

FlyByChat = IRC + Web 2.0. Feedback appreciated. - bdr
http://beta.flybychat.com/#join=hackernews

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mdisraeli
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.

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icco
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).

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bdr
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
Questioner: Why should I use this instead of IRC

The answer?: _I'm trying to address a different market_

Something doesn't quite fit....

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daleharvey
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.

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avar
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
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.

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derefr
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
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.

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mdisraeli
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
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.

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markstahler
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
<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
Yeah, Freenode isn't listed. I guess a service like this could allow spammers
to have a field day.

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

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Sephr
It'd be nice if it supported OpenID.

