I know this has been discussed for years now, but none the less I believe it is an issue which should really be re-addressed ASAP. First off, the chat is flash-based. This is SUCH a resources hog, and even on my machine (2.8GHz Quad core CPU, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD) I get a performance lag. Not to mention when I'm using my laptop without the power plugged in it sucks battery life like there's no tomorrow! There are thousands of non-flash chat solutions available which easily integrate into vBulletin. Take this for instance. Secondly, the colour scheme used in the chat just completely murders my eyes, and mix that in with users' ability to change their font colour to pretty much anything they like and you have a recipe for disaster. See what I mean? If we had a chat with a white background and had certain font colours disabled it would be MUCH more user friendly! I'm sick of having to highlight messages sent from other users who insist on using colours that blend way too much so that I can actually read them! Also, there has been the issue of regular users receiving moderator powers when they enter chat. Although they don't work, it's quite an annoyance to have the moderator interface come up in chat for us regular users. Like I've said before, I know this has been discussed numerous times, but it needs to be sorted once and for all.
We've been discussing and considering various other possible chat applications, but so far we've made no decision. I doubt anybody disagrees with you about the problems with the current chat, and it's somethign that we hope will be replaced soon. One of the issues relates to customizing any out-of-the-box solution to EC's unique security needs, but it's not an insurmountable problem, it just requires some extra consideration. Thanks for the reminder, perhaps this will help it move back up the priority list
Yeah I remember all the discussions about security, but the example replacement chat program I linked to has more than enough security - guest users can be blocked, chat can be remotely shut down for certain time periods, messages can be deleted by admins/mods, so on so forthhhhh. Pleaseeeeee get onto it guys. D:
No, that's not the issue. EC has different classes of users (regular and full members) and for the software to integrate, it would have to be able to support that. It's not insurmountable (the code can be written to provide that support) but none of the existing apps support that. Ajax chat looks interesting and we'll check it further, but it is only at release 0.83 (meaning, they do not consider it a finished and stable release) and they've been working on it since 2008, which indicates that it isn't being updated very frequently. You aren't the only person concerned about it. It's on our list
Actually.. They support a separate user logon system for their chat. So when a user applies for a full membership they can get a separate chat ID. Makes things a little more secure.
I'm not one of the tech-people, so I'll leave the discussion about chat applications to others, but you can actually change the colour scheme (and get rid of background image) if you fiddle around with the graphic options. I use the "indigo metallic" preset without background picture, and so far it looks pretty good and doesn't assault my eyes (though there's always at least someone who insists on using an impossible colour for any colour setting...) Not a miracle solution, but certainly one that has made chat a bit better for me in the meantime!
