Babble: Real Time Chat

[EL PaperBoy]

This is the self hosted version of babble chat. it requires you to have access to nodejs or provide nodejs for it. this is a unconditional requirement for this application.

Babble is a new type of chat, for a new age of the internet. Babble is a real time chat ( using socket.io ), messages are sent to all who are connected, instantly without waiting. Babble offers several advantages over other chats, one of the biggest is drastically reduced server resource use (especially as new members join the chat).

Features

• Multiple Site Rooms
  
• Private Rooms (rooms that are created by users, that can then invite other members into the room)
  
• Whispers (Private Messages, these are one to one convo's between 2 members)
  
• Clubs Integration (allow clubs to create rooms for their club)
  
• 2 Viewing modes (Global Chat Bar and Legacy View mode)
  
• Room Sounds (receiving/sending messages or entry/leaving of a room will play a sound, this is user configurable).
  
• Room Bots (there are several bots available to set for site rooms, and bots can be made available for private/club rooms)
  
• Room Commands, commands allow you to perform various actions by sending them thru the message area.
  
• Online List
  
• Browser Notifications (receive a browser notification if the browser is unfocused and new messages have been sent to any of the rooms you are a member of)
  
• Offline @mention notification (if user is mentioned in a chat, and is offline at the time, they will receive a notification about being mentioned in the chat, user must have access to the room to be able to receive the notification).
  
• Private Room Limits - max amount of private rooms a user group can create
  
• Private/Club bot limits - this allows you to configure how many and what kind of bots a user group/club can have in their rooms.
  
• and much more 
  

Bots

Babble Offers several bots that can be configured for site rooms and bots can be configured by private and club room owners (permission based in the ACP for groups). Bots can be configured to target specific users groups (who to show to and who can trigger them).

• Count - this bot will be triggered after x amount of new messages
  
• Phrase - can be setup to be triggered by a keyword or phrase that will trigger it (can limit how many matches it makes in the ACP)
  
• Time (minutes or clocks) - These bots can be configured to run every x minutes or at a specific time of the day (based on server time, not user time).
  
• Notifications - can be configured to receive notifications from new content from various other IPS and 3rd party apps.
  
• Registrations - will send a message when there is a new registration to the site
  
• Custom Trigger Bot - this bot is an advanced bot, and PHP can be used to setup its trigger conditions. this bot will not be available to be used by private or club rooms, due to its advanced nature, it could be configured to have a negative impact on your community. it can only be configured for site rooms, in the ACP by users who have access to the ACP and babble.
  
• Custom Time Bot - this is similar to the above bot, but it can be configured to run at a specific time or x amount of minutes. the same restrictions have been applied to this bot as the one above. 
  

Commands

Commands are more or less a relic of a bygone era, they are styled in the fashion of commands you would find in like IRC/Slack offers now days. There are various stock ones that babble comes with by default, and you are able to add new ones. The commands can be limited to user groups (who can use them) and limited by which rooms they can be used in. You can even configure them to be able to be used in Private and club rooms. here is a list of the ones available by default in babble.

• Announce - allows you to set an announcement in a room, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Ban - ban members from a room, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Restrictions - show a list of members who have been banned or muted for that room, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Clear - clears a room's messages (this is only a temporary and doesn't delete the messages from the database).
  
• Facepalm - an "easter egg", everyone loves a good ol' facepalm   
  
• Help - ironically a help command to show how to use the commands.
  
• Ignore - adds a user to your Accounts ignore list (will hide their messages and prevent them from sending you whispers).
  
• Kick - can temporally kick a user from a room that is being unruly, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Logout - logs you out of the site.
  
• Me - returns the message in a specialized way to set it apart from regular messages.
  
• Mute - mute a member in a room. this will mute a member, so their messages will not show to other members, but they will be able to see the messages themselves. This differs from ignore (as ignore is a user level 'mute'), this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Notifications - this command allows a user to ignore the "notification bot"
  
• Password - allows a password to be set on a room, this command is considered a moderator command. (this command will force everyone in the room out and will display the password form).
  
• Purge - This will clear all the messages from a room, this permanent and will delete ALL messages from a room, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Rand - if giphy is enabled in site enhancements, will randomly grab a giphy image or allow you to do a search for a random giphy image in a category.
  
• Reload - caused the page to refresh.
  
• Stats - if stats are enabled for a room, will show the stats.
  
• Topic - set a room topic (different from announcement, it is less pronounced and is underneath the room title), this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Unban - allow you to unban a member from a room, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Unignore - removes a user from your ignore list (i know unignore isn't a word  )
  
• Unmute - unmutes a member who has been muted before the mute expires, this command is considered a moderator command.
  
• Invite - this for private rooms, allows the room owner to invite a new user to the room
  
• Remove - this is for private room, allows the room owner to 'kick' a user from the room.
  

View the full article