Hi! I’d like to suggest the ability to whisper or message multiple people at once, perhaps delimited with something other than a space (comma or semicolon?), in case you need to disambiguate someone by using their last name or something.
6 Likes
A comma-separated list makes sense to me. From a design perspective, most lists are comma delimited already, so it’d be fairly intuitive.
3 Likes
yeah. looks viable so long as commas are not currently valid for names.
2 Likes
Welcome to the forum, @Tlancaalek! 
And glad to see you, @Jagrabbit! 
Comma separation is good. Names cannot contain comma anyway.
But what would the behavior be? Let’s say I type:
w Xetem, Tlancaalek = Hi guys!
Each target character would see what other character’s were included in the whisper.
Eg. the chat log for Xetem/Tlancaalek would show:
Now. How to reply?
Reply menu option
We can have a log entry menu option (under the ⋮ menu) that says Reply. This would automatically enter the following into the console (if used by Xetem):
whisper Accipiter, Tlancaalek =
If something else already existed in the console, it will be pushed to the history, retrievable using Ctrl + Up.
Reply command
Create a reply command that whispers back to the last whisperer(s).
reply whisper = Hello, Acci!
would equal a whisper to Accipiter and Tlancaalek.
This would cause problem whenever another whisper suddenly comes just before you press enter. Mav! So, this is probably not the way to go.
Reply auto complete
We could let pressing autocomplete (Tab) give us the reply target(s) to the latest whisper, if tab is pressed before starting to type any names?
E.g. @Xetem presses the following in order; w, Space, Tab, and it would autocomplete to :
w Accipiter, Tlancaalek
3 Likes
I like all of those reply options. One thing from Tapestries IIRC is that over there they have something along the lines of whisper #reply which would be a like the suggested reply whisper but with the acting command still in front. This could be done here either with some sort of escape (like a # or a $) to differentiate between a reply and someone named ‘reply’ or through some sort of shorthand character to imply it (maybe something like whisper * = Some reply whisper. or another easy to access character).
One thing I like about the menu option (even if it’s not the primary method) is that it should allow using a reply-type flow even while carrying multiple reply-able conversations.
1 Like
Yeah, that syntax is on FurryMuck, as well, and has the same sort of mav-creating race condition as reply whisper would. I’m personally okay with not sticking too close to Fuzzball-inspired syntax, but that’s mainly because I’ve had a client-side implementation of tab conversations (as in, each separate conversation via page or whisper is held in a separate tab, which automatically prepends a whisper or page command as appropriate, complete with participants).
I do like the idea of a shorthand syntax, though.
1 Like
I would quite like to see this! I rarely on FurryMUCK use the whisper with a reply tag… I’ll just type it out. Multi-paging or multi-whispering at all would be very helpful. 
1 Like
This looks pretty reasonable for setting up replies honestly. Anything that includes on-line GUI right-click/hold-click options is desirable too so you can click a name for interaction options. Having typeable commands is great as backup, but we should be also always looking to play to the strengths of the site design - so the idea to include things into the ⋮ is a good plan as well.
I am however surprised that there are no clickable options that appear when you left click on a user’s name in the output window - naturally, this is where I would default to communication or investigation options involving interacting with a specific user.
1 Like
I agree that we should look into the strengths of using a webclient over a tradition telnet connection that MU*s do. This may be for another feature topic, but the idea of having options available by clicking or right-clicking a character’s name seems very intuitive. The option to whisper, message, mail, address, etc. I feel like would not only make the site feel a little bit more modern, but also be an easier way to introduce newer users to those concepts without either having to be told it’s there or look it up in the help file.
2 Likes
Yeah, this was along the same thoughts I was having. Even though this is leaps and bounds better than telnet clients, it still feels like I have to say ‘there’s a well documented help file that should cover the bases’ too often for it to feel good. Info blob is great to have, but some things are used so commonly that they should possibly have more presence. But as you say, we might need another thread unless Accipiter just decides to run the ball without one as he does sometimes. X3
1 Like