Last night’s chat was the first big chat using TinyChat with Twitter verification, and I think it was rather successful. I know some people don’t like giving out their Twitter login details, but I’d like to think TinyChat is a relatively trustworthy app and not out to do anything malicious. Yes, I know the way it auto-tweets the room name from your own Twitter account is really annoying, and there should probably be an option in case you don’t want to tweet that.

All that aside, It’s really great to see people in the WordPress community make new connections, and it’s nice to know that these connections were made (at least in part) thanks to WP Chat.

Anyway, be sure to follow the WP Chat Chatters list. And for you hardcore WP chatting addicts, there’s a list for you too.

I asked for feedback on this a few weeks ago, and a number of you echoed my concerns that impersonators may be a problem in the future. Since this chat seems to spread so virally on Twitter, I was looking for a solution that would allow users to login with their Twitter accounts. TinyChat seems to have that feature, and a lot more, so I decided to make the switch today.

From now on you’ll need to sign-in with your Twitter account into TinyChat. I know it may be a little annoying as it will automatically tweet a message from your account saying you’re in there. Rest assured you will know you are talking to the person behind the Twitter account.

I made the layout here a bit wider to accommodate the wider chat app, but you’ll also be able to chat directly from TinyChat at this URL if you prefer. I’d also like to thank designer extraordinaire Chris Wallace for his help with setting up the #wpchat room on TinyChat.

Let me know what you think of the change below in the comments below.

Update: Although yesterday when I tested it, I made sure it required Twitter login, although looking at it today it seems TinyChat still allows you to login with a “nickname” thus bypassing the Twitter verification. I’ve contacted TinyChat support about resolving this.

Some big names joined us in chat including well-known WordPress designers such as Brian Gardner, Jason Schuller, and Darren Hoyt, WordPress community rockstar Jeff Chandler, and WPMU gurus Ron and Andrea Rennick, among others.

IRC?

While it was very successful on its first Friday night, I couldn’t help but notice activity diminished greatly in the following Saturday and Sunday. I received a lot of great constructive feedback on Twitter and directly in the chat. It seems a number of you would rather have an IRC channel instead of a purely web-based chat like phpFreeChat. If I chose to use IRC, there would still be a web-based interface on the actual website so you would not need to use an IRC client to access it.

Identity Issues

Understandably, some were concerned that there may be impersonators in the room, considering there is no registration required and you can choose any nickname you’d like. While I didn’t perceive this to be a problem, I believe it’s a legitimate concern for the future. This problem may be partially solved if I choose to transition to an IRC network, as you would be able to register your own nicknames easily. Or if I chose to keep the current chat interface, requiring registration to access the chat may also help.

Weekly Time

Some of you mentioned you would like to have a fixed weekly time for chat activity to occur. While the chat could remain open 24/7 for impromptu chats and whatnot, I was thinking a set time each week could be a good idea as I’m sure all of you have busy schedules, but could have a set aside time for some laid-back WordPress-related chatter and networking with other like-minded individuals.

Your Thoughts

So I have two questions that I’d like to hear your responses in the comments:

• Would you rather have an IRC-based chat? – This way people who would rather chat via IRC clients could join in, and people who don’t could still access chat via a web-based interface here. Seems like a win-win situation to me. If you have any suggestions on IRC networks and/or web-based clients to use (for the WP Chat website) I’d love to hear them.
• What is a good time for you? – I’d like to have one time per week where most people could gather in the chat at once. I’m thinking Friday at around 8 PM (EST) might work, but I understand this may not be so convenient people in different time zones.

Looking forward to your responses. Once I’ve gathered enough feedback I’ll make a decision regarding the IRC and weekly time.

It’s meant to be a simple, laid-back chatroom to talk about WordPress. For more information be sure to check out the about page. Let me know what you think of the site in the comments or start chatting now.