Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Announcing the Coffeehouse Chats

Announcements
#1

So this is one of those “go ahead and start something and then see whether it works or not” projects. :slight_smile:

Beginning next week, I’ll be hosting a very informal chat hour on Tuesday nights from 7-8 PM Eastern time, right here in the Forum Shoutbox.

I know any set time won’t work for everybody (and maybe not anybody), but I selfishly chose the most convenient date and time for me as the host, and then if anyone else wants to host an ongoing Coffeehouse Chat on a different day/time, to help accommodate other time zones or countries, we can certainly add another to the schedule.

I also know there isn’t an archive with the shoutbox, but honestly, I’m not picturing anything overly content-heavy, at least for right now. What I want is just a time for writers to socialize, maybe chat about current projects, and have a regular check-in as far as how the writing has been going for the previous week and what their goals are for the next week. (If things get boring, we can always do 15-minute word wars.) If it does start to seem like we need an archive, I can try to post it to the forums.

I’ve chosen the shoutbox because 1) it’s already there, 2) it’s easy to use and doesn’t require anything but a forum membership, and 3) it may encourage new people to register for the forums. If this takes off, I’ll be looking into other services – I’d eventually like to do something more like a conference call, though I can’t personally do any kind of video-based chat because of the relatively lousy speed of our home Internet. :confused: Again, though, I want to start simple (and free) and work up from there if there’s enough interest and activity.

Any questions, ask away. Otherwise, see you on Tuesday night!

#2

Sounds fun :smiley: Tuesday…I shall try to remember O_O

#3

I work those hours, but hope everyone has a good time.

#4

I’ll be there…even if I forget, oddly enough.

#5

I’m literally just getting home from work at that time, so I may or may not stop in.

If it matters a ton, admins and mods can go back through shoutbox history, so we could technically keep a log thread with each week’s discussions in it. Would be work (and I agree, isn’t all that necessary at the moment), but it’s a thought.

Hope this works out!

#6

The hard part is, when you go back through the history, messages are listed there with newest on top, so it wouldn’t be as easy as just cutting and pasting. Probably I’d just cut and paste from the shoutbox as things went on, and then post the whole thing to an archive thread.

#7

Darn. A little early for us on the westerly side of working the ol’ 8-5, but I’ll try!

#8

Dang, now my group has a distraction from their writings when we meet. :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

That’s what, sometime Wednesday afternoon for me… should be able to make those.

#10

Our write meets start at 7MST so these two won’t intersect. You’ll be forced to chat from the bus if you want to join :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

A tiny suggestion I’d like to make is perhaps finding an alternative to the shoutbox. Most of use skype, so perhaps that’d be a better alternative. We can set up a group conversation that not everyone needs to be online for, I believe. That seems to me like a much more viable option, simply because it has logs as well as the ability to see when others are typing.

Regardless, I’d say give the shoutbox a trial run, but we should be open to hosting the chats elsewhere. ^^

#12

Here, here. Blimey and cheerio.

We probably won’t need to take it elsewhere unless our members contract some variety of enthusiasm plague, though.

#13

Because that’s Eastern time, I’ll actually be able to make it!

#14

As I said, yes, I’m open to other possibilities in the future (except for video chats, unless someone else hosts), but I want to see first if there’s even enough interest in the event wherever it’s held.

#15

Ha…somehow I read Tuesday as Thursday >___< Always working Tuesdays. sigH But I’ll be there in spirit. :wink: