After getting quite a few comments on the two logo options on our facebook page, this one seems to have been the most likeable. I’ve made a few changes since, and I hope you feel it’s for the better!

Now onto looking at the new web design and functionality to go with the new logo…

How does this affect you though? Here’s how:

• Page and Java loads should be much faster and stable.
• Local-only bandwidth can now be used to chat.
• It paves the way for the Chat27 make-over.
• It makes my life easier… happy days!

2011.11.14
This video is very informative for those using chat rooms and  social networks. It’s aimed at the youngsters, but the same principle applies to everyone I think.

Who

You’ll notice there’s a bit of inconsistency when it comes to referring to whomever runs Chat27. Sometimes you’ll see “we”, sometimes you’ll see “I”. The simple truth of the matter is that I’m only one guy running this website, and any references to the plural might just be an attempt on my side to make Chat27 look bigger than it is, don’t ask me why – a shrink would have a field day with me as it is! My name is JC, visit me on www.gennath.za.net if you’d like

When & Why

When it comes to “why”,  I’ll need to take you back to the previous century. I studied 3D Design and Animation at a now defunct company in Cape Town in 1996. SA didn’t quite have a market for what I had to offer, so I took what I could get, and moved to Ceres in 1997 to start work on a start-up project that needed 3D expertise. Ceres being a small town, I was socially uncertain and sometimes quite lonely^♥. Along came the internet, and a whole new world opened up to me! I made many friends via the old MS Comic Chat (I miss it, but most chatters were from other countries), and then discovered IRC (Internet Relay Chat – click here for more info). So many new people, from right here in SA that I had something in common with, that I could talk to about my life, my fears, dreams, questions, or just break the silence!

I moved to Johannesburg in 1999, and yet again IRC was there for me when I was a newbie in a VERY intimidating city. I made most of my friends via IRC, and spent many an all-nighter in front of the computer yapping away. I also met many of those people in person when I felt comfortable enough.

I was getting deeper into web design as well by then. The IRC community was a constant companion while I was in JHB, and when I moved back to Cape Town in 2005 I thought it was about time I gave something back to the community that was there for me when I needed it most. During this time many new chat technologies were surfacing that contributed to declining numbers on IRC servers, and I really wanted to help make it more accessible to people.

Chat27 was registered in 2006*. The “27″ is derived from SA’s +27 international dialling code by the way. I decided on it when all SA-related chat domain names I was interested in was already taken.

The “traditional” software to connect to an IRC server is mIRC. This is a very powerful tool, but for the newbie, can be very intimidating and confusing. Thus I looked into software that was available that required minimal customisation and installation. If you think installing Java is cumbersome, trust me, it’s a breeze compared to the alternative . **

It was never my intention for Chat27 to become as popular as it did. I told myself that, if I could help just one person not feel lonely, and help just one person make a great friend or find love, then it would be worth all the hard work I put into the site! The first incantation of Chat27 was my pride and joy, but as first tries go, it pretty quickly showed its limitations. By the end of 2006 the current design was implemented. Since then the site has grown into a patchwork of additions, scripts, programs, servers and installations, and maybe it will stay that way I do however think it’s time for V.3 – a lot has changed since 2006! (If you have ideas, click here).

These days I don’t chat much any more. I’m very happily married now, very busy at work with little time to spend on my pet project. My heart is still very much in it though!

How

Ok, so now we start getting into the more technical stuff. First thing you should know is that Chat27 does not run or administrate any chat rooms or servers. The website connects to pre-existing and independently run IRC rooms and servers. It started off with only two server networks and 4 chat rooms, right now it’s a few more. The only thing I have say over is whether or not I’m prepared to add a pre-existing chat room. Whatever goes on in those chat rooms, and how they are moderated are completely out of my control. I’ve created a diagram to show how things work – I hope it makes sense!

