I was thinking the same thing a while back, like a let's get a beer app where you'd set a flag when you're free and instantly you'd see if friends in your circles are up for a beer. If not, you can receive a notification when they do become available (aka, one of them sets the flag).
Nice idea. However there are definitely times when i'm not actively thinking about the pub (and therefore wouldn't set a pub status to available) but would stop the current activity for the pub
Ano Nym I prefer to look at it as he has started on time, like myself, and the rest of you are just lazy slackers who haven't caught up with reality yet... But I haven't had my coffee yet this morning.
This is exactly the reason why I am terrible at messaging anyone : the constant latent fear of intruding. But most other people live in the same haze of fear so, yay for widespread social awkwardness? And yes, you two are totally Statler and Waldorf. Mattler and Tomdorf?
Sorry, but I disagree. Matt and Tom are definitely not Statler and Waldorf. Those two muppets were hecklers, not critics.They were mostly there to heckle Kermit and Fozzy the Bear. (And were the meanest to Fozzy.) Matt and Tom are just two adults reminiscing about "the old times" and bemoaning how times have changed. I don't think the Muppets had that. Closest would be Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.
I mean, yeah, Matt and Tom aren't hecklers but I think the in-common trait is their lovable not-overly-gloomy curmudgeonliness which Statler and Waldorf had in spades.
There definitely needs to be that hierarchy of messaging options. If it's 2 am you send an email. At an appropriate time, a quick text to see if people want to hang out or talk. Call when they are expecting it or it's really important... or something like that. Snail mail when you have to send them a present... heck, you don't even need it to send money now...
Maybe we need something like a weather app, where it can keep an updating notification going, but it never actually pings/vibes. If you want to meet up with people, check the notification and see if it has a number greater than 0. Set your status in the app, but if you haven't set it in like, an hour, it assumes you're busy now and switches you to not-bored. Because it doesn't ping, it doesn't intrude, but it's always just kind of there. If it could have a setting to quietly track how many social media apps you've been switching between and set your status to bored if you're clearly out of internet, that might be interesting too.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the "Skype Me" status on Skype, this meant you're bored and anybody can call you, not just people in your contacts. In hindsight it's clear why that was a terrible idea :D
I would say that Discord is the nearest to MSN now in terms of the online indicator. You have to open the program for it to say that you are online and it shows what game you are on at the time, or if you are like me on don't play games much, you can customize what it says you are doing :)
I use Discord for my (fan-based) translation group. (We used to use Skype, but some members had difficulties accessing it) We use the main chatroom almost every day, and I keep it unmuted. If I'm busy with school or don't want to hear notification sounds all the time, I will set my status to 'do not disturb', which mutes all chats. We have another chatroom that we use for small talk/non-translation-related stuff, and I always have that on mute. If I feel like talking about stuff or contributing to a conversation, I will have that chatroom open. I'm not savvy about social media, and only have a small group of friends who also don't use a lot of social media, and none of them expect everybody to respond instantly. But when it comes to instant messaging, Discord isn't perfect, but I agree it's the closest I have experienced to keeping track of social availability like MSN.
When talking about the IM wars, you forgot a very important player who is still around. Skype. The reason MSN no longer exists is because Skype took over MSN. Microsoft bought Skype and merged the two networks, so TECHNICALLY you can still use your MSN sign in, just in Skype now.
Pretty much always have skype open. Also use discord. And Steam. All 3 frequently gets used. IRC I have stopped using. Never touch Facebook. Ick... Facebook seems so dirty!
I used Trillian in the US and it was pretty much an even tie with AIM and MSN. Nowadays, I think the equivalent is Discord (which has status indicators) or Telegram (which only shows when you were last active.)
They came out with Trillian Astra with later versions, which is their own messenger, but it can also be set up as a private company server as well. Sort of like Skype for Business.
Zzyzx Wolfe Discord has a little button so at any time you can put yourself into 'busy', 'do not disturb', or 'invisible' (Appear as offline) mode, which is nice.
An app where you set the level of boredom. Then if people in your lists that have the same or similar level and in some smilier area of boredom are messaged. That way you do not message people that are not identifying as bored, or are to far away to join in.
Matt/Tom is there a reason neither of you seem to be too... "thrilled" with dogs? Not judging, just curious as a Canadian that lives in a relatively rural area. (Random dogs are VERY common here)
Not everyone enjoys having an uninvited, smelly and possibly dangerous quadruped come up. I particularly despise the ones who like to jump on me, smearing my trousers, and most are like that. If you own a dog and don't make sure they don't invade other people's personal space, you are being seriously disrespectful.
Toms Pub Flare app problem solved App sends a notification to a dedicated server that friends can log into and sees your availability and makes the choice - will send you a notification saying "are you still at the pub?" netflix style after a period of time.
Today, everyone is always available, yet never at the same time. You write to a person and expect that sometimes in the near future they will answer. (Thus, the end of the "brb". --- Felt quite old recently, a younger friend of mine didn't know the meaning of that expression. 😱)
I think I still say BRB at least once a day. Doesn't matter if you've got a phone on you at all times; you can't wash the dishes or hang clothes out to dry and use your phone at the same time. Unless you use some sort of speech to text type thing, but then I'd say that's more of an IM addiction
It's videos and comments like these that make me both go "what is wrong with my generation?" and feel like I was raised in a late 90s time capsule. I mean, how does someone younger than 40 not know what brb means?
