7 ms·

FlyByChat = IRC + Web 2.0. Feedback appreciated.

25 points by bdr 16y ago

icco 16y ago
Seems like a decent idea, but showing up to the site, I didn't really understand what the point of the site was. The hn title made sense, but the site doesn't seem to explain that well; nor does it explain to me why I should use it instead of IRC. (It also never finished "loading", I assume that's just a js error though).
- bdr 16y ago
  Thank you. Re: IRC, the answer is that I'm trying to address a different market. IRC is great for us nerds. But there's no good mass consumer version at the moment, and that's what I'm going for.
  - mdisraeli 16y ago
    Questioner: Why should I use this instead of IRC The answer?: I'm trying to address a different market Something doesn't quite fit....
    - daleharvey 16y ago
      read the answer as "You wouldnt" It looks like he is trying to make a chat application for the people who dont have the inclination to figure out irc, therefore people who already use irc have no reason to switch.
    - akkartik 16y ago
      It fits quite well. He's addressing the market of people who don't know what IRC is. The value prop is simply: FlyByChat is the best place to chat online. Any mention of IRC would be retrogressive.
  - DanBlake 16y ago
    Uh, Tinychat ? http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/tinychat/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/tinychat/
    - bdr 16y ago
      There are a lot of problems with tinychat. You can't even join multiple rooms. Of course, they have users, which is a pretty killer feature, but that's what I'm working on. :)
mdisraeli 16y ago
Mibbit: I don't have to create an account Meebo: I just have to log in with my existing accounts (then there's also meebo rooms) Also, the fact that the title flashes about new messages when I've just opened the tab and there are new things in the default chats is annoying. I didn't choose to receive the messages, after all.
avar 16y ago
Does it use IRC on the backend? This is a nice UI, being able to set it up with a custom IRC server would be very nice. Another cool feature would be the ability to embed a chat window on another website.
- bdr 16y ago
  No, it's not actually IRC, just web-based chatrooms. That comparison has caused some unnecessary confusion. Embeddable is coming soon. The problem with making a web-based interface to IRC is that you're liable to get blocked like Mibbit.
  - derefr 16y ago
    Why not a web client, to an IRC gateway, to your own IRC servers, though? That would be my strategy—scaling an IRCd is a very, very well-researched problem, compared to scaling your own proprietary backend.
    - mdisraeli 16y ago
      I've always thought that IRC should be more of the technology, not the tools. More importantly, being able to use IRC would offer the easy solution to the critical mass problem.
jarin 16y ago
I like that it suggests rooms to create based on your Facebook interests. Creepy, but awesome.
mdisraeli 16y ago
The big challenge you have isn't appealing to a different market than traditional IRC. That one is the easy problem to solve. The hard bit is getting critical mass. Without enough people logged on and chatting, no one new would stay logged in and chatting. As it's only text based, there's none of the voyerism that chatroulette offered in return for sticking with it.
- bdr 16y ago
  I completely agree that the hard bit is getting critical mass. I don't think video is necessary: there's already a proven demand for text-based chat, which is much larger than ChatRoulette's.
markstahler 16y ago
I really like it and can appreciate the technical aspect but I was really hoping for a web enabled IRC client that didn't require me to connect over port 6667. I would use a web enabled IRC client every day. Crap, maybe you just gave me an idea for my next project.
- MatthewRayfield 16y ago
  http://www.mibbit.com/ http://www.mibbit.com/ does this. But when I last tried it I couldn't get onto Freenode and my guess is that their IPs are blocked on a lot of networks.
  - markstahler 16y ago
    Yeah, Freenode isn't listed. I guess a service like this could allow spammers to have a field day.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Sephr 16y ago
It'd be nice if it supported OpenID.

25 points by bdr 16y ago

icco 16y ago

Seems like a decent idea, but showing up to the site, I didn't really understand what the point of the site was. The hn title made sense, but the site doesn't seem to explain that well; nor does it explain to me why I should use it instead of IRC. (It also never finished "loading", I assume that's just a js error though).

bdr 16y ago
Thank you. Re: IRC, the answer is that I'm trying to address a different market. IRC is great for us nerds. But there's no good mass consumer version at the moment, and that's what I'm going for.
- mdisraeli 16y ago
  Questioner: Why should I use this instead of IRC The answer?: I'm trying to address a different market Something doesn't quite fit....
  - daleharvey 16y ago
    read the answer as "You wouldnt" It looks like he is trying to make a chat application for the people who dont have the inclination to figure out irc, therefore people who already use irc have no reason to switch.
  - akkartik 16y ago
    It fits quite well. He's addressing the market of people who don't know what IRC is. The value prop is simply: FlyByChat is the best place to chat online. Any mention of IRC would be retrogressive.
- DanBlake 16y ago
  Uh, Tinychat ? http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/tinychat/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/tinychat/
  - bdr 16y ago
    There are a lot of problems with tinychat. You can't even join multiple rooms. Of course, they have users, which is a pretty killer feature, but that's what I'm working on. :)

mdisraeli 16y ago

Mibbit: I don't have to create an account Meebo: I just have to log in with my existing accounts (then there's also meebo rooms) Also, the fact that the title flashes about new messages when I've just opened the tab and there are new things in the default chats is annoying. I didn't choose to receive the messages, after all.

avar 16y ago

Does it use IRC on the backend? This is a nice UI, being able to set it up with a custom IRC server would be very nice. Another cool feature would be the ability to embed a chat window on another website.

bdr 16y ago
No, it's not actually IRC, just web-based chatrooms. That comparison has caused some unnecessary confusion. Embeddable is coming soon. The problem with making a web-based interface to IRC is that you're liable to get blocked like Mibbit.
- derefr 16y ago
  Why not a web client, to an IRC gateway, to your own IRC servers, though? That would be my strategy—scaling an IRCd is a very, very well-researched problem, compared to scaling your own proprietary backend.
  - mdisraeli 16y ago
    I've always thought that IRC should be more of the technology, not the tools. More importantly, being able to use IRC would offer the easy solution to the critical mass problem.

jarin 16y ago

I like that it suggests rooms to create based on your Facebook interests. Creepy, but awesome.

mdisraeli 16y ago

The big challenge you have isn't appealing to a different market than traditional IRC. That one is the easy problem to solve. The hard bit is getting critical mass. Without enough people logged on and chatting, no one new would stay logged in and chatting. As it's only text based, there's none of the voyerism that chatroulette offered in return for sticking with it.

bdr 16y ago
I completely agree that the hard bit is getting critical mass. I don't think video is necessary: there's already a proven demand for text-based chat, which is much larger than ChatRoulette's.

markstahler 16y ago

I really like it and can appreciate the technical aspect but I was really hoping for a web enabled IRC client that didn't require me to connect over port 6667. I would use a web enabled IRC client every day. Crap, maybe you just gave me an idea for my next project.

MatthewRayfield 16y ago
http://www.mibbit.com/ http://www.mibbit.com/ does this. But when I last tried it I couldn't get onto Freenode and my guess is that their IPs are blocked on a lot of networks.
- markstahler 16y ago
  Yeah, Freenode isn't listed. I guess a service like this could allow spammers to have a field day.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

Sephr 16y ago

It'd be nice if it supported OpenID.