Adult Content

This is one of the more sensitive subjects that come up every now and then. If you’ve read up to here, and you’re still awake, you will know that I #1 have no control over what goes on in a chat room, and #2 that people will be able to connect to a public IRC chat room listed on the site via various other methods other than the ones I provide. Thus, doing an age check, or forcing people to register before they can chat seems somewhat pointless as under-age chatters will either lie about their age or merely find another way to chat anyway. 

Chat27 didn’t start off with ANY adult chat rooms at all, but I added them at the request of the chat room owners, and they’ve since become the most popular chat rooms on the site. That’s human nature I suppose. This however does not mean that I’m prepared to plead ignorance of the fact that some not-of-age chatters might visit my website. I’ve indicated adult content where it’s appropriate, and hope to put up an article/links on the dangers/pitfalls of chatting soon. The best parents can do is educate their children, and hope they make the right decisions.  I’ve also decided not to add any further adult-themed chat rooms. Variety is the spice of life after all!

There are however ways for parents to limit the content that is viewable by their children on their home computer. As for the growth in mobile usage – as far as I know none of the software used on this site is compatible with any mobile devices, and the unmoderated nature of mobile phones is one of the reasons I’m still a bit reluctant to look into making a mobile compatible version of this website.

Offensive behaviour in chat rooms

Just as per the above, I have no control over the chat rooms. Each room has its own set of operators, moderators and rules the are “governed” by. Luckily leaving a chat room is much easier than leaving a conversation in real life if things become a bit uncomfortable.  Wherever possible, I provide contact details where people can report abuse or suspect behaviour.

The future of Chat27

After the previous two topics I though I should at least try to end on a positive note! 

It is my full intention to keep Chat27 and its sister websites running for as long as possible. Being a designer, not a programmer, innovation might not happen on a regular basis, but I will at least try to make sure that Chat27 keeps up with the times and try to implement whatever technologies are available to make things easier for the chatter. 

Rest assured that the motivations behind running Chat27 remain the same as the day it was conceived, and I hope to one day hear of a “happily ever after” story that has Chat27 to thank for it’s initial spark .

♥ Yeah I know, boo hoo right?
* I started off with blab.co.za in 2005, but after a bit of rethinking I decided that Chat27 was a better name to go with. 
** Thanks to the awesome folks at the Atrum network, I’m also able to offer CGI connections to chat rooms on their server. This negates the need for installing Java, and also bypasses company firewalls that might block ports that Java needs to connect. 

Please leave any ideas you might have via comments on this page.

Things we’d like you to tell us:

• What do you like about the current www.chat27.co.za main site
• What DON’T you like about the current site
• What new functionality would you like to see?
• ANY other ideas that would make your CHAT27 experience better!

First things first:

Adding chat rooms with very few chatters will simply frustrate new chatters that connect to it, they will leave immediately. The room will not have the opportunity to grow, and do us more damage than good in the end for having so many redundant chat rooms. We do not have an advertising budget, and thus rely solely on word of mouth and good reputation for connecting to chat rooms worth chatting in.

A general guideline to chat rooms that want to be added:

So your chat room complies with the above? I’ll need:

1. The Room Name/s
2. The Server/Network it’s hosted on (primary & secondary)
3. A short description of each room you want added – you’ll see all our chat rooms have one.
4. Your official website address for each room
5. The email address for people to report abuse in your chat room/s.
6. The location of the chat27 and/or chat2me link on your website.

Just send the above info to jc@chatsouthafrica.co.za

• You might not have the latest Java Runtime Environment installed. (A little red cross where the chat applet (room) should be.) Go to http://www.java.com to get the latest version. Since 2007/07 Chat27 has a CGI option on some indicated chat rooms that don’t require java, though java is still advised.
   
