The Arda Post is pleased to announce our affiliation with the Tolkien Gateway IRC chat service.  This is a partnership that has been a long work in progress but we've finally managed to work out the details and would like to introduce our host to you. 

We'll be posting a poll in the forums to see which night of the week will work out best for our Community, and will follow-up with all the information needed to connect for the chat.  Without further ado, I present the interview I held with Hyarion from Tolkien Gateway IRC.

AP: If you could describe for us, in 300 words or less, what your chat service is all about I think our readers would be very excited to learn about what's in store for them.

Hyarion: The Tolkien Gateway IRC Network was devised to allow all the Tolkien sites to be able to chat under one roof instead of idle half-empty channels spread across a vast amount of servers. I was tired of some servers banning people for the most minute thing and other servers not caring about anything at all. If only I could explain more about the chat, but unfortunately it looks like ep has capped me off at quite a low number of words at which I'm unable to describe the true meaning behind the chat, 300 words is such a low number that I'm forced to squeeze everything together into a meaningless pulp  because of the restrictions that were forced upon me, you, the true fans are left without the required information while ep continues to force restrictions on us.

AP: I guess that means there's more to say than 300 words can possibly allow!  Okay, well let's try going at this another way... What's the average number of chatters using your service on any given night?

Hyarion: Unfortunately it's difficult starting out with a brand new empty server but visitors are slowly finding their way here. We average around 10-20 people hanging out in the lobby and have maxed around 40+.

AP: That's fantastic!  We love that your server is so new, and that we're being asked to come aboard and help put it on the map for Tolkien-specific IRC chats.  I know our readers would like to hear more about some of the special features offered through your server, do you ever hold special events, or directed chats specific to any particular topics?

Hyarion: Let's face it, special events are what attract the most people, and they're the most fun! So we try to have them as frequently as possible. On Halloween we managed to giveaway a Peter Jackson as Corsair statue courtesy of Sideshow Weta. And we are in talks with the New York Tolkien Society about getting some of the cast from the Ancanar film into chat.

We would really love to work with AP in getting some LotRO related events happening on the server to spread the word about the game to those who are either unaware of the game still or to those of us who love getting the inside scoop.

AP: Wow.  I think I speak for all of us when I say how enticing that sounds! You can bet the AP will make every effort to be part of those events and to help spread the word in the Community.  One concern I have is the way our users will be finding their way to your service.  This is an IRC server, and there are various ways to connect to it right?

Hyarion:  The greatest thing about IRC is the ability to connect to it from a vast amount of programs. Some people prefer xChat, some mIRC, some have no idea what IRC is and just need the simplest way to connect, IRC provides all that.

To make everyone's life easier we try and look for as many java clients and regular clients as possible to let the user decide what they like best because we all have our own opinions and tastes.

AP: That's great information, Hyarion.  We'll do our best to make sure our readers know about all the various clients they can use to access the server.  We've been talking about having a weekly Arda Post channel for our specific AP Community, but what about the other days and night of the week?  Will our readers be able to sign in and chat about even if it's outside of our scheduled chat?

Hyarion: Of course! Specified time chats are a great way to get a large amount of people into a channel at once because they can prepare for the chat and make sure they are available for it, unlike just a general open channel in which everyone joins in at different times and you don't get much of a conversation going.

The server is online 24/7/365 and eventually we want to always have something going on so maybe Mondays we would host an AP chat and all the users, even the non-AP members would go check it out what all the commotion is, then maybe Tuesdays the Heren Istarion has a chat so everyone go checks that out. This allows sites to gain more traffic by enlightening new people about themselves.

AP: Wonderful!  It's great to think we could end up forging new friendships and getting to know new people who share a common love for Tolkien. Heck, we may even make some new LOTRO gamers in the process!  For those times when our readers are connected, what besides chatting is available through your server?

Hyarion: One service which we offer is our Tolkien Trivia bots which are online 24/7/365 and we are constantly adding new questions. Currently we're up to over 1,000 questions, about half specifically related to the books and the other half regarding Peter Jackson's movies. Because the questions have evolved into such a massive collection we now allow users to submit, edit, or even delete the questions at a website we make available to registered users. The bot is then updated with the new questions usually on a daily basis but we are working on getting it done dynamically.

We also offer a page which lists the statistics for the Trivia bot, the rankings, who has the most points, who has the fastest answer time, etc. at another site we share with our members.

AP: That sounds fun!  I guess I'll have to brush up on my lore before taking up a trivia challenge.  You know, you're offering a lot of services - this must cost a fortune to maintain.  Is there a fee or charge for accessing the chat?

Hyarion: There is absolutely no fee or charge of advertising of any kind and never will be. I'm a fan of the open source movement and helping out the community makes it all worth it.

AP: It's good to meet like-minded folks!  I think we at the AP are happy to be a part of a Community fellowship such as this one.  I'm guessing more than just a few of our members will be checking out the service.  What sort of atmosphere can they expect when they first visit?

Hyarion: We try to cater to all audiences because we find Tolkien fans come from many different age groups and cultures. Anything can be discussed in private channels and between individuals, but we try to moderate the main channels as best as we can.

When Tolkien websites join the server they have the ability to set up their channel's bot to reflect their community, some community's might have the bot kick a user if they say the word "damn" others might prefer a more open conversation and not kick anyone for saying anything, fine by us. We try to keep the main lobby somewhere in the middle to keep everyone happy.

In the end, most people will find that the chat is here to have fun, not to enforce endless amounts of rules upon individuals. It also doesn't take too long to realize that we are a sarcastic bunch and always love a good laugh but we get down to business when it's time to be serious.

AP: Fantastic!  I know our readers will be glad to know the Arda Post channel will reflect the atmosphere of our Community while still giving us access to the greater Tolkien community at large.  With so many different things going on, I just have to know - how long have you been offering this service?

Hyarion: I started the server earlier this year and upgraded the software and moved it to a dedicated server over the past few months as the activity began to steadily grow. At the moment we are looking at not only upgrading the server and bandwidth but adding multiple servers to keep the network as steady as possible.

AP: Yes, I think it's taking us more than just a few months to get the details worked out and get ready to come aboard.  I'm glad we're finally there!  One last question, because I'm curious in light of what we've learned here.  What do you consider to be the most gratifying part of your work here?

Hyarion: The most gratifying? Oh my, just hearing that one compliment makes my day, knowing I'm making a difference and helping out other Tolkien fans makes it all worth it. Watching the server and  community grow around you is very inspirational feeling as well.

AP: Well, Hyarion, you definitely have my compliments.  You've put a lot of hard work into a great  service and from one Community-based site to another, it's well-intentioned people like you who make kinship and fellowship have meaning.  Thank you for affiliating with the Arda Post, and keep the fire lit for us.  We'll be heading into our first AP chat soon!