One of the things I miss about uni is sending a message to the flat group chat saying "Tea?" at pretty much any time of day or night and wondering to the kitchen to hang out with at least one of my mates
I don't know. My experience - both in the past and the present - is that I am connected to networks 24x7 through an IRC bouncer. Almost everyone I know uses them. So my experience is quite the opposite; people on IRC are almost always idling.
Fugoux I keep trying to get into irc but I never manage to stay. I don't like the ways I don't get the messages I wasn't online for (because it's not what my young brain is used to). I guess it's kind of the point of "if you're online, you're bored" but I've mostly tried it for tech support.
Pub flare equivalent for my close group is a WhatsApp group where the etiquette is you're allowed to just not reply if you're not interested, no having to say 'no thanks' let alone feeling like you need to explain why. What WhatsApp *really* needs though is mute intervals like 20mins or an hour. Seems a very 'engagement metric' driven choice on their part.
What *everything* needs is mute intervals, 10mins to 24hours. All the really old Nokias had this. Anyone know of an android app (or even variant system) that has this?
Funny thing is... I have Google Hangouts open in a window next to this video... I know everyone finds is repulsive but I find it to be the solution to everything you're talking about here. I has an online function, where you have a little green dot if you've sent a message in the last 15 minutes or actively have the desktop app open, and it's platform universal. Funny thing is that literally everyone has Hangouts too, if you have a google account you have a Hangouts account, and people with android phones that haven't bothered disabling it will get a notification if you send them a message, even if they've never touched the app before. All of my friends got into using it because back in the day we mostly all met in our online school, most of us didn't have phones but everyone had a google account. If it was more commonly used, I think It'd be a pretty great messaging app, and it has pretty nice 'don't bug me unless I'm bored' settings. But alas, it seems I'll have to settle with just my little group of friends..
It's funny how people go socialize to a pub. But what do you do if you don't want to drink? Like there used to be arcades and so on. But now for young people only place to go hangout (university age) is nightclubs and pubs... :(
yeah the glittery text (or any stylistic font) that work by replacing letters with emoticon images, I hated them because they took time to load on dialup and if you're internet is slow right now (or you're downloading something), you basically can't read any of the messages :D
Why not implement PubFlare as a feature of Emojli? It just sends a message to a set of people that says 🍻❓ (that's [clinking beer mugs emoji][question mark emoji] for those without good emoji support)
I don't understand the reluctance to message someone. It's not your problem or concern to worry if you are disturbing them. The onus is on them to configure their notifications in such a way that if they receive it then it is not disturbing them. Modern phones have lots of control over how and when apps can notify you. Changing permissions, do not disturb modes, etc.
My notifications are on such that if someone needs me for something IMPORTANT, they can contact me quickly. My phone's ringer stays on at night so that if a friend who is thinking of doing something extremely stupid can call and we'll talk and I'll help them work out actual life problems. The friend who abuses that "because they're bored..." Is unlikely to remain much of a friend for long.
For stuff like skype i use it for work. some messages i need to see, like if somebody needs to contract me on short notice. For many its not as simple as turning it off when your busy.
it has to do with perr pressure, if someone messages you, you might feel an obligation to reply even though you might not have the obligation, different workflows also have different requirements for attention, for example your job might require you to answer your text messages within 30 minutes to keep on top of issues, so turning of notifications for that might harm you in the long run, and if your friend texts you what you are doing you have to check you phone anyway to ensure that its not work, I know that you could just have seperate phones for business and private use, but not many people actually have that around where I live.
tikseye and who really wants friends who would effectively demand you pay for a seperate device to carry, keep charged, and pay for in order to effectively be their friend because they don't have a filter and can't be bothered to ask themselves "is this a good time to contact them about something?"
This makes me wonder when was texting invented? Also Yahoo had an IM service? Now that I got to that point, Pub Flair(e) that sounds kind of like Google+. Like you have a social network with multiple circles, one of which is a pub circle, where your group of friends who you want to go the pub with, you send a message within that group.
Funny thing, I’m American and primarily used MSN. Reason being; It was all my friends playing runescape that got me to use it. Runescape being a British made game of course. I also used AIM to talk to all my “normal” friends ;)
I got ICQ for people in Slovakia and Czechia, I've got a bunch of AIM from I think Romania? MSN for the Brits and I think the Russians were also on ICQ... all ties into Miranda, which, worryingly, still ran when I found it on one of my backup harddrives as a portable about the time of this video!
I remember everyone leaving MSN Messenger for Facebook Messenger. MSN got emptier and emptier and then I just had to get FB. This would have been circa 2009.
I don't really understand Matt's problem with large group chats because he dislikes notifications: The whole point is that you turn them off, and just join in whenever you're bored. Would be even better if Whatsapp would allow you to put them in an 'archive' or 'second rank' tab or something, so they don't clog your normal conversations. Then again, I always just use the search function when the chat I'm looking for isn't the top one.
And stuff stays there once archived, even people answer? Also, where do I get there? I found out how to archive things but not how to view them once archived.
I dunno about Trillian, but I used eBuddy. Also, in my social circle, MSN was a thing that was always open when you were on your computer, because it launched at login. Honestly, phone notifications are far less intrusive than MSN's "nudges".
But this is the age of trying to retain ones privacy! So on my phone, you will find Signal, Conversations and Telegram, possibly even Threema, but no Whatsapp or Facebook or anything the like. I even uninstalled Google Hangouts!
