Ahh, thanks Rex. I was going to propose IRC as a 5th option. I wouldn't be averse to trying to use IRC, but I do think that Slack has many of the same functions and is easier for people to join as you don't need a client. I'm currently trying to start an internal staff Slack channel, but we could also have a community Slack channel which other people could join. 

John

On 19 August 2016 at 20:11, Rex X <rexx@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
In times gone-by, we used to host "office hours" on the WMUK channel on irc.

For anybody not familiar with it, our channel is at irc://freenode/wikimedia-uk

For anybody not familiar with irc, it requies a client, like mirc or a browser
plugin like chatzilla. It allows large numbers of participants, is real-time
chat, and gives a lot of control over the channel.

It might be considered old technology now, but may be worth a thought.

--
Rexx


> On 19 August 2016 at 19:53 John Lubbock <john.lubbock@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
>
>
> Hello all, I've been thinking about how WMUK can communicate better with
> our community and let Wikimedians communicate with each other. I've heard
> from some community members that they were a little disappointed that
> people were no longer using the Water Cooler page for discussions.
>
> I'd like to propose some different options and ask if you have any other
> suggestions about how you'd like to communicate with us and others in the
> community. So I've put a poll on Twitter
> <https://twitter.com/wikimediauk/status/766703544275767297> with some
> options for communications channels. I couldn't put more than four options,
> so I chose Facebook, the Water Cooler, Slack and the Mailing List.
>
> I'd really appreciate if you could take the time to vote which one you'd
> prefer or reply here or to the Tweet with any other suggestions for how
> you'd like to communicate with us.
>
> What I'm really keen to communicate are the opportunities for our community
> to engage with us, propose projects, receive funding and other assistance
> from WMUK. To this end, it would be good to have an open channel or
> discussion group of some kind where we can respond to your ideas and allow
> you to ask us questions about our work. We'd like to be as open as the
> knowledge we promote, so please let us know your views about how we can do
> that better.
>
> Have a great weekend!
>
> John Lubbock
> Communications Coordinator
> Wikimedia UK
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk

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