In regards to troubled connections

We've been getting a lot of voiced frustration in the blog comments about not being able to connect to synchtube.

The unfortunate reality is that only a small subset of individuals cannot connect, and it is really difficult to figure out why. There are so many factors to consider -- possible slow internet connections, browser compatibility, bad wi-fi signal, firewalls (both home and office), possible drops in wi-fi signal... and so on

Let me tell you that we are looking into it, but it is terribly difficult to debug and fix the issue for everyone. People tell me things like "it is Firefox 6" yet on all instances of my Firefox 6 in different configurations, it seems to run fine, and let me tell you I must have tried at least 50 browser and connection combinations. That is only one example of the combinations that I run. For those attacking the new client -- it has nothing to do with the client as the connections are all issued by the server, which has not changed.

I've tried to recreate as many combinations as possible, but it still seems I am missing a few. The only thing I can say is that hopefully this issue resolves itself as time goes on, browsers start to be compatible with our tech other, and the libraries we are using upgrade themselves.

I do indeed apologize for those who cannot connect to synchtube. If you can give me details about your connection, browsers, and OS, I can drill into it further and attempt to figure it out, but without those details I'm pretty helpless to try to resolve it. Here is a sample list you can send me:

1. Browser & Version
2. Connection (home/office)
3. Antivirus?
4. Firewall?
5. OS?

You can e-mail the info to synchtube@gmail.com. I try to look at all configurations sent. Once again please note that you aren't being ignored, it's just that we have started to run short ideas on how to fix the remaining connectivity issues.

Thanks all.

~mrchess


EDIT: 12/11/2011 One thing for sure at this point is that AVG, Avast, and Bitdefender ALL block synchtube. So don't use these if you plan to use synchtube well.

Testing Room Specific Karma

A push occurred today that enables you to vote on the video playing, and acquire karma.

Eventually there will be two types of karma, "room specific" and "sitewide".

Room specific is just your karma you've collected in that specific room.

Sitewide is just a total amount of karma you've collected from all the rooms (to be implemented later)

We aren't sure what else to do with karma yet, but it will be nice to have if that day ever comes. If you can think of anything let us know. Regardless of karma, it is nice to have the indicators if the video is liked or not.

~mrchess

18+ rooms and foul language

Hi all.

EDIT 9/10:  A simple warning should suffice like any other website. Thanks for the feedback.

We've been getting a lot of complaints about the foul content and language that is occurring in some of the bigger rooms.

Due to these complaints and other legal issues, soon we will be labeling these rooms as 18+ rooms. If your room gets flagged as 18+, users will need to confirm their age to enter the rooms, and the room will not be listed on the front page.

Other than that the rooms won't be changed in any way. They'll just have that pre-viewing warning on them like any other site that has 18+ content.

Cheers,

~mrchess