Q. There is another 999-level chat on Tuesday. Why did you pick the same night?A. Many years ago, when I used to administer the Prometheus Society IRC chat on Tuesdays, several other groups had chats going on concurrently. There were usually 2-4 such groups chatting at the same time, some on IRC, some elsewhere.
Rather than each group (as they were all high-level societies and groups) picking a different night (and therefore requiring someone who wished to chat with members in all these groups), they chatted on the same night. True, some had rooms or channels open all the time, but traditionally, Tuesday night was when most of the chatters "came out."
This made sense to me. I would be much more likely to log on to chat on a given night of the week if I knew that there would be more than one group and a large number of people from the societies online. Most of us are busy, and concurrent scheduling allowed us to set a particular night when we could plan to discuss various topics, meet new colleagues, catch up on the news, etc. Admittedly, I would not want to have to get online and "sit in a chat room" for hours on end several times a week. I wouldn't do it. Most people wouldn't, I'm guessing.
It's been very common for those who participate to have more than one chat window or room open at the same time and to go back and forth and/or monitor two or more chats simultaneously. Often, chatters in one room would tell others about another chat, and there would be more and more people who would begin joining other rooms.
While some people have wanted their chat to be the only one going on, that's just not been the way it's worked over the past decade. Logically, it ends up being a win-win for all groups when they can share information, gain new members from another group concurrently online, and foster an atmosphere of positive interaction and community.
Additionally, each group develops its own character and has its own "regulars." Both of these tend to change over time. There are times, certainly, when the attendance on a given Tuesday (or for a number of Tuesdays) is down and there are not many people online. Far from the addition of a new concurrent chat (or the resurrection of an old one) being a detriment in this case, it can help infuse both groups with new participants and renewed energy.
IQuadrivium has always encouraged and welcomed members of other societies into our group and in our activities. This is no different. While there certainly may exist fierce territorialism in some of these societies and groups, my hope is that none of these groups views our Tuesday chat as impinging upon their "territory" in any way, but rather as the simple addition of a concurrent event with participants that are welcomed to keep those extra tabs or windows open and freely participate in more than one chat, each with its own unique character.
Kind of the way it used to be.