I think Snapchat is like this. If someone has a picture of themselves watching television or simple the word ‘Snaps?’ on their story, I know they are bored and probably welcome ‘Hi’s. I know this because I admit to doing the same and receiving ‘Hi’s.
This got me thinking, my cusins (older) remember a time without easy acess to the internet. My cousins (younger) just barely remember a time without smartphone. And I remember, that there was a time, where broadband was "the new, hot sh***".
On Android phones, you get the notification and when you chose reply, it will give you a small window in which you can read the message, you will have the keyboard on the bottom of the screen, and you can reply. After you hit send, you're back in your original app. Quite neat!
People should just mute their notifications. There's no reason a Facebook message should ding in your pocket causing immediate attention. And yeah, mute each and every WhatsApp group you're in. If there are other people in the group, sometimes someone will say something to someone else and that won't interest you, so your pocket shouldn't ding. It should ding when someone is looking for you for something urgent or of some immediacy.
I think Android has actually coming around to handling this pretty well. Silent notifications mean I don't see Messenger, et al until I'm on my phone anyway. If I'm already on my phone, I can respond within the Android notification shade.
Maybe I'm missing something obvious here, but surely the pub flare app would actually work. You want something unintrusive, where you can just set a status which others will see. So surely, if you are bored, you would go onto the app and set your status. the only people who would see the status are people on your contact list who are also bored and have gone onto the app to set their status. Thus, no notifications and no intrusion. If you wanted to make the whole thing a tiny bit more obvious, you have a counter on the app button with how many people are signalling right now, but just don't have the ping and don't have the names until the app is opened. Therefore, if you see a number on the app button, you can click to look at who it is. If you're busy and you don't want to go out, you either won't see the number (you only check your phone when you're bored, right?) or simply won't open the app.
steam chat is a bit like that. I only start up steam when I'm bored... but most instant messengers I treat like regular messengers; If I don't answer you can keep talking. I will read it eventually. that also means if you someone want to physically meet up with me; they better ask about it long in advance...
The main reason however for MSN Messenger going away was simply due to Microsoft having acquired Skype, and it was pointless to run two separate IM services instead of just merging MSN accounts into Skype which had more features available.
The best way to fix that problem of notifications is just do it muted. As in the receiver gets a notification on there phone but it doesn't vibrate or make a noise or anything. That way the only people that see it are people who are already looking on their phones and are probably bored also.
Regarding status indicators, I really like that Slack will warn you when someone is in “do not disturb” mode (and give you the option to override it if your message is actually urgent). I wish more IM programs did that.
I'm a US Citizen living in the US. I used MSN Messenger... mostly to not to talk to anyone, because I was a boring loser...Still am, but at least I can live vicariously through my daughter's activities...
The story Tom mentions is giving me strong Jeeves & Wooster vibes, like the butlers (or the electronic equivalent of them) are actually handling problems and finding discreet and elegant solutions rather than the actual person they work for dealing with stuff.
I was hoping to get some recommendations for good desktop messaging apps that work on both computer and mobile. Nothing has been the same since MSN merged with Skype. No one uses ICQ anymore and Google discontinued their desktop version on Hangouts. Everything sucks now.
The platform that to me seems like it would be (been?) most conducive to something like a 'pub flare' would be google plus, with the way you could set up contacts in circles, to let you let certain people see personal stuff, other see work stuff, and so on.
Matt and Tom when a dog approaches them: Oh that's a dog. Noope go away. Me when a dog approaches me: high pitched voice, dying of cuteness and cuddling it.
MSN was my life... I talked to my dance friends before and after dance because if I wasn't at dance but had to be there soon or be in bed soon then MSN was my life but I did play outside a lot...
Ok, during this entire video, I was thinking "skype?"... I mean, it has a status page for your contacts... It also has a date when that status was updated. Does this not work as a good replacement?
Random2 id say Discord would be a better replacement for Skype - it also supports calling, video calling and screen share, along with a bunch of other features
IMO, no, because it requires an explicit declaration of boredom from the theoretical pub flare recipients; in today's world of apps-everywhere, that's a non-starter. Off of the top of my head, potentially a "message priority" flag that could be set for each message or threaded conversation. The recipient app could follow the notification (or lack thereof) rules that they've configured to let them know that someone has sent them a low priority message.
Thinking about the "pub flare" idea... Perhaps you could make it work with a tinder-style system? I.e. You press the "I'm Bored" button, and then if anyone else on your friends list presses the button within, say, 30 minutes, you both get notified? Perhaps it could even automatically create a group chat of everyone who's bored at that moment?
What's up with Hangouts? It's probably the best messenger around right now, right? I don't recognise the problem you're talking about. I message people whenever I feel like it. It's their own responsibility whether they'll answer or not.
American here who used MSN. Eventually also got Trillian (little silent cheer when Tom called out there), had an AOL account for the couple people too stubborn to get MSN (DO WHAT I DO DAMMIT), and an ICQ room or two. This is Good Video right here.
Also, the solution to Pub Flare sounds simple: an app that sends your status to all your friends who also have the app (based on your Contacts, probably), but doesn't notify them about it. If they want to check the app, they can, and they'll see a list of everyone's status, but there's no intrusion because there's no real-time notification. And it's so general, it could just be called Status Flare. I almost want to make this, but it would require a reliable server as a hub for the status data, and I don't want to pay for one. Hey, Tom and Matt, mind providing some hosting for me? :P (Yes, it would require manually setting your status rather than automatically figuring it out from activity, but MSN's status system was also manual :) )
I'm not even that old, 18 to be exact, and even I think the digital (social) world is worse than 10 years ago. Even if its just the status system or that Multi-Msg-Apps don't exist anymore, it's still a little bit worse than it was.
