Re: 3.12 feature: polari

["Dominique Leuenberger a.k.a. Dimstar" <dimstar opensuse org>]

Quoting Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>:

> David Woodhouse <dwmw2 infradead org> wrote:
> > > The usage patterns for IRC are different from regular IM (passive
> > > presence in many "always on" channels vs. active participation in a
> > > smaller number of temporally specific conversations). You can't
> > > support both with the same UI (I know, I've tried to design such a
> > > thing).
> >
> > I'm not so sure they're really different.
> >
> > I have a passive presence on my corporate IM system, always indicating
> > my availability (available/busy/away/etc.). And it's very likely to be
> > 'always on' these days, since I can also receive voice calls from the
> > PSTN when I'm connected to it.
> >
> > And there are obviously the small number of temporally specific
> > conversations that you mention.
> >
> > But all that *also* describes my IRC usage. Yeah, it's always on, and it
> > can indicate my availability, and I'll have a number of short-lived
> > conversations.
> >
> > To me, there isn't a clear distinction between one and the other.
>
> IRC:
>  * You tend to join channels, not conversations.
>  * Individuals tend to be on a high number of channels simultaneously.
>  * Channels often have a high number of people in them.
>  * Your interest in a channel tends remain the same over time.
>  * Most people tend to read and not write.
>  * Participants are often strangers.
>
> IM
>  * Conversation based rather than channel based.
>  * You know the people you talk to.
>  * The number of conversations you are involved in at any one time
> tends to be fairly low.
>  * Conversations tend to be temporally specific.
>  * The number of participants in a conversation tends to be low.
>  * All the participants in a conversation usually speak.
>
> The distinction seems pretty clear to me.

The way you list them, yes, I agree.. to most of the points, except  
the 'number of participants' which is not 'clear'. There are no  
low-limits in IRC.. 'IM' probably has some upper limit.. but to make  
it clear' you'd need a hard number.. I would probably remove this  
statement from the comparison.

Dominique