Yet they all just sit there 24/7???

"chatroom" aka sharing channels, are a throwback to the good old days when IRC and winMX chatrooms were very lively social gathering spaces.

File sharing typically involves computers. But the world has moved to 'smartphones'. Then came Farcebook.

In many cases the room revolves around the host, a host with plenty of free time and some knowledge or a friendly personality they want to share with others are essentially the lifeblood of the chat rooms.

A good host will trust others to host the room when neccesary and build up a welcoming friendly atmosphere for fellow minded folks so they feel welcome and thats the glue of friendship that holds the room together.

Whilst some dont speak in the open room but instead use the channel to locate selected p2p fellows these make up a miniscule minority, the other silent room sitters are commonly anti social room loggers fearful of missing some snippet of gossip or information, such people bring nothing to the chats and are best ejected in favour of a genuine clientel with whom ideas, concepts, knowledge etc can be swapped and a relaxed time can be enjoyed by all, trust and friendship is built on the free enchange of ideas, opinions and beliefs, you cannot and should not try to build anything on silence.

Yes guest, that is a huge factor. Having someone with a friendly personality, an extrovert, AND time to while the day away with casual banter is a start. And I will certify that was common 15 years ago, on winMX. With over 2000 chatrooms, many were very lively 24/7. Things have changed and I doubt we can get it back, even with several extrovert types with time to spare.

Some things may have changed but since winmx still operates albeit at a reduced room count I feel there is still the potential to grow the chat side of things here, the people whom may have the most time to spend are those whom lady luck has already dealt a bad hand to namely disabled folks and the socially awkward, chat rooms are a great leveller of society in that we are all equal until we state otherwise and those without full mobility often shine in other areas and have the time to gain and retain a lot of knowledge so with retired people and younger teen folks exploring the mindset of the older generations along with women "trapped" at home with a young family a picture of just what potential chat resources may be out there can emerge, I'm sure there are many other types of personalirty to add into the mix but the core of any chat systm is to engage all swathes of its userbase around those with the most time to keep the keys rattling, we all benefit from discussion and exchange and we should all take some time to get to know each other.

We the userbase control the future of the network here so lets simply make the most of it by making the extra effort to converse and share not just our files but our knowledge its a very worthwhile investment and friendships are priceless.

Hey. This is a really good concept, but for chat this interface is not usable. The user may become interested when functions familiar to social media appear

Hi Guest, I am not sure what "social media" brings to the table tbh.
I know this may sound a bit off target but many of the most popular networks in usage are limited by their business model, there exists an imperative to create revenues to pay for staff and centralised infastructure and so unfortunately many of the key "features" are in fact mechanisms to either farm your data or deliver advertising to you, neither of these activities exist here due to the networks model being one of like minded interaction and freedom of choice, there's no peer bullying, no mass of "friend requests" to join "our protest gang" etc, no public exposures, not even a fraudster or two looking to steal your bank details.

I cannot see what "social media" brings to anything bar the technical functions of text and image distribution, these features have been around long before anyone named them as a network.

As you can see I enjoy contrarian dialogue and can hold my own in the chatrooms even if what I type is a bit "off-the-main-road", thats the beauty of such spaces, we can spy out the land and look for like minded humans to share ideas and files with, theres no big brother being told to tell me what I can discuss, facebook etc cant say the same due to being a fat target for those looking to impose fines for unauthorised user behaviour, centralised networks are not free by their design, dont think I'm right ?

See you in the chats : )

+1

As of today, there is NO SOCIAL MEDIA that practices Freedom of Expression. All have limiters for one or two types of talks. Yet at the same time these businesses allow others to bad mouth and curse at/about those who they have silenced or just hobbled in their ability to "talk".

I personally like a free flow of discussion (without swearing, mostly ;-)) Something like was on the Sourdough chat group on CompuServe back in the 80's and early 90's. Very polite. Very intense. No flame wars. And few Trolls every came back ... people just ignored them (which is VERY BAD for Trolls ;-))

Hi Guest, thats an excellent quote you have posted.

I hope we hear from many more "voices" in this thread or better still to engage with others in exploring the concepts underpinning technical freedoms online within the chat channels

Given that definitive areas of free expression are there for those that know where to find them its always a disappointing to see others driven towards censorware and censor enabling interactive platforms, Fopnu is not one of those obviously and I am frustrated that many dont see the underlying support of basic freedoms Fopnu delivers to us that we can build on into the future.

With the latest releases supporting user to user network bridging we literally have a diamond in the rough and all fully supported by the developer who obviously cherishes the same ideals as we seek.

"My friends, I have a dream".

Words can provide answers, people and personalities deliver up the context.

yes, very nice quote.

And so correct dealing with those who are infected with the infamous authoritarian personality type.

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”
- - Eleanor Roosevelt

Perhaps the lack of idle chitchat on fopnu is a sign.

The term "idle chit chat" sounds counterintuitive given the nature of the topic under discussion, I wish people would use the chats more as theres so much to share and exchange both in terms of files and ideas.

The chat system is the definitive glue that holds together many networks, we lose sight of that fact at our peril, by not taking part in group activities or discussions we remain a fragmented userbase with nothing to build upon when a need to do so arises. If we dont take the time to make friends what hope is there for expanding the userbase dramatically.

I say "chat or be damned" lol

(I have a smile on my face while typing this so please dont take offence folks.)

In the advertise fopnu shares and the file-requests there are messages sometimes

… in 2023 - and for the last 12-15 yrs  ( EXCEPT FOR THE sPAM wARS ! ) there around just over 100 channels on WinMX - 108 right now - all ~ 100 users or less - and most users don't chat in rooms you can interact w users without using channels etc.  and there is still a lot of parking and lurking and a few quacks here and there and it's still unregulated / self-regulated …  So those that host servers and their regulars and visitors are the reason it works. not the features - the app is from 2004 - but dedicated chat / file sharing servers and admins means it's still alive and evolving - and you can still setup a Channel Server inside WinMX    __--      :o)

yes