Pidgin on computers and Xabber on Android are both multi-protocol apps. Not sure about iOS. Although it was annoying when Facebook dropped support for it.
I used MSN messenger from when it was still called Hotmail Messenger ;p Skype still has a status: online, busy, away, invisible. (although I only use Skype for work ;p)
I don't think I ever used MSN Messenger. Used a tiny bit of AIM, but in Germany, ICQ was king. I still remember my ICQ account number even though it must have been like 12 years since I last used it.
Discord is nice for this actually, just message a specific roll and ask "@friends Hey, I'm bored, pub." And setting admin settings for channels so only that roll can see the channel you post it in. Discord is actually quite nice for simultaneously separating and combining groups of people.
Regarding interoperability, not only were there apps that would aggregate your different IM accounts, but there were also multiple IM services that could talk to each other over XMPP, not entirely unlike the way a Gmail user can exchange email with a Hotmail user. Do you think there is any chance for some sort of new IM protocol to come about that would enable that sort of interoperability, or are all the companies big enough to pull it off too happy inside their walled gardens?
Also just remembered there was a plugin that connected to your Winamp and updated with the song you were listening to. Every so often, someone would watch an adult movie in Winamp before going to sleep, which meant the status stayed there until next day. Whoopsie...
There are at least two apps for desktop. Franz and Rambox. That can be used to open multiple IM things. They're essentially stripped down web browsers that open the web clients.
The app could be tinder style, where it will only send a notification if two users have mutual interest in going to the pub
Ryan Lynch immediately where my head went. And you could set folks to different circles, so when you ping for the pub you set the appropriate group
open source github project anyone? :D
I was thinking the same thing a while back, like a let's get a beer app where you'd set a flag when you're free and instantly you'd see if friends in your circles are up for a beer. If not, you can receive a notification when they do become available (aka, one of them sets the flag).
Nice idea. However there are definitely times when i'm not actively thinking about the pub (and therefore wouldn't set a pub status to available) but would stop the current activity for the pub
This could also sync with google or apple calendars.
"This is gonna be rambly as hell" Always a good start.
Prey love me a good ramble
“Yeah I know I know” was the perfect response
"The world is worse now!" Tomscott 2018
Tom you started the "Grumpy old man" phase a bit early.
nah, right on schedule with his hair.
Ano Nym I prefer to look at it as he has started on time, like myself, and the rest of you are just lazy slackers who haven't caught up with reality yet... But I haven't had my coffee yet this morning.
Can I complain with you, guys?
Nadius89 No!
(Definitely, didn't just give you something to complain about:)
This comment aged well
Perhaps what we need is an "I'm bored; notify me if any of these friends say they're bored in the next X hours" sort of app.
Blog on a log with a dog?
Vlog* on a log with a dog
At least there's no fog.
Or a bog
But they are breathing smog.
No drinking eggnog.
The park bench *after hours*
Mature audiences only: lots of paperwork, house cleaning, and sensible bedtimes.
... and dirty dishes and forgotten laundry.
Troy and Abed in the Moooorning, /nights/
Matt and Tom *After Dark*
The Parkbench, in a nutshell: they're mostly never sitting in a parkbench.
they are sometimes, maybe we should call those the parkbench parkbench edition ;)
Parkerbench, ala Parker Square?
This is exactly the reason why I am terrible at messaging anyone : the constant latent fear of intruding. But most other people live in the same haze of fear so, yay for widespread social awkwardness? And yes, you two are totally Statler and Waldorf. Mattler and Tomdorf?
The fear of intruding, and the fear that people will say no, and then you'll feel a little worse about it than if you hadn't asked at all.
Sorry, but I disagree. Matt and Tom are definitely not Statler and Waldorf. Those two muppets were hecklers, not critics.They were mostly there to heckle Kermit and Fozzy the Bear. (And were the meanest to Fozzy.) Matt and Tom are just two adults reminiscing about "the old times" and bemoaning how times have changed. I don't think the Muppets had that. Closest would be Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.
I mean, yeah, Matt and Tom aren't hecklers but I think the in-common trait is their lovable not-overly-gloomy curmudgeonliness which Statler and Waldorf had in spades.
There definitely needs to be that hierarchy of messaging options. If it's 2 am you send an email. At an appropriate time, a quick text to see if people want to hang out or talk. Call when they are expecting it or it's really important... or something like that. Snail mail when you have to send them a present... heck, you don't even need it to send money now...
Maybe we need something like a weather app, where it can keep an updating notification going, but it never actually pings/vibes. If you want to meet up with people, check the notification and see if it has a number greater than 0. Set your status in the app, but if you haven't set it in like, an hour, it assumes you're busy now and switches you to not-bored. Because it doesn't ping, it doesn't intrude, but it's always just kind of there.
