We are happy to announce that we implemented a new software mechanism to deal better with spammers and trolls during a chat room discussion. The next features were improved in the back-end. So no effect on the chat owners (e.g no adaptation or changes are needed).
Improved Ban By IP Trolls
Managing users is an essential feature in a chat room. It is used a lot during a live discussion by chat admins. It normally goes like that with spammers or trolls.
A user spam your chat.
You (The administrator) send him a private message to stop. Many of those are just trying out the chat and have no meaning to cause trouble.
Now, if they continue, the administrator may disconnect them as a warning. They see a message telling them that they are warned not to “spam” the chat room.
If they continue to spam the chat room, an administrator may ban the user by IP.
This means that this user will no longer be able to log into the chat room.
Ban by IP is probably the most used feature with RumbleTalk.
Chat administrators use around ~10,000 bans by IP actions across the entire Rumbletalk chat rooms and about the same number of just sending warnings in shape of a “disconnecting users” option.
Improved Filter words
RumbleTalk chat includes a spam filter feature. It actually means that we let customers define a list of unauthorized words. It could be a curse or a competitor name that is not welcomed in the chat.
In the new version, we added the ability to disallow email addresses and specific website URLs.
For example, to prevent users from sending emails to each other, one can define ” @” as a rule. It means that any word with the sign @ will be blocked by the chat room.
Note, that any special chars are included in the new spam filter for RumbleTalk chat rooms.
All of us know and understand that radio will never get outdated. Although new media came in, radio is still a favorite media for most people. One of the main reason is the radio is the only media that capable of fulfilling our ear and mouth satisfaction at the same time.
We listen to the radio DJ talking, and we are also able to send the respond such as song request, or sending our story to be broadcast on air. That is actually basic of what Internet media can provide with radio streaming and chatroom: listen and chat.
Listen and Chat as Communication Needs
Human being is created as social being. Therefore, we exercise our social needs through communication. There are numerous ways of communication which show complexity nature of human communication. We engage in a conversation with someone, we listen and chat, we read a book to understand its author’s idea and put them in writing, we listen to a music as a way musician communicate through music, we examine paintings, sculpture, and other art form to grab the message its artist conveyed. We have endless type of communication that makes us human being. Without communication, human being will not be able to exist or even go advance. Our needs to communicate makes us a human being as who we are.
Since the era of Internet, it has position itself as a new media that bring new perspective to human communication. Today, Internet has become essential media of communication, entertainment and social interaction. Internet is the only place in the world where users drive and control its system. Internet is the place where its technology and development was shaped by users, rather than big industries and capital, or governmental institution.
The Earliest Form of Listen and Chat
Radio and its impact that shaped global politics has also evolved along with Internet. In the World War II, radio was proven to be the most effective propaganda tools. One of the radio event that turned back the tide of war was in Battle of Britain of 1940 to 1941. Nazi German had controlled most European continents, and soon after France surrendered to Nazi German in June 1940, Nazi German aimed its target to Great Britain. Within July 940 until May 1941, an invasive attack was launched by Nazi to weakened Britain defense system. The battle was culminated in a huge raid of bombing stormed Britain, known as the Blitz.
Upload File or Record Short Audio Messages
With its air superiority, Nazi German seemed to gain its target and even continuously bombed London for days and nights. Situation was bleak, because when the air raid sirens was sounded, people should run for air shelters for protection. They did not know and comprehend what happened around them because they were in the bomb shelter for most of time.
In such situation, radio played an important role to become main source of information. Hence, early form of listen and chat for radio audience was constructed during the time. A radio announcer from CBS Europe stationed in London: Edward Murrow, was the one who covered the Blitz and reported where the bombing hit and its impact to the area. Its coverage has given the information throughout the world and the people of Britain about how the Nazi German had failed to weaken Britain’s defensive system. People listen and chat about the news reported by Murrow with their colleagues, and information was spread out. This is the earliest form of listen and chat for radio listener.
From then on, radio audience started to develop their new listen and chat communication system. The system evolved with the participation of radio audience in the broadcast, either by telephone or sending text message to radio station during a broadcast. Even in the Internet radio, this type of communication system also evolve with chatroom and group chat for radio audience. All of them are focused to enhance listen and chat communication system that had been used by radio audience for decades.
Why Radio Audience Like to Listen and Chat?
Unlike television broadcast, the absence of visual image in radio broadcast activate our imagination in describing the event. During the London bombing, people imagining the effect of the bombing when listening to Murrow’s broadcast. When they listened to a specific area mentioned, they would definitely try to contact someone they knew in that area to get more detailed information.
