Once upon a time, there was a Jabber Server on Metafilter...

January 31, 2008 11:21 PM

Once upon a time, there was a Jabber Server on Metafilter...

I love the new features. I just want an old one back.

Matt, please hope me. I remember back in 04 (was it 04? Could it have been in 03?) when you turned on the Jabber server. Suddenly, the community was instantly live. Didn't want to talk to someone? Ignore them. Wanted to be available for chat? Logon.

But it broke other stuff. And the hardworking mathowie said, "Verily, unto ye, someday soon, maybe, if thou art good, you could stop wandering the desert and have it back."

So, um, could we have it back? Please? I don't want to have to build a golden calf.

posted by filmgeek to Feature Requests at 11:21 PM (30 comments total)

Yeah, it's been on the short list of big projects to do for the past 9 months or so. I actually downloaded a new version of the server I used before, grabbed all the java files we tweaked in the past, and asked a java programmer friend to take a look at solving the major bugs from before (like no usernames with a space in it were allowed to use the jabber server). That was a few months ago and said friend is crazy busy, but I'm hoping after we get a couple more major projects out of the way (like search), we'll be able to revisit and relaunch it again.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:27 PM on January 31, 2008

Sing hi-calloo-callay!
posted by Jofus at 2:13 AM on February 1, 2008

Melt the calf down, sell it and send the money to matt
posted by waraw at 4:21 AM on February 1, 2008

er, me
posted by waraw at 4:21 AM on February 1, 2008

Engaging Erlang fanboy mode: Ejabberd has a pretty badass reputation, maybe give that a whirl?
posted by Skorgu at 4:53 AM on February 1, 2008

This sounds awesome.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:58 AM on February 1, 2008

Zawinski's Law

“Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.” Coined by Jamie Zawinski (who called it the “Law of Software Envelopment”) to express his belief that all truly useful programs experience pressure to evolve into toolkits and application platforms (the mailer thing, he says, is just a side effect of that). It is commonly cited, though with widely varying degrees of accuracy.

Tell me this doesn't describe Metafilter to a T.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:20 AM on February 1, 2008 [3 favorites]

We joked about that a lot internally when doing MeFi Mail.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:30 AM on February 1, 2008

We still joke about it now that we're working on MefiEmacs, but it's a kind of sad, broken laughter now.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:32 AM on February 1, 2008 [5 favorites]

MeFivi, that is.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:36 AM on February 1, 2008 [5 favorites]

Oh, Bob, this will not wendell.
posted by ChrisR at 7:25 AM on February 1, 2008

Mefi should have vi keybindings.

Of course I already use vimperator so I might be a teeeny bit biased.
posted by Skorgu at 7:43 AM on February 1, 2008

⇒cortex: "We still joke about it now that we're working on MefiEmacs, but it's a kind of sad, broken laughter now."

(eq that "A big mistake")
posted by Plutor at 7:44 AM on February 1, 2008

Mefi should have vi keybindings.

Hit the , or . key right now. Seriously.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:54 AM on February 1, 2008

M-x ban-Plutor-for-insolence
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:55 AM on February 1, 2008

Hit the , or . key right now. Seriously.

I'm hitting. I'm liking.
posted by flashboy at 8:04 AM on February 1, 2008

I liked the Jabber server, it gave me the ability to provide everyone with up to the moment play by plays of what my cats were doing.

quin: Sleeping...

quin: Still sleeping...

quin: Wait! I think she's getting up!

quin: Nevermind.

quin: Still sleeping...

It was riviting stuff.
posted by quin at 8:29 AM on February 1, 2008

(eq that "A big mistake") => nil
posted by harmfulray at 9:22 AM on February 1, 2008

*fx: mind being blown*
It's not j and k though now is it. Neener.
posted by Skorgu at 9:45 AM on February 1, 2008

Hit the , or . key right now. Seriously.

This is definitely better than Mefi Mail or favorites or flagging.
or... maybe I just have a mouse with a broken scroll wheel.
posted by clockwork at 10:38 AM on February 1, 2008

java? meh
posted by bonaldi at 10:43 AM on February 1, 2008

The ghost of the jabber server haunts these hallowed threads, and if you listen very carefully you can still hear it cast JRuns furtively into the night.
posted by prostyle at 10:52 AM on February 1, 2008

Or, to put it another way:

And if you listen very hard
JRun will come to you at last
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:13 AM on February 1, 2008

Wasn't quonsar going to fix it for us?
posted by Eideteker at 11:32 AM on February 1, 2008

Hit the , or . key right now. Seriously.

I'd hit that!
Seriously, that's handy.
posted by ottereroticist at 12:20 PM on February 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

hey, another mefi thread that happens to coincide with today's xkcd! But you know what? I'm not going to link it. fuck you guys.
posted by shmegegge at 12:26 PM on February 1, 2008

/me is an experienced Java programmer
posted by butterstick at 1:50 PM on February 1, 2008

These key bindings are the holy grail to massively long posts. Stupid page down begone!
posted by Derek at 2:15 PM on February 1, 2008

The Jabber server would be pretty cool.

Emacs made so much more sense to me after I saw the MIT LISP Machine's keyboard.
posted by Kadin2048 at 3:00 PM on February 1, 2008

Tell me this doesn't describe Metafilter to a T.

Granted, but we can do better than 30%.
posted by ersatz at 9:36 AM on February 2, 2008