• When the popup window first appears and asks you for granting permission, you might have chosen the wrong options. Without such permission, the applet will not be able to connect to any IRC servers around the world. You will be presented with one or both of the popups below. They differ in subtle ways, but it’s important to click the correct button in order to allow the program to connect:

  
  POPUP 1
  This popup should present itself only once if you select the correct options below:
  

  
  POPUP 2
  This popup will present itself each time you start a new browser session:
  

• You might be behind a firewall and cannot connect to IRC servers outside. It means that the CHAT27 applet can only connect to IRC servers inside your local network if you are behind company’s firewall. Currently, CHAT27 supports proxy connections (experimental) via the “Advanced Users” section in the channel list. Since 2007/07 Chat27 has a CGI option on some indicated chat rooms that bypass most firewalls.
   
• You might be using very old version of IE or Netscape. Only IE4 or above and Netscape 4.08 or above is supported by our chat applet. To view what version you’re using, go to the top menu of your browser, and choose “Help” and then “About…”
   
• Some IRC servers deny connection from some ISP domains (due to abuse or flooding coming from that domain). For example, some IRC servers do not allow AOL users to connect. And some IRC servers require you to have Identd installed and running on your computer (Identd is included in jIRC, and it is turn on by default). There are thousands of public IRC servers available, you can always find one that is friendly to your environment.
   
• Mobile devices are currently not supported. As there is a huge variety of mobile hardware and software variations, I don’t expect that we’ll be supporting mobile connections in the foreseeable future. A website on Since our mobile visitors are increasing, I thought it was time to at least address the issue on http://mobile.chat27.co.za/ has however been created to notify mobile visitors of this. I expect mobile technology to catch up with chat27 software before the alternative happens.

Ok, so here are things you can actually use. Remember (to avoid embarrassment), to substitute the text in red for your personal info when using the commands. Also remember the / when typing a command!

/nick yournickname
This changes your current nickname to whichever new one you choose

/me yourtextgoeshere
Displays the text as an action, like: “/me hops” will be displays as: “Jack hops”

/clear
Clears your chat window of any text it had, starting with a fresh screen

/quit yourmessage
Disconnects you from a server & channel with the personal quit message displayed to everyone

About Java Chat

If you haven’t figured it out by now, double-click on someone’s nickname in the Java Applet’s list to send them a private message, or right-click on a nickname in the list to see your options.

Choose a nickname as original as possible to avoid finding that “Nickname already in use” message

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you give ANY private information like your precise location or telephone numbers to someone you’ve met on here. If you’d like to stay in touch with someone you’ve met in a room, we suggest you make regular appointments to chat here. Please be careful.

The general rule is: Respect others and they will respect you. Do not choose an offensive nickname or make a nuisance of yourself, and you’ll be fine. If someone else is giving you a hard time, there’s the “ignore” option when you right-click on his/her nickname in the list.

Ok, so here’s the deal on registering your nickname, the point of it being that you want to make sure that you’re the only one that can use that nickname on the server.

1st thing you have to know:
This chat site connects to many public IRC servers, the equivalent of connecting to MSN, YAHOO, AOL, etc… with the implication that you have to register your nickname on each server you want to reserve your nickname. Each chat room’s corresponding server is listed to its right in the channel list in the top right section of the chat website.

The registration process involves some/all of the following, depending on the server you want to register on – the server response will steer you in the right direction:

1. When in a chat room, you’ll see a SERVER Msg link in the nickname list, click on it so the messages you type to the server won’t be displayed in the chat room by accident.
2. Type: /msg nickserv register ****** youremail (replace ****** with password, youremail with your valid email address – some servers don’t require the email address, so you might be able to leave that out).
3. Your nickname will now either be registered, or an email will be sent to you with a confirmation code – follow those directions.
4. Now, EVERY time you log into that server with that nickname, you will HAVE to type: /msg nickserv identify ****** or you will be kicked/nickname will be changed. You usually have 60 seconds to do this.
5. As an added security method, you can type: /msg nickserv set kill on , and anybody trying to use your nickname without entering the authorisation code mentioned in point 4 will have their nickname changer or will be kicked off the server.

For more info, go look on each servers home page listed at the bottom of the channel list.