KH Paltalk Chatroom

[kern]

Guys,
A "techie" dropped in the room last night and asked what topics were covered in our room. After a brief discussion, it seems that "learning group" is not a good description of the room, and, we should consider changing it to "KH Computer Help Desk" or similar.

[mylanta]

Guys,
A "techie" dropped in the room last night and asked what topics were covered in our room. After a brief discussion, it seems that "learning group" is not a good description of the room, and, we should consider changing it to "KH Computer Help Desk" or similar.


Yo Rob, it actually was changed to "Problem Solving" Group and that was his problem as he claimed that that is the specific name for a particular type of programming.
I find it significant that this is the first problem anyone has had in the year we have used the name, and leary of making mistakes based on what "one oddball" suggests as I have thrown good businesses out the window that way.
That said, I like the name "Help Desk" as it better describes what we do, and our ex"fearless leader" hates the name too!
What say everyone else?

[mommalina]

If we change the KH Paltalk Chatroom name to include the words, "Help Desk," I suggest you first checkout the titles of other Paltalk computer rooms.

Paltalk has one called "PC Help Desk." But I guess "Kicken Hardware Computer Help Desk" would not cause confusion.....we might even attract some overflow from the PC Help Desk room.

Lina

[PeteF]

Paltalk has one called "PC Help Desk." But I guess "Kicken Hardware Computer Help Desk" would not cause confusion.....we might even attract some overflow from the PC Help Desk room.
Lina

I agree that the words... Computer, Help Desk would be helpful
but let me tell you why. When I first found this BBS and saw
the words.. "Kicken Hardware" I was struck with a strong image
of a Kitchen where cooking is done. For some reason I thought it
was saying Kitchen Hardware. Maybe it's just me becasue I do
some custom woodworking & cooking and have scoured many a
catalog or website where the term "Kitchen Hardware" is used.
Maybe it's a subliminal thing, but it took me a long time to get that
"Kitchen" image from my mind. Anyone else have this impression
or am I alone on this?

---pete---

[mommalina]

..... When I first found this BBS and saw
the words.. "Kicken Hardware" I was struck with a strong image
of a Kitchen where cooking is done. For some reason I thought it
was saying Kitchen Hardware. Maybe it's just me becasue I do
some custom woodworking & cooking and have scoured many a
catalog or website where the term "Kitchen Hardware" is used.
Maybe it's a subliminal thing, but it took me a long time to get that
"Kitchen" image from my mind. Anyone else have this impression
or am I alone on this?

How about "KH Computer Help Desk"? That should avoid confusion with kitchen appliances and recipes. :)

Or "KH Computer Help" if we want to further differentiate our room from "PC Help Desk"?

Lina

[dale@fcg]

I like the idea of going with KH and with Computer (or PC) Help in the name. Make it easy for all who are looking for us or computer help to find us.

[PeteF]

How about "KH Computer Help Desk"? That should avoid confusion with kitchen appliances and recipes. :)

Or "KH Computer Help" if we want to further differentiate our room from "PC Help Desk"?

Yep, that makes good sense.
"KH Computer Help" seems best becasue it sounds broader
than "Help Desk" Does "KH Computer Help & Talk" better describe it?

---pete---

[mylanta]

We are getting close here sounds good to me and thanks...hey Pete why not surprise us and join us one Wed night...I occasionally see you and Terry post on KH when we are here in chatroom and wonder why you guys,who have some great potential contributions, never stop by.

[tonyd]

KH Computer Help is my vote.
-td

[PeteF]

We are getting close here sounds good to me and thanks...hey Pete why not surprise us and join us one Wed night...I occasionally see you and Terry post on KH when we are here in chatroom and wonder why you guys,who have some great potential contributions, never stop by.

Yeah, I might stop by sometime.
I mostly prefer the forum though. Reading & writing is my favorite way to
communicate because I can take my time, reseach things, and compose
a thoughtful reply. I think what would draw me in to the chat room would be
if there was a guest speaker or some special topic that was going to be
discussed. Then I might feel like I need to be there to listen to that "show".
However, for PC problems I like the forums best.

The other thing is that I'm often sleeping during the KH Chat period.
I have a weird sleep schedule where I sleep odd hours and I'm often
up in the middle of the night.

That's the story :)

---pete---

[mylanta]

Well OK we'll look for you sometime then when not dozing...we tried topics at one time, and found it cut down the group because next week 3 people would say they didn't show up because they had no interest in...whatever. Can't win at this thing though we do plan top have some vendors attend some time in the futrure as we once did.