If it could have a setting to quietly track how many social media apps you've been switching between and set your status to bored if you're clearly out of internet, that might be interesting too.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the "Skype Me" status on Skype, this meant you're bored and anybody can call you, not just people in your contacts. In hindsight it's clear why that was a terrible idea :D
I would say that Discord is the nearest to MSN now in terms of the online indicator. You have to open the program for it to say that you are online and it shows what game you are on at the time, or if you are like me on don't play games much, you can customize what it says you are doing :)
I use Discord for my (fan-based) translation group. (We used to use Skype, but some members had difficulties accessing it)
We use the main chatroom almost every day, and I keep it unmuted. If I'm busy with school or don't want to hear notification sounds all the time, I will set my status to 'do not disturb', which mutes all chats. We have another chatroom that we use for small talk/non-translation-related stuff, and I always have that on mute. If I feel like talking about stuff or contributing to a conversation, I will have that chatroom open.
I'm not savvy about social media, and only have a small group of friends who also don't use a lot of social media, and none of them expect everybody to respond instantly.
But when it comes to instant messaging, Discord isn't perfect, but I agree it's the closest I have experienced to keeping track of social availability like MSN.
Steam chat.
Exactly
GaduGadu here if it's still even online? Discord mostly tho.
When talking about the IM wars, you forgot a very important player who is still around. Skype. The reason MSN no longer exists is because Skype took over MSN. Microsoft bought Skype and merged the two networks, so TECHNICALLY you can still use your MSN sign in, just in Skype now.
knightshousegames AND it has the same status features as MSN. I personally like the ‘busy’ and ‘invisible’ ones so people at work won’t disturb me. :)
And isn't there the status message too, so you can write "going to pub now 7-10pm" and everyone bored can check out others status and go join them.
And then Discord showed up.
i still have an MSN email, and i use that for skype.
Pretty much always have skype open. Also use discord. And Steam. All 3 frequently gets used. IRC I have stopped using. Never touch Facebook. Ick... Facebook seems so dirty!
"running out of internet" yesss this is the phrase I needed! Also, I know this feeling when you don't feel like doing any non-internety things.
yes!!!
and your brain is too lazy to watch anything on Netflix that requires any kind of attention/focus.
Nostalgialog? Nah it's more like a Backlog.
_Smartflone_
Smartphlone
SVNBob yes
...and the always hateful phlablet.
So what if Pub Flare DOES give notifications but only to people that have also set off the flare? That would solve it right?
Yes, I believe it would. You've had 3 years, any chance there is a link yet?
Discord is the new MSN
Nah its more like a big groupchat.
I actually only use it for one on one conversations
I used Trillian in the US and it was pretty much an even tie with AIM and MSN. Nowadays, I think the equivalent is Discord (which has status indicators) or Telegram (which only shows when you were last active.)
Yep! Was named in honor of Trillian. These days, they market it more as an in-house business messenger, though.
Zzyzx Wolfe i didn't know trillian ever had its own service. Just thought it bridged aim, msn, irc and so forth into one prog.
They came out with Trillian Astra with later versions, which is their own messenger, but it can also be set up as a private company server as well. Sort of like Skype for Business.
Zzyzx Wolfe Discord has a little button so at any time you can put yourself into 'busy', 'do not disturb', or 'invisible' (Appear as offline) mode, which is nice.
An app where you set the level of boredom. Then if people in your lists that have the same or similar level and in some smilier area of boredom are messaged. That way you do not message people that are not identifying as bored, or are to far away to join in.
You don't set the status,but the more often you check peoples bored status the higher your status rises
Matt/Tom is there a reason neither of you seem to be too... "thrilled" with dogs? Not judging, just curious as a Canadian that lives in a relatively rural area. (Random dogs are VERY common here)
Dogs can be unpredictable.
@@inkfarer so can people
“I have Slack because I’m a grown-up” that is horrifyingly accurate
Surprise dogs are the best dogs. It's like, wow, I didn't expect a dog to be here, but now that there is, this is a good thing.
Tyler Joseph Schommer Except that Matt is some kind of monster who doesn't like them... But in general, yes! 🐶
They should make an episode about how they overcome their fear of dogs…
Not everyone enjoys having an uninvited, smelly and possibly dangerous quadruped come up. I particularly despise the ones who like to jump on me, smearing my trousers, and most are like that. If you own a dog and don't make sure they don't invade other people's personal space, you are being seriously disrespectful.
If you know anything about dogs then you'd know how to keep them from jumping up and smearing your trousers.
Why did I just read this in toms Voice
Pidgin for me, though I did use Trillian back in the day. Good throw backs.
Toms Pub Flare app problem solved
App sends a notification to a dedicated server that friends can log into and sees your availability and makes the choice - will send you a notification saying "are you still at the pub?" netflix style after a period of time.
Today, everyone is always available, yet never at the same time. You write to a person and expect that sometimes in the near future they will answer.
(Thus, the end of the "brb". --- Felt quite old recently, a younger friend of mine didn't know the meaning of that expression. 😱)
Ha that's a good point. One doesn't walk away from the computer these days, it comes with you! --Matt
I think I still say BRB at least once a day. Doesn't matter if you've got a phone on you at all times; you can't wash the dishes or hang clothes out to dry and use your phone at the same time. Unless you use some sort of speech to text type thing, but then I'd say that's more of an IM addiction
It's videos and comments like these that make me both go "what is wrong with my generation?" and feel like I was raised in a late 90s time capsule. I mean, how does someone younger than 40 not know what brb means?
They're doing a vlog on a log, after dark in a park, ... (Hint: You guys continue this on...)
