Alright, so, I don't know if any of you know this. Well.. staff should. But the AJAX chat takes A LOT of bandwidth up when we use it. I've just noticed that while watching the bandwidth tick up. We're already up to 3GB almost 4GB in bandwidth usage for the month. And no, it's not because of posts. It's because of "HTTP Requests and Usage." At first I didn't think it was the chat, but after looking at the statistics from August/September when we used over 11GB, and now. It's gotta be.
In that month we frequently spammed the Chatbox. Then it started to die down when members left. Now people are getting up to using it all day long again and our bandwidth limit is just climbing to the top.
Normally this wouldn't be a problem. However if we get more active, we're gonna go over our quota. We can ask for more, but I don't think we can get THAT MUCH, when we're wasting it like this for a stupid chat that can be replaced.
There is an IRC option. For those of you who don't know, it means Internet Relay Chat. You can access it by a web client or a program like mIRC. Of course, we wouldn't be hosting it, as IRC servers take up A LOT of resources. And most sites don't host their own. They sign up to a free IRC server and then integrate it into their forum. This is an option of either flash or Java (Though Java sucks and lags.)
The other option, is we find a new shoutbox client that auto refreshes. (Because cbox got annoying.)
The PROBLEM. Is the notifier. I myself find it extremely useful. But if we can't code it into the new IRC or shoutbox, we lose it. So... what do you people want? Do we test our bandwidth quota and keep the extremely useful notifier? Or do we ditch it and get IRC?
How much do people really use the notifier? And IRC does come with scripting possible... Of course. Staff will have to teach people how to use IRC.
Anyways. Vote and leave your opinions.