Prior to Internet radio era, radio audience love to share their stories with fellow audience. Radio announcer usually invited people to send their stories about a specific topic and selected story was read during broadcast. Sometimes the radio station opened their telephone line for audience to call and engage in a conversation during live broadcast.
This experience became more exciting because of the absence of visual image. So, we as human being utilize our imagination to its fullest in order to visualize the radio broadcast. Therefore, sharing information by telling stories and enhancing the information for visual depiction is the main reason why radio audience love to listen and chat.
We can never be able to separate Internet and university. In fact, the Internet and its technology was developed in campus. One of the most significant technology in campus life is HTML chat room. For those who went to university in the early and mid 1990’s, we would still remember the Internet Relay Chat or IRC, which then followed by ICQ created by Mirabilis quintet: Yair Goldfinger, Arik and Yossi Vardi, Sefi Vigiser, Amnon Amir.
If we look back further, to the first day of Internet at its birth during the ARPANET era in 1970’s, we found the initial technology was created in campus. The very first e-learning system called PLATO, an acronym for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation, was equipped with live chatroom system called Talkomatic. The e-learning system was developed in University of Illinois to provide a graphical computerized learning system in the campus of University of Illinois. Although designed to be instructional learning system, due to its complete communication system in its operation, it is said that the system was creating new wave of online community. Talkomatic chat room was one of the wide array of communication system in PLATO beside bulletin boards, forum, instant messaging, screen sharing and personal notes.
One of the messaging apps for iPhone created by Ray Ozzie, former Microsoft software architect was named after chat system. Ozzie was a graduated from University of Illinois, and during his tenure in campus, he worked a lot with the system and its communication system. Ozzie is famous as the creator of Lotus Notes messaging system, inspired by University of Illinois messaging system. He was also known as Microsoft legend who was responsible for design and architect of Microsoft software after Bill Gates era.
The Very Beginning of html chat room
Let us go back to the early live chat room started in university campus. Please remember, during that era the 1970’s, laptop or desktop computer had not been invented. All computers were UNIX mainframes, and users access the program using terminal accessing the mainframe.
However, University of Illinois was able to create a breakthrough with its e-learning system, surpassing all technology limitation. Its graphical instructional for instructional learning was enormous for that era. Not to mention its games that inspired current game like Microsoft Flight Simulator and current multi user game was first initiated in the system.
During conversation, character was broadcasted by one character after another as soon as user typed in. This was fascinating because users could see when a character was deleted or a typo error was corrected. A very different approach than common html chat room today, which transmit the message as a user indicating the message is finished by pressing enter of by clicking the “SEND” button.
Live Html Chat room in University Event
A Live event was never far from Html chat room. University students who were known for their idealism and romanticism very often utilized the chatroom to spread their ideas. One of the recent was in September 2014 Hong Kong student protest.
The Hong Kong student protest began when People Republic of China’s government introduced electoral reform for Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong was part of People Republic of China, but it has its own administrative rights since its hand-over to China from England in 1997. The electoral reform was designed to improve its democratic process.
However, students consider the electoral reform platform was still too conservative and restrictive. Hongkong Federation of Student or HKFS, students union group from 7 universities in Hong Kong, protested the platform and demanded more progressive and less restrictive regulations. They initiated the class boycott involving student in 24 universities in Hong Kong. The boycott later supported by high school students as well, from hundreds of schools. The small event started as class boycott then expanded into massive protests in Hongkong in 2014.
Chatroom has been an effective media to promote such live event, yet in the repressive and dictatorship country like Iran. During 2011 student protest, Iranian repressive government had blocked all media access to the event, including Internet. Nevertheless, chatroom along with social media provided worldwide reporters current situation in that nationwide protest, continuing the 2009 rigged presidential election.
Previously, at the event of 10th year anniversary of 1989 Tiananment Square protest, Chinese government closed down Internet chatroom across the country to prevent the spread of anti goverment ideas through html chat room
Live Chat room in Intentional Events
In the International event, live html chat room had also taken place as communication media.
During a failed coup d’état by several KGB leaders in 1991 who tried to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev from presidency there was a media blackout. Nobody in the world knew what happened in the country. As an alternative media Internet Relay Chat or IRC was used as broadcast media to the whole world.
Offline message using css and text
Earlier, chatroom also played important role a communication media during the first Gulf War. Chat logs from those two events can be viewed in the Internet library site: www.ibiblio.org.
We have seen how chatroom has become a very important role in university live event. Events that began in university were able to take bigger stage and change the world because of chatroom. So, for that reason we will always need html chat room, and it will always be here for us.