With a dog in the vlog,
One of the things I miss about uni is sending a message to the flat group chat saying "Tea?" at pretty much any time of day or night and wondering to the kitchen to hang out with at least one of my mates
“Did you hit record?” I’ll be honest, I don’t think you did.
IRC will never die.
Fugoux I was thinking this the whole time. If anyone who's not the host connects to irc or ts, they are very bored and want to talk.
I don't know. My experience - both in the past and the present - is that I am connected to networks 24x7 through an IRC bouncer. Almost everyone I know uses them. So my experience is quite the opposite; people on IRC are almost always idling.
Fugoux I keep trying to get into irc but I never manage to stay. I don't like the ways I don't get the messages I wasn't online for (because it's not what my young brain is used to). I guess it's kind of the point of "if you're online, you're bored" but I've mostly tried it for tech support.
I like the model of everyone being online with their bouncer, and then when you’re actually online you become voiced so everyone knows
7 months later - Discord, Slack, MS Teams, FB for Work. IRC might seem pretty much dead now, but the concept certainly lives on.
So my in depth feeling on messenger notifications and pub flares is.
Why such a negative reaction to surprise dog?
the dog was intruding
Pub flare equivalent for my close group is a WhatsApp group where the etiquette is you're allowed to just not reply if you're not interested, no having to say 'no thanks' let alone feeling like you need to explain why.
What WhatsApp *really* needs though is mute intervals like 20mins or an hour. Seems a very 'engagement metric' driven choice on their part.
What *everything* needs is mute intervals, 10mins to 24hours.
All the really old Nokias had this. Anyone know of an android app (or even variant system) that has this?
I miss the park bench :(
Matt and Tom's reaction to strange dogs is the same as my reaction to "friends of my friends" :')
Funny thing is... I have Google Hangouts open in a window next to this video... I know everyone finds is repulsive but I find it to be the solution to everything you're talking about here. I has an online function, where you have a little green dot if you've sent a message in the last 15 minutes or actively have the desktop app open, and it's platform universal. Funny thing is that literally everyone has Hangouts too, if you have a google account you have a Hangouts account, and people with android phones that haven't bothered disabling it will get a notification if you send them a message, even if they've never touched the app before. All of my friends got into using it because back in the day we mostly all met in our online school, most of us didn't have phones but everyone had a google account. If it was more commonly used, I think It'd be a pretty great messaging app, and it has pretty nice 'don't bug me unless I'm bored' settings. But alas, it seems I'll have to settle with just my little group of friends..
It's funny how people go socialize to a pub. But what do you do if you don't want to drink? Like there used to be arcades and so on. But now for young people only place to go hangout (university age) is nightclubs and pubs... :(
Hene193 there's loads more options than when I was a youngun, like late cafes and board game clubs
Jon Massey We don't have those.
Hene193 coffee shops
Canada used MSN messenger!!!! i specifically remember the glittery text gifs, song lyrics in the description...
yeah the glittery text (or any stylistic font) that work by replacing letters with emoticon images, I hated them because they took time to load on dialup and if you're internet is slow right now (or you're downloading something), you basically can't read any of the messages :D
We have still have that i'm bored button now, it's the online notification for Discord.
Why not implement PubFlare as a feature of Emojli?
It just sends a message to a set of people that says 🍻❓
(that's [clinking beer mugs emoji][question mark emoji] for those without good emoji support)
😂😂😂 log vlog
Bugger. Beat me to it. I had exactly the same thought
Vlog on a log with a dog
you could say vLOG
Jay Blayk vlog log
is msn messenger prime nostalgia yet? im 17 and even i remember using msn for a while.
I don't understand the reluctance to message someone. It's not your problem or concern to worry if you are disturbing them. The onus is on them to configure their notifications in such a way that if they receive it then it is not disturbing them. Modern phones have lots of control over how and when apps can notify you. Changing permissions, do not disturb modes, etc.
Alex Prescott exactly?!
My notifications are on such that if someone needs me for something IMPORTANT, they can contact me quickly. My phone's ringer stays on at night so that if a friend who is thinking of doing something extremely stupid can call and we'll talk and I'll help them work out actual life problems.
The friend who abuses that "because they're bored..." Is unlikely to remain much of a friend for long.
For stuff like skype i use it for work. some messages i need to see, like if somebody needs to contract me on short notice. For many its not as simple as turning it off when your busy.
it has to do with perr pressure, if someone messages you, you might feel an obligation to reply even though you might not have the obligation, different workflows also have different requirements for attention, for example your job might require you to answer your text messages within 30 minutes to keep on top of issues, so turning of notifications for that might harm you in the long run, and if your friend texts you what you are doing you have to check you phone anyway to ensure that its not work, I know that you could just have seperate phones for business and private use, but not many people actually have that around where I live.
tikseye and who really wants friends who would effectively demand you pay for a seperate device to carry, keep charged, and pay for in order to effectively be their friend because they don't have a filter and can't be bothered to ask themselves "is this a good time to contact them about something?"
This makes me wonder when was texting invented? Also Yahoo had an IM service? Now that I got to that point, Pub Flair(e) that sounds kind of like Google+. Like you have a social network with multiple circles, one of which is a pub circle, where your group of friends who you want to go the pub with, you send a message within that group.
I'll never be able to unsee how Tom's thumbs looked two different lengths.
New social networks are hard? But Emojli was the biggest thing since sliced Facebook! :D
Funny thing, I’m American and primarily used MSN. Reason being; It was all my friends playing runescape that got me to use it. Runescape being a British made game of course.
