The new bridge number that I switched the "official" bridge to a month or two ago has been shut down. A message on the line says that it's been shut down because the phone company doesn't like bridges. They have a new number that they're directing people to, but this is getting annoying. Maybe 2011 is the year that we need to finally ditch telephone numbers and use something else. The internet has evolved to a point where we shouldn't have to deal with phone numbers anymore. Fuck phone numbers.
The problem with most services is that you have to be invited to them. I hate that. I like for anyone to be able to join in on the conversation without having to beg being added to the conference. I think letting people lurk in silence is a good thing. Skype conferences are awesome, but there's no way for complete strangers to join in with us. Skype used to have public voice chat rooms, but they shut them down a couple years ago. So what else can we use?
http://www.tinychat.com is cool. I know they limit the number of people who can broadcast their video, but do they limit the number of people who can broadcast their voice? The limit is 12, I think, but then I think an unlimited number of people can sit in the chat room to text chat and just listen to everyone else. Actually, maybe limiting it to 12 is a good idea since all I care about is that other people can lurk in the background. Tinychat also connects us all to our Facebook accounts, which is kind of nice. And we can turn off the audio/video of people that are annoying. Phone calls can be made by people who know how to route their Skype audio settings appropriately.
Are there any downsides to tinychat? All I can think of is that we won't be able to chat from our cell phones when we're out and away from the computer. Unless there's a Tinychat iphone and android apps.
What other options are there for audio chat rooms though? Video is optional. Something like Yahoo chat rooms, but where we can create our own room for the PLA. Something that people can just drop in on anytime they want, without having to be invited.