[dale@fcg]

Yeah, I might stop by sometime.
I think what would draw me in to the chat room would be
if there was a guest speaker or some special topic that was going to be
discussed. Then I might feel like I need to be there to listen to that "show".
However, for PC problems I like the forums best.
---pete---

Perhaps a little structure would be of help to attract and keep people in room.

Suggestion:
There could be specific moderator directed time slots for specific topics hosted by a specific KH member, . Certainly not exclusive, but something like:

9:30 Topic - Spyware Apps (Rich M)
or
9:30 Topic - Remote Desktop (Doug B)
or
9:45 Topic - Video Cards (Pete F)
or
10:30 Topic - Web site building (Fred K)

Any member could submit a topic and time they'd like to host to Rich M, and he could coordinate things so that there would be no more than one or two host/topics per week. If he got multiple requests for a given week, he could simply go on a first come basis or with topics he felt were more pertinent or relevant for that week. He could then ask anyone whose topic was not scheduled for that week if they'd want to schedule for such and such a date and time.

Once Rich got a schedule set for the upcoming week, he could email all KH members with these details. Upon which the host(s) for the week would then post some preliminary thoughts on the upcoming topic. It seems to me that if a thread gets started, even if several people weigh in ahead of time- there's time for all (esp. Pete ;)) to research/develop thoughts and opinions to hash over on Paltalk. I don't think it would be a dead horse by the time we talked about it, but we'd be able to react, question, discuss in real time.

Anyone with other questions/problems would be made to feel free to interrupt the given topic after 10-15 minutes into the discussion. The topic could be resumed / continued around/along with any miscellaneous issues any person may have unrelated to topic.

[mylanta]

I like this you are back to ladder climbing now!!! I will try an idea this gave me in tomorrows email.

[PeteF]

Perhaps a little structure would be of help to attract and keep people in room.


Dale,
You have some really good ideas. I took your ideas and made a sample Ad
below. One thing about having specific topics is that it's probably best keep
them short. 30 minutes tops. Small segments of scheduled topics with open
questions, discussions, troubleshooting in between.

I can invision something like the following:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday Night Paltalk Chatroom starts tonight at 9PM !
Tonight's special topics include anti-spam techniques and how
to choose a webhosting service. Don't miss it!

As always, at the top of each hour, it's open discussion.
Come talk about anything regarding computers & technology,
or ask how to solve your particular problem!

On Paltalk, look for group... KH Computer Help

Tonight's Schedule:

* 9pm... Open Discussions, Ask anything.

* 9:30pm (30 mins max), Topic: Best Anti-Spam Techniques

* 10pm... Open Discussions, Ask anything.

* 10:30pm (30 mins max), Topic: Choosing a WebHosting Service

* 11pm... Open Discussions, Ask anything.


We'd like to hear from you!

Have a special topic you'd like to hear presented in coming weeks?

Would you like to present a topic live into the chat room?

Would you like to pre-record a presentation and have it played
into the chat room?

Contact us about your ideas!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An edited version of any exceptional presentations or open discussions
could be saved to *.mp3 files and made available for download. This
would serve to draw in people who could'nt make it that night. It
would also be like an ad to entice new people to join Paypal.

Just some things to think about.
I give Dale credit for the concepts. :clap2:

---pete---

[dale@fcg]

I like that smiley facy, Pete!

I love the idea of an mp3 being made available for download.

Also, I think Fred K used to use Total Recorder to record the chat rooms. Is it a consideration to have someone record them, then post the entire thing as an mp3?

[mylanta]

Dale,
1) Can get embarassing for the week 3 people show up...
2) Philly is not Pizza Capital puleeez, Little Italy NYC is the best and most pizza on earth! Brick ovens make the best pizza and they are few and far between in Pa.

[dale@fcg]

Rich,
No need to post the week where paltalk is not worthwhile.

As for pizza, beauty is in taste buds of the eater!

[dbarrow]

Dale, if you are volunteering for the job ... recording and editing are all yours ... much editing required...
I'm sure we can find a way to store MP3 for download or streaming audio.
I have used several apps that will do streaming audio.
It could be a nice addition if you could capture a topic specific discussion and edit it down to a webcast.

[dale@fcg]

Doug,
Maybe I'm just too hard core, but I meant to record specific topics. Like click Record when a topic is going to be intro'd (and have it preset to stop in half hour or whenever topic is scheduled to end)

[dbarrow]

I don't recall what Fred was using to record. I had an app, but can't find it now, that was voice activated and would pause during gaps.
For editing, Hit Recorder (hitrecorder.com) has one of the best MP3 editors I ever used. Very easy to cut and paste and very visual.