I also used AIM to talk to all my “normal” friends ;)
I got ICQ for people in Slovakia and Czechia, I've got a bunch of AIM from I think Romania? MSN for the Brits and I think the Russians were also on ICQ... all ties into Miranda, which, worryingly, still ran when I found it on one of my backup harddrives as a portable about the time of this video!
I remember everyone leaving MSN Messenger for Facebook Messenger. MSN got emptier and emptier and then I just had to get FB. This would have been circa 2009.
I don't really understand Matt's problem with large group chats because he dislikes notifications: The whole point is that you turn them off, and just join in whenever you're bored. Would be even better if Whatsapp would allow you to put them in an 'archive' or 'second rank' tab or something, so they don't clog your normal conversations. Then again, I always just use the search function when the chat I'm looking for isn't the top one.
Exactly this.
Whatsapp does have an archive tab, silly...
And stuff stays there once archived, even people answer?
Also, where do I get there? I found out how to archive things but not how to view them once archived.
"I'm bored, I want to go to the pub": The app
Me, in 2020: Well that app is dead if it ever existed.
I dunno about Trillian, but I used eBuddy. Also, in my social circle, MSN was a thing that was always open when you were on your computer, because it launched at login. Honestly, phone notifications are far less intrusive than MSN's "nudges".
But this is the age of trying to retain ones privacy! So on my phone, you will find Signal, Conversations and Telegram, possibly even Threema, but no Whatsapp or Facebook or anything the like. I even uninstalled Google Hangouts!
I think Snapchat is like this. If someone has a picture of themselves watching television or simple the word ‘Snaps?’ on their story, I know they are bored and probably welcome ‘Hi’s. I know this because I admit to doing the same and receiving ‘Hi’s.
This got me thinking, my cusins (older) remember a time without easy acess to the internet. My cousins (younger) just barely remember a time without smartphone.
And I remember, that there was a time, where broadband was "the new, hot sh***".
On Android phones, you get the notification and when you chose reply, it will give you a small window in which you can read the message, you will have the keyboard on the bottom of the screen, and you can reply. After you hit send, you're back in your original app. Quite neat!
People should just mute their notifications. There's no reason a Facebook message should ding in your pocket causing immediate attention.
And yeah, mute each and every WhatsApp group you're in. If there are other people in the group, sometimes someone will say something to someone else and that won't interest you, so your pocket shouldn't ding. It should ding when someone is looking for you for something urgent or of some immediacy.
What about Steam chat? If someone has a video game program open they're probably bored.
I think Android has actually coming around to handling this pretty well. Silent notifications mean I don't see Messenger, et al until I'm on my phone anyway. If I'm already on my phone, I can respond within the Android notification shade.
Maybe I'm missing something obvious here, but surely the pub flare app would actually work. You want something unintrusive, where you can just set a status which others will see. So surely, if you are bored, you would go onto the app and set your status. the only people who would see the status are people on your contact list who are also bored and have gone onto the app to set their status. Thus, no notifications and no intrusion.
If you wanted to make the whole thing a tiny bit more obvious, you have a counter on the app button with how many people are signalling right now, but just don't have the ping and don't have the names until the app is opened. Therefore, if you see a number on the app button, you can click to look at who it is. If you're busy and you don't want to go out, you either won't see the number (you only check your phone when you're bored, right?) or simply won't open the app.
I'm assuming you were referring to "The Procrastinator". It is definitely still online in a few places, just maybe not on Jay's channel.
steam chat is a bit like that. I only start up steam when I'm bored...
but most instant messengers I treat like regular messengers; If I don't answer you can keep talking. I will read it eventually.
that also means if you someone want to physically meet up with me; they better ask about it long in advance...
Doggy! I miss MSN, surprise dog would totally have been an MSN worthy status update.
Hearing someone say MSN Messanger is really weird... Everyone I knew just called it msn
I literally just thought of Jay Foremans MSN song when Tom mentioned it 😁
The main reason however for MSN Messenger going away was simply due to Microsoft having acquired Skype, and it was pointless to run two separate IM services instead of just merging MSN accounts into Skype which had more features available.
I'm not sure about timing exactly, but I think by that time people were switching to FB anyway and using Messenger. And Skype was _slow_
The best way to fix that problem of notifications is just do it muted. As in the receiver gets a notification on there phone but it doesn't vibrate or make a noise or anything. That way the only people that see it are people who are already looking on their phones and are probably bored also.
Regarding status indicators, I really like that Slack will warn you when someone is in “do not disturb” mode (and give you the option to override it if your message is actually urgent). I wish more IM programs did that.
May be an interesting tidbit for you lot in regards to the messengers: Here in the German speaking region, ICQ was the one to win. :)
Msn feel like eons ago. It was also very popular here in the Netherlands.
I'm a US Citizen living in the US. I used MSN Messenger... mostly to not to talk to anyone, because I was a boring loser...Still am, but at least I can live vicariously through my daughter's activities...
Some restaurants wait staff would do well to respond to patrons for fear of customers shooting a Flare up into and beyond the dropped ceiling.
The story Tom mentions is giving me strong Jeeves & Wooster vibes, like the butlers (or the electronic equivalent of them) are actually handling problems and finding discreet and elegant solutions rather than the actual person they work for dealing with stuff.
If you go into the notification settings you can get close to the idea and only have “show as banners” on.
