Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

When’s the best time to chat? — WITH POLL

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The Internet is a marvelous thing, and there are lots of very clever people out there writing nifty programs that take advantage of it.  One really spiffy one that I’ve just become aware of is called “Cover It Live,” which is live-blogging software with all sorts of bells and whistles.  Essentially, it should allow us to do the on-line equivalent of a radio call-in show, where we are live-chatting with a guest and we take comments and questions from users.  The beauty of it is that since we control which comments show up on the live-blog and when, it’s much more orderly than trying to do a live chat in a regular post.

Needless to say, we are right now trying to line up some excellent guests to try this out.  Which leads me to ask: if we were to schedule an online chat, say for an hour, when is the best time of day to do it?  Clearly a weekday, since our traffic is much higher on weekdays.  But when?  Take the poll, or drop your thoughts in the comments.

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  1. (because I’m such a nerd)

    <

    p>Make a histogram of all posting timestamps.  Of course each bar needs a width, so use :15.  How many posts between 8:00-8:15?  Between 14:30 and 14:45?

    <

    p>You could even get fancier.  How many posts by the 100 most prolific posters?  How many posts by gary/MRCD/PP/JoeTS/etc?  How many when sabtui isn’t around?

    <

    p>Instead of asking people in a poll, use the data man, use the data.

    • I think that much was clear when we delved into moral philosophy as an aside.  As a freakin’ aside, man.

    • And I’m a big believer in looking at what people actually do, rather than what they say.  

      <

      p>But, there are many, many, lurkers who might be interested in a live chat, who might actually post a question to a guest, who don’t post otherwise.

      <

      p>Kate

      • but it’s a hypothesis without any evidence; hardly what I’d base policy on.  For the lurkers who won’t post, they can read the transcript anytime later anyway.

        <

        p>

        <

        p>P.S. No shame in being a nerd or geek or dork if you’re using it to contribute.

    • For example, at work, I can spare a minute here and there – or, too often, ten minutes here and there – to browse through and post here. That doesn’t mean I have the time or ability to attend a live chat in the middle of my work day.

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