The only problem with making a set day and time is that we come from all over the world.
There's absolutely no need for a set day to be permanent. It will be necessary in the short term, but really I think the important thing is setting a time schedule. Day and frequency should then become more or less irrelevant.
Once people get into the habit of knowing the hours that suit most, then they'll also get into the habit of popping in on whatever day, as often as suits them. So long as they stick to the time schedule they should increasingly find that there's someone there at that time to chat with.
Back in the day, we never had a set time or day to chat on in #loisclark. We just knew the time that most people would be around on any given day was such and such and popped in to join the core crowd as and when suited us.
So things should progress back to that state in the future...it'll just take a little time for the habit to take, first. So we need to be a little more structured and advance-planned than normal for the moment until it does and then loosen up later on.
Chatting has always been a problem for those in Australia and Canada. Unfortunately, no matter which day or time you choose to chat, the time differences mean you're never going to be able to fit everyone in. Someone is always going to be living in an awkward time zone that cuts them out.
But I recall that there was a small group who didn't get the chance to chat in the evenings because of time differences who chatted instead on Sunday mornings (UK times). Around 11 a.m. IIRC.
I think there are enough of you from that time zone to set up your own chat schedule - and Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. (or Saturdays, I guess) isn't an insurmountable time for those of us in the UK either, so some of us might join you there.
It's not ideal, but it's a reasonable compromise, I think, given the obstacles of the time differences.
There's also absolutely no reason why the 'whole' chat group should also have to be on channel at the same time. For example, 8 of you so far have voted that Friday night is the most convenient time for you. There's no reason at all why the 8 of you can't head for #loisclark on a Friday and chat! You don't have to wait for the rest of us.
Or why 4 of you who like chatting on Tuesday can't do that, either. There's no reason why someone can't pop in for half an hour and chat, then leave. You don't have to be there all evening, or for hours. Pop in and out of channel as suits you. It's entirely flexible.
The main thing, as I say, is to find the time schedule that means that when you pop into the channel you can be reasonably sure of finding others there to chat with and won't be on your own. Once we hit that and people get to know when that will be...when, for how long and how often you spend time there is entirely up to you.
LabRat
