
posted by flabdablet at 12:38 AM on November 7, 2012

Just throwing in another vote for keeping this around. It is very nice.
posted by 7segment at 1:08 AM on November 7, 2012

The chat is where it's at! Huzzah!
posted by PROD_TPSL at 1:30 AM on November 7, 2012

okay, I have made some comments in the chatroom that you really wouldn't want me to make in MeFi. Please keep it.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:34 AM on November 7, 2012

That was awesome! Thanks for holding my hand again this election, Metafilter.
posted by JoanArkham at 3:14 AM on November 7, 2012

Please keep the chat! I like it quite a lot.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:56 AM on November 7, 2012

I liked the chat, and the web interface actually did not suck. (It sucked much less than "Messages" though of course nothing holds a candle to mIRC. I will fight you.) I personally worry about my own impulse control, but hey, don't let that stop you from making MeFi more awesome.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:47 AM on November 7, 2012

The chat was amazing! Easy to use, worked well, super fun and could handle all of us. Can we keep it?
posted by iamkimiam at 4:57 AM on November 7, 2012

Thanks to everyone who worked on setting up the chat. Nice job!
posted by Runes at 5:10 AM on November 7, 2012

I would be interested to know if the mods had less deraily/chatty/random comments to delete during this 5k comment fast moving thread than during other recent ones, presumably due to the alternate chat venue.
posted by elizardbits at 5:36 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I would also like to thank pb, the rest of the mods and everyone else for making election night fun!
posted by griphus at 6:10 AM on November 7, 2012

yes it is definitely very useful to have a place where we can all shout BUTTS simultaneously without fear of reprisals.
posted by elizardbits at 6:13 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

BUTTS
posted by nathancaswell at 6:17 AM on November 7, 2012

Hmm, every year that I sit and watch election results with Metafilter, Obama wins. I wonder how many years we can keep that going...
posted by JoanArkham at 6:18 AM on November 7, 2012

Please let us keep our pony, pb!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:24 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks, pb and everyone else who helped set that up! I feel like MetaFilter got us one of those inflatable bounce houses for election day.
posted by ignignokt at 6:40 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I dropped into the chat room after Obama's speech, but it was frantically fast. I looked into the void and bac d slowly away. Maybe with time I'll be brave enough to go back.
posted by arcticseal at 6:48 AM on November 7, 2012

"You get to drink from the FIREHOSE!"
posted by jferg at 7:18 AM on November 7, 2012

omg, filmgeek is going to be so happy!
posted by mlis at 7:46 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

The chat is at a nice mellow post-election pace right now.
I, too, hope we get to keep it. I would pet it and feed it and take it out for exercise every day. I would even muck out its stall.
posted by flex at 7:50 AM on November 7, 2012

Yes, this is a pony I would like to keep!
posted by ambrosia at 10:07 AM on November 7, 2012

I was planning on joining last night, but had a family emergency that took me away from TV and computer (on the most important night of the year!!) I love chat rooms (back from the days of AOL chat), so another vote for keeping it around as a permanent option. Regardless of whether it stays forever, thanks so much for the background work to enable us to have it.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 10:28 AM on November 7, 2012

I am very excited about this pony and hope that we get to keep it. Thanks, pb and everyone else involved!
posted by jessypie at 10:39 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

It was enjoyable, but kept me up later than I should have having a serious conversation. Please shitcan this thing immediately so that I may sleep at appropriate times. Thanks for your support!
posted by wierdo at 11:21 AM on November 7, 2012

What client are you trying to use?

was trying the web client. also tried Pidgin.

by the way, here's how you escape reserved characters in jabber IDs. A colon is \3a.

aha! so it was most likely an issue of improperly escaping that colon. thanks pb!
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 11:30 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well, that's the best sentence I've read all day.
posted by griphus at 11:35 AM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

you guys that was SO FUN
posted by mintcake! at 11:43 AM on November 7, 2012

but it HASN'T ENDED
can you handle MOAR FUN
posted by flex at 11:46 AM on November 7, 2012

no as i have got some work done today and would like that to continue
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:49 AM on November 7, 2012

The web client should automatically do the escaping for you. So at the website use:

quonsar ii: smock fishpants and the temple of [e-mail]

No escaping at all, all lowercase. You should only need the escaped spaces and colon if you're using a desktop client like iChat, Adium, or Spark.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:02 PM on November 7, 2012

Is there an android client that supports conference? I'd like to use the server, but I don't have a working computer right now, just a tablet.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:08 PM on November 7, 2012

Does the web client work in your tablet browser?
posted by pb (staff) at 12:11 PM on November 7, 2012

Not really. It logs me out unexpectedly a lot, and the text resizes such that the comments fit the with of the screen independently of the username column so if I want to see the whole line of what someone is saying and also who is saying it, I have to zoom out to a level that means I can't really read anything. I'll try other browsers; I was just thinking that if somebody knew of a preexisting jabber client that did the job, it would be nice.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:32 PM on November 7, 2012

FWIW, the disconnecting happens when I switch tabs or apps. I think I just need to make my password easier to input on a touch screen and I won't really be bothered by that aspect.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:43 PM on November 7, 2012

The web client should automatically do the escaping for you. So at the website use:

quonsar ii: smock fishpants and the temple of [e-mail]

Authentication Failed.

