Real-time interaction forum

[Stéfan van der Walt]

Hi, everyone

I've been wondering for a while if a real-time interaction forum would
be a good idea. While IRC is well supported, its lack of history and
external tool integration makes it less ideal.

I've setup a channel for us at

https://skimage.slack.com

Would you like to try it out with me?

Thanks!
Stéfan

[Jaidev Deshpande]

+1

We've been using Slack for a while now at Enthought, and we're quite happy with it.

 

Thanks!
Stéfan

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JD

[Johannes Sch önberger]

Can you elaborate a little on the advantages over the current communication channels (GoogleGroups, GitHub)?

[Stéfan van der Walt]

On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 12:13 AM, Johannes Sch önberger <js...@demuc.de> wrote:
> Can you elaborate a little on the advantages over the current communication channels (GoogleGroups, GitHub)?

It's a more informal chat-style interaction than a forum, and not
tied to any specific issue as on GitHub. Also a nice way to
collaborate and discuss in real-time.

Stéfan

[Johannes Sch önberger]

I tried to sign up, but it would only let me use an f...@scikit-image.org email address…

[Stéfan van der Walt]

On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 12:22 AM, Johannes Sch önberger <js...@demuc.de> wrote:
> I tried to sign up, but it would only let me use an f...@scikit-image.org email address...

Well, there we go--the first and ultimately deciding design decision
identified :)

Slack is intended for teams, so one cannot currently have anyone join
(i.e., I'd have to invite all members).

I don't think we want to move our communications to a non-public
venue, so I guess that kills of that idea, unless someone can suggest
an alternative service with a good Android/iPhone client.

Stéfan

[Rishabh Raj]

IRC's could implement a logging solution easily, so lack of history should not be an issue and its well supported on mobile clients too.

But yes, external tool integration would be an issue. Do we mean something like a screen share / collaborative doc editing by external tools?

Stéfan

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Best,

Rishabh Raj

International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500032 
Ph: +917842797467

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

I make extensive use of IRC for SunPy and find it an excellent and very accessible platform. Logging is simple enough (http://sunpy.cadair.com/irc-logs) and we have a bot that does cool (and annoying) things.

Stuart

[Vighnesh Birodkar]

Should I try setting up #scikitimage on freenode ?

[Stéfan van der Walt]

On 23 Apr 2014 16:44, "Vighnesh Birodkar" <vighnesh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Should I try setting up #scikitimage on freenode ?

Until we have a good way to record what happens in #skimage / #scikit-image, I don't think it makes much sense (for me, personally, at least). Also, one would have to have a way of getting push notifications on Android and iPhone on usage of your nick. Does any such solution exist out there?

To be clear, I have no objection to others using IRC--these are just the factors that would compel me to do so myself.

Stéfan

[Vighnesh Birodkar]

This seems to do it

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fi.iki.murgo.irssinotifier

And logging can be set up via a bot

http://umashanthi.blogspot.in/2010/10/create-your-irc-channel-and-make-logs.html

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

I can easily log your channel for you in the same way that I do for #sunpy and #astropy.

As for push notifications, I run a program called znc which gives me a persistent connection and uses pushover to send me push notifications, I would be willing to help you set up such a system, but can't practically host that for you :)

Stuart

--

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

> This seems to do it
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fi.iki.murgo.irssinotifier

I presume that needs a constant irssi session running somewhere? It is basically a less complex znc type arrangement.

Stuart

[Vighnesh Birodkar]

Yeah

I will test out a few other IRC clients and get back to this.

[Vighnesh Birodkar]

Push notifications are linked to your google account. I don't think you can send Push notifications without knowing a persons Google credentials. So unless the IRC server or a Bot knows your Google credentials, push notifications can be possible when offline.

[Stuart Mumford]

I don't really understand that, android notifications are generated by apps on the device.

Stuart

--

[Vighnesh Birodkar]

They are , but Stefan mentioned push notifications .
I am assuming that , if your IRC client is off and you'd still want to get a notification about a private message

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[Stuart Mumford]

Hi,

Ah I see. Unfortunately because of the way IRC works you have to have some kind of client connected because the server will not give you notifications.

The ZNC server I run is effectively a headless irc client that you can connect other clients to. There are lots of other similar type solutions to this other than znc.

This, as has been pointed out is the major disadvantage to IRC.

Stuart

[Dan Farmer]

Another alternative is HipChat: https://www.hipchat.com/

Seems the IPython guys are using that (if you go to to ipython.org and look at the right for "Help Chat Room" )

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

Partly motivated by this conversation, and partly by my need to experiment, I have written a module for the IRC bot we use in SunPy (https://github.com/embolalia/willie/) so that you can tell it to send you pushover (http://pushover.net) or email notifications when your nick is mentioned in a channel the bot is in. My code so far is here: https://github.com/Cadair/williemodules it is very basic but it works.

I would be happy to run a bot and a logger as already mention if you guys decide to set up a IRC channel, so this would at least give you notifications.

Stuart

[Stéfan van der Walt]

Hey, Stuart

On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 9:10 PM, Stuart Mumford <stu...@mumford.me.uk> wrote:
> Partly motivated by this conversation, and partly by my need to experiment,
> I have written a module for the IRC bot we use in SunPy
> (https://github.com/embolalia/willie/) so that you can tell it to send you
> pushover (http://pushover.net) or email notifications when your nick is
> mentioned in a channel the bot is in. My code so far is here:
> https://github.com/Cadair/williemodules it is very basic but it works.

That's really neat!

