Notice: The Planet-Tolkien Council can no longer provide a safe haven in our chatroom for our membership to converse; therefore the chatroom link has been removed for the duration. Our irc server(s) are playing politics; we've lost our channel ops and their bot; and most importantly we have no responsible adults who can spare the time 24/7 to properly monitor the chatroom up to the standard we require for the safety of the participants.
When we say for the duration, we mean it may be temporary, but we don't know if it is a matter of days, weeks, or months; and maybe not even until someone decides to film The Hobbit.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Thread: Chatroom Closed for Duration
Planet Tolkien is archived and no longer updated, but the forums remain browseable. We have established a Telegram group for old and new visitors to stay connected and discuss all things Tolkien.
Ah, that explains why I can't get in. Personally, I hope no-one decides to film The Hobbit. Not after the complete horlicks Peter Jackson made out of LOTR.
Grondy, would Grep be considering some other venue by which we might eventually get a different/better chatroom? I admit I haven't been to chat lately. But when I used to, I did enjoy being able to talk with other members of PT. So perhaps it might be something to look at.
Gandalf,
We are looking at all our options. Since it is not possible to moderate the chatroom 24/7 a bot would be necessary. We need a programmer for that. We do realize the value in having the chatroom, however, we have to be sure that we can provide a comfortable environment for our members. Of course applying the word 'safe' to an Internet chatroom is a relative term, as many have discovered, safety can never be guaranteed.
During the 4 years of the PJ era the chatroom was a happening place and I have many very happy memories. I would love to see it return to its full glory someday, but it takes manpower, committment and a lot of interest from members.
We are looking at all our options. Since it is not possible to moderate the chatroom 24/7 a bot would be necessary. We need a programmer for that. We do realize the value in having the chatroom, however, we have to be sure that we can provide a comfortable environment for our members. Of course applying the word 'safe' to an Internet chatroom is a relative term, as many have discovered, safety can never be guaranteed.
During the 4 years of the PJ era the chatroom was a happening place and I have many very happy memories. I would love to see it return to its full glory someday, but it takes manpower, committment and a lot of interest from members.
hello to d ppl i used to lov b4
i MISS the chat
i MISS the chat
Ah, that is sad, the chatroom was in the past a very friendly place. I hope this gets sorted out!
Can anyone tell us how far away a chatroom really are?
I think only Grep could do that and his answer might be: 'quite distant, but not nearly as far as the ends of the Earth'.
I wish we still had the chat room. I miss it terribly. That was where all the good/bad stuff came out and was really fun.
Quote:
When we say for the duration, we mean it may be temporary, but we don't know if it is a matter of days, weeks, or months; and maybe not even until someone decides to film The Hobbit.
When we say for the duration, we mean it may be temporary, but we don't know if it is a matter of days, weeks, or months; and maybe not even until someone decides to film The Hobbit.
So this would be looking closer then? (Assuming PJ and newline don't actually go to war over LotR) Even if we can't get it up 24/7 we used to have that other room that was only open at certain times - would the council be able to volunteer time each week to have it open? The you could post when it would be open on here, and those of us that wanted to could attend.... Even a trial of this?
The chatroom was a great place, I'd love to see it back even in a limited way. I find the forum a lot harder to use these days, it's bigger and the amount of threads is crazy, you can't see the names of the people who are online so you know who you are talking to... The immediacy of it is definitely missing.
how about a unofficial chatroom?
just for so long as you need to fix the official one?
just for so long as you need to fix the official one?
I also believe the chatroom should be resurrected...somehow. Perhaps now that Grep has a more efficient and more economical server this could be done more easily than before? I surely hope so. Otherwise, I don't see how I will ever make the acquaintance of 42 and other interesting characters who were on PT in the very beginning and then gone before my arrival a couple of years ago. Not to mention that I haven't been able to talk to any of the nice people I met in the chat before it was closed. Will some of the Council weigh in on this? Could you accost Grep as a body and entreat him to create something for us? I'm sure it would be very appreciated by everyone on PT.
Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf, the problem is we have no one to monitor the chatroom and if that isn't done full time, we can't guarantee it is safe from creeps, bad language, etc.
you could just have the chatroom ne open for a few hours a day so that it could be monitored. schedules of the chatroom tmes in the forum boards would be good and people who wished to chat could have the opportunity... but in this plan there's still the matter of who would take on such a job... monitoring the chatrooms must be hard work 
My Wife is home a lot and she just said she may be interested in monitoring it, possibly not 24/7 but at least most days, not sure if that would be a help. I used to love the chat room, we had great fun.
yay for rho's wife ^5
yohooo grep sir !!!!
yohooo grep sir !!!!
Would anyone be interested in seeing the Chat Room reopen? (Rho, offer still available?)
Sure, send us a PM
The Chatroom, now The Prancing Pony, has been reopened. You will find it in the navigation menu.
If you enter the Chatroom and there isn't anyone in there, please don't be disheartened, it's often the wayt his time of year. When The Hobbit movie starts getting more coverage we'll see an increase in visitors as we did with The Lord of the Rings. I also suggest someone takes the responsibility of creating some meeting times that compliment each others' timezones. We used to have lots of fun with the old Chatroom what with quiz nights, Elvish language courses and more! Let's all be a bit imaginative and get things moving.
If you'd believe it, I just came on with the idea of bumping the old Reading Discussion group threads!!!
We'd probably have to have two different groups built around EST and GMT
Taz, I'm having problem joining the Chat Room. It shows me this message:
Saille
Invalid Username or Password
Yeah, I'm getting the same message 
Fixed.
Every single time I'm chancing on the Prancing pony,no one's there
If you enter the Chatroom and there isn't anyone in there, please don't be disheartened
Unfortunately with time zones as they are, when Saille is on most of the time everyone else is in bed, but she tries to come on around 6am our time which would make it approx 6pm in England.
Might I suggest we organize a time this weekend when we can all log in and have a catch up?
Might I suggest we organize a time this weekend when we can all log in and have a catch up?
Great idea!
That is a great idea but lets make it a weekend because everyone has got I guess college,school or work.I'm sure we can all find some time between a Saturday and a Sunday
How about Sunday morning NZ and Aussie time/Saturday evening other side of the world time?
Hallo everyone! Happy New Year (since this is my first post for this year)!
I really like the idea of chat with many members in real time! I also think the idea of 6pm (GB Time) is cool.
Good for me too 
Good for me too
sounds good to me ....... wait .........6pm GB would be what time here 42? 6am?, I ain't good at stuff were I have to actually use my brain...
I am much to tired to be doing this. But assuming the site I found is correct, then NZ is 13 hours ahead of UK now. So 6pm local time in UK (6pm GMT) should be 7 am in NZ. I think?
Yes, that's right, we're in daylight savings time so an extra hour ahead. So 7 am tomorrow then 
Er...I think I'll just keep the PT page open all evening..am too tired to figure out time zones
So I forgot why I'd set my alarm and went and mowed the lawns instead By the time I remembered you had all gone. Very sad. (My fault though!) as I've been in here for about 2 hours by myself tonight, is anyone keen to make another catch up time?
You weren't the only one 42, only a few of us were here.
I'm not off again until this Sunday(our time) so happy to try again then.
This Saturday or Sunday works for me!
Sounds good, though my stupid wireless router is being stupid. I'm trying to look at papers online to see if I want to study anything this year, it's the last day to enroll and I haven't even worked out if I want to study or what to and I keep going offline arrgh! Plus I'm too indecisive But yes, I will write it down, stick it on the door or something. I want to talk to you guys, I do know that!