Is it using the current password from the database? Because I have no trouble logging into metafilter. I did change my password yesterday, so if it is using a snapshot instead of the live database that could be it.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:03 PM on November 7, 2012

No, it's using the live database so you should be able to use your current password.

I'll take a look.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:05 PM on November 7, 2012

Xabber works (thanks ob1quixote for the tips!). Just put in your [e-mail], then when it logs in bring up the menu, hit more, then join conference. On that screen, type in the conference.chat.metafilter.com for the server and mefi for the conference.
posted by wierdo at 1:06 PM on November 7, 2012

Is the chat room down for everyone now or does it just hate me?

I already tried turning it off and on again.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:03 PM on November 7, 2012

The chat room is down for a while.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2012

pb's putting a racing stripe on it.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO what am I supposed to do until it comes back up?????????????????????????????
posted by Jacqueline at 3:06 PM on November 7, 2012

F5

F5

F5

F5

F5

F5

...
posted by Jacqueline at 3:07 PM on November 7, 2012

Google Chrome is suggesting that I try cat.metafilter.com instead. That should be a thing.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:08 PM on November 7, 2012

Isn't it already, though?
posted by A Bad Catholic at 3:11 PM on November 7, 2012

Guy from now on it is going to be a chat coop. Every month you have to spend eight hours shoveling coal into the boiler and restocking shelves.
posted by griphus at 3:13 PM on November 7, 2012

Chat is back.

quonsar II, try logging in again. We had a problem with long usernames that I think I worked out, but let me know if you're still having trouble.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

YAY!
posted by Jacqueline at 3:33 PM on November 7, 2012

Chat is active. Bunch of people in there now.
posted by arcticseal at 3:59 PM on November 7, 2012

quonsar II, try logging in again.

success! squee!
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 5:03 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

I seem to be running into an iPad bug wherein I get disconnected if I spend too much time without the chat window being in focus. Is that a thing?
posted by griphus at 8:11 PM on November 7, 2012

it kicks you out for being NO FUN
posted by elizardbits at 8:14 PM on November 7, 2012

Is that a thing?

It could be. We have the chat server set to allow folks to stay connected as long they can. I'm not sure how the iPad treats windows that aren't in focus. If the browser stops sending/receiving information from the page it's definitely possible you're getting logged out.

Unfortunately there aren't fantastic iOS jabber clients. The best I've found for the iPhone is JabberB which I mentioned upthread. I haven't tried it on the iPad, but it would definitely keep you logged in.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:09 PM on November 7, 2012

It's true, griphus is no fun.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:12 PM on November 7, 2012

On the upside, at least it's treatable these days.
posted by flabdablet at 10:24 PM on November 7, 2012

Unless I am doing something very wrong, JabberB consistently crashes on the iPad before connecting. Perhaps I am configuring it wrong? What ought the settings look like?

And I am plenty of goddamn fun.
posted by griphus at 4:22 AM on November 8, 2012

To connect the server with JabberB you just need your MetaFilter Jabber ID/password. You can leave the rest of the settings at Default. Once you're logged in, tap the Chats button at the bottom. Click Join Chatroom at the top of the page. Here are the chat room settings:

Chat Room: mefi
Server: conference.chat.metafilter.com
Password: (Nothing)
Nickname: (Nothing)
Auto Join: (Up to you)

That works for me on my iPhone. I haven't tried it out on the iPad yet.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:00 AM on November 8, 2012

Thanks, that is what I was doing, so it is clearly the program. It attempts to connect to the server and then just crashes out. I only tried it on the iPad last night, so I'll give the iPhone a shot when I get home to see what's up and maybe send them a bug report. It isn't a universal app, so it is probably an iPad compatibility issue.

I know y'all are still fine-tuning chat, so if you stumble on another iOS client that supports it, can you plz drop a line?
posted by griphus at 7:17 AM on November 8, 2012

OneTeam is really nice, supports group chat, and is easier to use than JabberB. It has an iPad version. It's not sized for the iPhone 5 and it costs $6, though. I wish it handled JID escaping properly, but no clients except the web client we use do.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:39 PM on November 8, 2012

Just got in with irssi through BitlBee which are both running on my NAS that I'm connecting to via SSH with KiTTY.

15 year-old me would be thinking this is k-rad.
posted by ODiV at 10:20 PM on November 8, 2012

This beats VMS's PHONE command 16 ways from Sunday.
posted by Mitheral at 1:00 PM on November 9, 2012

I've got a guy interpreting the screeches across a 9600 baud modem and then manually telegraphing it to my stock ticker.
posted by griphus at 1:01 PM on November 9, 2012

adium wouldn't even connect to Jabber for me :/
posted by wintersweet at 6:08 PM on November 9, 2012

INCORRECT
I had just failed to complete the initial stage of complaining about how it didn't work.
posted by wintersweet at 6:16 PM on November 9, 2012