> I would be happy to run a bot and a logger as already mention if you guys
> decide to set up a IRC channel, so this would at least give you
> notifications.

Thanks, that's very kind of you. I think a lot of people would
appreciate having an IRC channel. Does the logger update a page in
real-time so that a person could "watch" IRC via the web?

Stéfan

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

> https://github.com/Cadair/williemodules it is very basic but it works.

That's really neat!

There are at least two quite major feature missing at the moment, the main one is rate limiting the notifications! The second is optionally turning off the notification when the user is online. Also from my limited testing I think that all the emails are being duplicated!

Thanks, that's very kind of you.  I think a lot of people would
appreciate having an IRC channel.  Does the logger update a page in
real-time so that a person could "watch" IRC via the web?

Yes, it has a js front end that updates in "real time" there is a variable delay, but it will update. Currently what the logger is missing is a decent way of scrolling through the history more than about 100-200 messages in the past (the js seems to go loopy). All the messages are in a MySQL database so I want to code up a better flask-based front end to it, but you know time is always a problem. (I also have a lovely little idea for integrating the logger and the notification module.)

Stuart

[Stéfan van der Walt]

Hi Stuart

On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 12:04 PM, Stuart Mumford <stu...@mumford.me.uk> wrote:
>> Thanks, that's very kind of you. I think a lot of people would
>> appreciate having an IRC channel. Does the logger update a page in
>> real-time so that a person could "watch" IRC via the web?

I was wondering if you'd still be willing to set this IRC +
notification for us? With GSoC, it would come in really handy.

Regards
Stéfan

[Stuart Mumford]

Yeah no problem, what channel do you want to use. I think I am already sitting in #scikit-image on freenode.

Stuart

[Stuart Mumford]

Hi,

You may also be interested in gitter (http://gitter.im) which integrates well with GitHub, has a IRC beta module and generally looks quite cool.

Stuart

[Juan Nunez-Iglesias]

Stuart, Stéfan, I think gitter looks fantastic! How about we go with that?

[Josh Warner]

Two thumbs way, way up for trialing Gutter, looks nearly perfect for our purposes.

Josh

[Juan Nunez-Iglesias]

Josh, that was a funny typo... =D

On Sun, May 25, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Josh Warner <silvertr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Two thumbs way, way up for trialing Gutter, looks nearly perfect for our purposes.

Josh

[Josh Warner]

This is why I generally don't compose messages on my phone...

On Saturday, May 24, 2014 10:07:21 PM UTC-5, Juan Nunez-Iglesias wrote:

Josh, that was a funny typo... =D

On Sun, May 25, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Josh Warner <silvertr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Two thumbs way, way up for trialing Gutter, looks nearly perfect for our purposes.

Josh

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[Stéfan van der Walt]

After (too much) experimentation, I've come to the conclusion that
Gitter may, after all, not be ready for prime time yet.

I suggest that we use #scikit-image on Freenode for now. I'll deploy
a Hubot for us there, and add logging ASAP. If that doesn't work, I'm
going to have to ask Stuart to help us out some more.

Stéfan

[Stuart Mumford]

Hello,

I added your channell to my log bot, you can now get logs here: http://sunpy.cadair.com/irc-logs/ (you have to select scikit-image from the dropdown at the top).

Stuart

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[Stéfan van der Walt]

On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 4:19 AM, Juan Nunez-Iglesias <jni....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Stuart, Stéfan, I think gitter looks fantastic! How about we go with that?

Thanks for the suggestion, Stuart!

I've signed in to

https://gitter.im/scikit-image

Let's give this a go and see whether it does what we need.

Stéfan

[Stéfan van der Walt]

On Sun, May 25, 2014 at 2:34 AM, Josh Warner <silvertr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Two thumbs way, way up for trialing Gutter, looks nearly perfect for our purposes.

I've set up a Hubot for us in the channel (called "Nestor", even
though he is invisible and responds as if he's me :-). I'm now
working on a PushOver notification hook for it.

It looks like Gitter will soon integrate irc support, judging from irc.gitter.im

Stéfan

[Juan Nunez-Iglesias]

LOL, I just saw all your testing, Stéfan, it is hilarious. You sound completely demented. =D

[Michael Aye]

Hey Stéfan,

would you care to share what you disliked with gitter.im? I'm asking b/c I'm also looking for a less posty, more chatty exchange forum for my projects, and since github is providing free private repos for scientists, I'm doing more and more (and more) on github, so I thought a chat client that links github projects to chat rooms is a fantastic idea. So what's wrong with it? ;)

[Stefan van der Walt]

Hi Michael

On 2014-06-11 11:31:56, Michael Aye <kmicha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> would you care to share what you disliked with gitter.im? I'm asking b/c
> I'm also looking for a less posty, more chatty exchange forum for my
> projects, and since github is providing free private repos for scientists,
> I'm doing more and more (and more) on github, so I thought a chat client
> that links github projects to chat rooms is a fantastic idea. So what's
> wrong with it? ;)

I think Gitter will be fine in a few months from now--but specifically,
I wanted IRC integration and notifications to Android/iOS. Their IRC
integration is currently in alpha and does not work, and the Android
client is still on the roadmap.

Now that we have IRC logs (http://bit.ly/skimage-irc, thanks to Stuart
Mumford), and since I've figured out that there are free persistent
connection proxies out there (see e.g. https://yourbnc.co.uk/) as well
as a reasonable Android client
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xerodox.liteirc) IRC
satisfies all my requirements.

As always, though, the conversation remains open. But in the meantime
we at least have a place we can chat :)

Stéfan