This conversation took place on 2006-04-13 on #wiki (freenode):
11:18 < C-Keen> I tend to say that ordinary irc channels don't scale at all
11:19 < kensanata> well, interaction patterns change, that's for sure.
11:19 * kensanata is reminded of #debian.
11:19 < C-Keen> A feature I like to see in irc clients is the ability to attach to threads and have them displayed separately
11:20 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: hmm, sounds nice
11:20 < C-Keen> so the conversation won't scroll off the screen because of other people talking about something else
11:21 < C-Keen> I am not sure how you could do such a thing atm..maybe by prefixing conversations automatically
11:21 < C-Keen> as seen a lot already in highly frequented channels or modeless channels
11:22 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: you would need to make moving discussions into channels more easily
11:22 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: umm, in which modeless channel do we have prefixes?
11:22 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: prefixes == nickname prefixing in this case
11:23 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: ah
11:23 < xorAxAx> as you can see, i am nearly always prefixing :)
11:23 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: well moving them into separate channels is not my goal. That would hide them from the
other attendees..it is just a matter of client side filtering which is completely optional
About wiki software and culture. Note the engine- and site-specific channels such as
#moin, #pmwiki, #twiki, #tikiwiki, #jspw
11:23 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: i dont want to filter, i want to sort here
11:24 < xorAxAx> imagine a few small windows popping up for every subdiscussion
11:24 < xorAxAx> all visible by all people who have joined the meta channel
11:24 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: yes that's what I am thinking of too
11:24 < xorAxAx> you can implement this by having different channels and autojoin logic
11:25 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: in addition to that others that don't want to have the sorting will see the raw data as it is right
now in high traffic channels
11:25 < xorAxAx> and a subprotocoll which says in the meta channel "NEW DISCUSSION .bunnies" and the client joins +foo.bunnies
11:25 < xorAxAx> and then you can decide if you want to join that channel
11:26 < C-Keen> this would exclude others from watching the
conversation or even knowing that this discussion is going on
11:26 < C-Keen> but I think it is a nice idea
11:26 < xorAxAx> they know it by seeing that NEW line
11:26 < xorAxAx> you could optionally introduce a summary field
11:27 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: what if I miss the NEW line because I just joined?
11:27 < xorAxAx> NEW DISCUSSION ON .bunnies ABOUT All those nice gals
11:27 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: ok, i didnt think about that, i usually dont join :)
11:27 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: yes we are all always online :)
11:27 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: but a temporary solution would be a bot you could ask about ongoing discussions
11:28 < xorAxAx> C-Keen: yep
11:28 < xorAxAx> or you could do by-line tagging
11:28 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: actually this should be easy to implement
11:28 < xorAxAx> like "hey, i like her [bunnies]"
11:28 < xorAxAx> "i am a vegetarian [nomeat]"
11:28 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: you could subscribe to discussions the bot then relays to queries for example
11:29 < xorAxAx> which queries?
11:29 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: discussion query windows with the discussion bot
11:30 < xorAxAx> but you can only have one query per nick
11:30 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: hm...darn..I did not think about that...well then I guess automagically creating channels would be
the way to go. yes
11:31 < xorAxAx> or you can have periodic reminders in the meta channel
11:31 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: those reminders could be handled via query to the clients. That would avoid an otherwise silent main
channel and pollution thereof
11:31 < xorAxAx> DISCUSSIONS TAKING PLACE HERE: .bunnies (All those
nice gals), .nomeat (Vegetarians will win!), ...
11:32 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: clients will then handle these announcements automatically, so I won't be bothered by those
announcements
11:33 < xorAxAx> they could automatically handle such lines in the channel as well
11:33 < C-Keen> xorAxAx: true