Elon musk laughs in neura link
MSN, Flares.... okay I'm 10 minutes in now it's time to wait for SURPRISE DOG
This time on park bench: Tom fails terribly at falling off a log.
I'm watching this because I've ran out of internet
I was hoping to get some recommendations for good desktop messaging apps that work on both computer and mobile. Nothing has been the same since MSN merged with Skype. No one uses ICQ anymore and Google discontinued their desktop version on Hangouts. Everything sucks now.
Discord?
Yes, Discord.
I use hangouts in the desktop browser all the time on the gmail site.
9:30 It's called Neuralink. I think is the spelling
Discord is the closest you can get to a 'classic' instant messenger right now, but even it's not perfect.
Can we just agree that everyone should use discord
The dog just wanted to be the mascot for the app! You could call it Availabark!
@6:29 what amazing flare sound effects
The platform that to me seems like it would be (been?) most conducive to something like a 'pub flare' would be google plus, with the way you could set up contacts in circles, to let you let certain people see personal stuff, other see work stuff, and so on.
Matt and Tom when a dog approaches them: Oh that's a dog. Noope go away.
Me when a dog approaches me: high pitched voice, dying of cuteness and cuddling it.
MSN was my life... I talked to my dance friends before and after dance because if I wasn't at dance but had to be there soon or be in bed soon then MSN was my life but I did play outside a lot...
Ok, during this entire video, I was thinking "skype?"... I mean, it has a status page for your contacts... It also has a date when that status was updated. Does this not work as a good replacement?
Random2
It would work if people actually used Skype when they were bored.
So, ehm, the fact that people do not use the existing tool that does what is wanted... is evidence that the tool does not exist? ;)
Random2
It *would* work if people actually used it.
Random2 id say Discord would be a better replacement for Skype - it also supports calling, video calling and screen share, along with a bunch of other features
IMO, no, because it requires an explicit declaration of boredom from the theoretical pub flare recipients; in today's world of apps-everywhere, that's a non-starter. Off of the top of my head, potentially a "message priority" flag that could be set for each message or threaded conversation. The recipient app could follow the notification (or lack thereof) rules that they've configured to let them know that someone has sent them a low priority message.
Thinking about the "pub flare" idea... Perhaps you could make it work with a tinder-style system? I.e. You press the "I'm Bored" button, and then if anyone else on your friends list presses the button within, say, 30 minutes, you both get notified? Perhaps it could even automatically create a group chat of everyone who's bored at that moment?
What's up with Hangouts? It's probably the best messenger around right now, right?
I don't recognise the problem you're talking about. I message people whenever I feel like it. It's their own responsibility whether they'll answer or not.
Miss this series, on my second run thru
American here who used MSN. Eventually also got Trillian (little silent cheer when Tom called out there), had an AOL account for the couple people too stubborn to get MSN (DO WHAT I DO DAMMIT), and an ICQ room or two. This is Good Video right here.
Also, the solution to Pub Flare sounds simple: an app that sends your status to all your friends who also have the app (based on your Contacts, probably), but doesn't notify them about it. If they want to check the app, they can, and they'll see a list of everyone's status, but there's no intrusion because there's no real-time notification.
And it's so general, it could just be called Status Flare.
I almost want to make this, but it would require a reliable server as a hub for the status data, and I don't want to pay for one. Hey, Tom and Matt, mind providing some hosting for me? :P
(Yes, it would require manually setting your status rather than automatically figuring it out from activity, but MSN's status system was also manual :) )
I'm not even that old, 18 to be exact, and even I think the digital (social) world is worse than 10 years ago. Even if its just the status system or that Multi-Msg-Apps don't exist anymore, it's still a little bit worse than it was.
Pidgin on computers and Xabber on Android are both multi-protocol apps. Not sure about iOS. Although it was annoying when Facebook dropped support for it.
I want 10 years ago software with today technology
Not ALL APIs are closed.
Discord,
Slack(?),
Twitter (not really an IM though)
and many more are open, and all have nodejs modules.
I used MSN messenger from when it was still called Hotmail Messenger ;p
Skype still has a status: online, busy, away, invisible. (although I only use Skype for work ;p)
It's almost like a video log...
I don't think I ever used MSN Messenger. Used a tiny bit of AIM, but in Germany, ICQ was king. I still remember my ICQ account number even though it must have been like 12 years since I last used it.
Discord does it p well tbh
Discord is nice for this actually, just message a specific roll and ask "@friends Hey, I'm bored, pub." And setting admin settings for channels so only that roll can see the channel you post it in. Discord is actually quite nice for simultaneously separating and combining groups of people.
Regarding interoperability, not only were there apps that would aggregate your different IM accounts, but there were also multiple IM services that could talk to each other over XMPP, not entirely unlike the way a Gmail user can exchange email with a Hotmail user. Do you think there is any chance for some sort of new IM protocol to come about that would enable that sort of interoperability, or are all the companies big enough to pull it off too happy inside their walled gardens?
Also just remembered there was a plugin that connected to your Winamp and updated with the song you were listening to.
Every so often, someone would watch an adult movie in Winamp before going to sleep, which meant the status stayed there until next day. Whoopsie...
I know it's certainly not for everybody, but although I don't frequent it these days, I still really like IRC as a chat platform.
There are at least two apps for desktop. Franz and Rambox. That can be used to open multiple IM things. They're essentially stripped down web browsers that open the web clients.