We aren't really getting the Jabber server back, are we?

March 13, 2006 2:39 AM

We aren't really getting the Jabber server back, are we?
posted by TwelveTwo to Feature Requests at 2:39 AM (28 comments total)

Corollary pony: I'd like to be able to put my non-MetaFilter Jabber account on the preferences page, like I can with AIM (which I haven't used in about three decades). Once that's done, it'd be nice if the "who's on?" page could show me, but I have a feeling that's not easily done.
posted by Plutor at 3:54 AM on March 13, 2006

just as quonsar opens his mouth, a ninja librarian leaps from behind, applying a vicious headlock and driving home a dagger while covering his mouth with her hand. as his inert form is dragged into the brush the jubilant howl of a bespeckled recumbent sysop is heard echoing between the canyon walls.
posted by quonsar at 4:28 AM on March 13, 2006

Quiet over there!
posted by NinjaPirate at 4:41 AM on March 13, 2006

... and there was much rejoicing.
posted by crunchland at 5:10 AM on March 13, 2006

In the frozen land of MeTa, they were forced to eat quonsar's pantsfish.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:16 AM on March 13, 2006

It would take an army of librarians to slay that beast, let alone drag it anywhere.
posted by crunchland at 5:24 AM on March 13, 2006

I love you, stav. Won't you be my tuning fork?
posted by Gator at 5:32 AM on March 13, 2006

quonsar, what makes you think we didn't hear you the first 100 times you made that point?
posted by If I Had An Anus at 5:43 AM on March 13, 2006

grouse puts on his robe and wizard hat.
posted by grouse at 5:52 AM on March 13, 2006

damn catch-and-release ninja-librarians.
posted by boo_radley at 6:14 AM on March 13, 2006

YOU AGAIN!
posted by yerfatma at 6:51 AM on March 13, 2006

Try this.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:56 AM on March 13, 2006

That's cool monju_bosatsu.

We need that kind of chatter thing on Metafilter!
posted by dios at 7:02 AM on March 13, 2006

What was the Jabber server anyway? Man, it pays to be a late adopter.
posted by scarabic at 7:09 AM on March 13, 2006

It was a place, far, far away with friendly people who used to spend hours talking about horse fucking.
posted by keijo at 7:57 AM on March 13, 2006

This is definitely cool. Link it far and wide, mathowie!
posted by scarabic at 8:28 AM on March 13, 2006

Here's the problem. The jabber server was written in java, just like the coldfusion server, so they fought for resources. I added the jabber server after a few weeks of good stability and wanted to see if the server could handle the additional load.

After a week or two of the jabber server being around, the web server began crashing more, but the jabber server would stay up. Then every day or two, the jabber server would be unresponsive. So I took it down while I tried to get the web server back to stable.

The web server's still having a lot of issues with memory and processor load, so I don't think I'll be bringing back the jabber server anytime soon. It was a fun experiment and nice to have, but it can't seem to co-exist on the same server. My first priority is making sure the web server is up and running well, so the jabber server is on the back burner for a while.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:48 AM on March 13, 2006

There may not be an Jabber, but here's some JibJab to kill time.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:15 AM on March 13, 2006

Dang, I had to upgrade my FF to use that and now half my extensions don't work. Then again - way way cool idea.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:39 AM on March 13, 2006

What kind of resources does the Jabber server take? I might be willing to host it on my box, assuming there's some way to authenticate to the MetaFilter database from there.
posted by kindall at 11:20 AM on March 13, 2006

heh, java.
posted by wakko at 11:42 AM on March 13, 2006

You have a persuasive argument, there, wakko. I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.
posted by Plutor at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2006

JRun Error: The newsletter you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.

posted by ryanrs at 3:35 PM on March 13, 2006

Or you guys could just exchange AIM nicks like you've always done.
posted by cellphone at 3:42 PM on March 13, 2006

Try this.

There's also this, which I think I linked to back in like 2001. I can't believe I remembered the URL.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:32 PM on March 13, 2006

What kind of resources does the Jabber server take? I might be willing to host it on my box, assuming there's some way to authenticate to the MetaFilter database from there.

If someone really wanted to set up their own mefi jabber server, there's at least one bizzare way you could do authentication. Users could register for it in a 3 step process:

1. Add some defined passphrase to your mefi user profile.

2. Tell some program associated with the jabber server to verify that your mefi page has the correct passphrase (and do whatever else is needed to set up the jabber account).

3. Revert your mefi profile to normal.

The web page scraper used in step two would have to be smart enough to scrape while logged in with the author's mefi account, but that's easily done. This doesn't really have anything to do with jabber, of course, its a general technique that could be used to piggyback off the mefi authentication system.
posted by gsteff at 5:07 PM on March 13, 2006

And that would leave out users who have old-style fancy user pages and don't want to lose them.
posted by gsteff at 5:08 PM on March 13, 2006

I am amazed that both monju_bosatsu's and stavros's links managed to work from behind my hog-tied and strangled "Standard Operating Environment". Pity nothing happens when I get there. Damned time zones.
posted by dg at 7:28 PM on March 13, 2006