Remembering people in hotlists.

[SamSeeSam]

I was wondering bout this for a long time. I know that since winmx is a decentralised network, remembering constantly changing user names is impossible as there is no central directory to look up from. But then what if we all had some small notebooks with some of our friends so that we could see if they are there.

We could make users to connect to some range of users when they connect to winmx. and then their friends could connect to those primaries as well. That primary can have a directory of the people and their friends. If my friend is not there in this primary, i'll search for the next one, and so on, for say a 100 users. No fancy stuff. Only the notification if or if not they are online or not. A group of friends can for example have a list of primaries they are going to connect to. If they want to find any one of their friends, then all they have to is to check the primaries which other users have to or will connect to. Better still, they always try to connect to one another. That way, a third person does not come into play. Sort of like the internet, winmx will be a group of groups.

This is undoubtly difficult for a small group of friends. But it could work for a large group of them.

I would like to know more on this subject. This does seem impossible. but on September 21 2005, so did winmx.

All comments happily welcomed.

[GhostShip]

Hi Samseesam  

You have some good ideas there, but as usual there are obstacles in the way of them  

Having a friends network is not as secure as having a random primary and make a more compromisable network, thats one of the benefits of not having a permanent hotlist, there is no way to contact folks unless you have contact with them in an file exchange or chat first.

I do think we are going around the houses here, friends could just meet in a certain chat room without going to the trouble of using the network to check certain primaries for known users and the problems that could bring with fake returns.

The only networks offering a login style system that will fit the description are those operated by a central server and as folks have found out, they are neither secure or trustworthy.
Decentralised has it down sides but its now seen as vital in most modern network clients.

I hope that helps a little in explaining why I dont think its a good idea, but its great to hear your ideas all the same , cheers  

[SamSeeSam]

Mabye I didn't explain properly the term 'network'.

What I meant was that some friends could connect to a fixed set of primaries and then search for each other. I connect to say primary C say.

I search for my friends in primarys A,B,..... till say Z.

My friend told me that that we generally connect to a fixed set of primaries already (Correct me if i am wrong here. If so don't read ahead). So we could have an option like say, to find out to which primaries my friend is connecting to by getting his primary list from his comp. I have to ask him for his permission to have his list. If he says No then i can't contact him. If he says yes, well and good.

We could also build in an option to have a new primary list if we want to delete the old one. That way, the network is still decentralised, but we can still find out our friends.

I had this idea since I had found a user with many songs that I wanted But I couldn't find him. I am still trying to find him....

"going to the trouble of using the network to check certain primaries for known users and the problems that could bring with fake returns." i couldn't follow that part of your coment. Please elaborate.

One more thing. What exactly are peer cahes?

Cheers

[KM]

the peer caches are servers that tell your winmx which primary users to connect to - otherwise it has no idea where to connect, it has to be told where it can find primary users

you can not use a fixed list of primary users, as ignoring the fact that primaries are not all on 24/7/365, there is also the fact that many users have dynamic IP Address that change daily if not more often

and any attempts to search for users - what would prevent someone saying "yes, that's me, send me your private messages"? exactly the same thing preventing macrovision flooding out "i have the file you want get it here"... nothing

[SamSeeSam]

"what would prevent someone saying "yes, that's me, send me your private messages"? exactly the same thing preventing macrovision flooding out "i have the file you want get it here"... nothing"

I agree with that point of yours but there is one thing. I know the ID of my friend. So if this stranger was here then I would know it immediately. Of course the possibility of having the same ID will be very real espicially since there IS NO FIXED ID. So we could have a secret question to identify ourselves. Plus i don't think you can evasdrop on other people's conversations in winmx, except in chatrooms of course.

'Private messages'

I doubt many people will pour out their hearts on winmx. We have hotmail, yahoo, rediff, gmail for that i believe. We are going to dowload each other's songs, there i now viruses are a possibility. But still, songs are songs.

But there will definately be more people making better use of this rather than take advantage of it.


Before this thread moves on, just tell me one thing. IS it possible or not. I know this question is silly, as i know very little C++ without any knowledge of the vast number of difficultuies there would be in making this facility feasible, not to mention legal issues. Still is it possible or not. The continuing of this topic is dependent on it.

[KM]

no, it is not possible - the only way to do it would be with fundamental changes to winmx which would even then not be able to do it properly without a central server and registration etc

[Bearded Blunder]

Just a suggestion, but since you speak of "a group of friends" why not one of you simply host a chatroom, you'd all know where to go, you could pm to your heart's content whilst there, & trade files etc.. it's a simple approach used my many with specific interests.. movies, classes of music etc..

[SamSeeSam]

The reason is... that once when i hosted a chatroom, it took ages for them to find it. Don't know why. Most about 15 mins, some couldn't but i suspect that they may have been wading through all the 1500 channels that come.

Some of my other friends also tried it, I managed to find it. But they couldn't. Most are new users who get confused about using and finding chatrooms. Anyway, i asked about this so that it would be easier for new users until they get used to winmx. Anyway it was just an idea. So the only other option left is what you mentioned. Most of us don't log on simultaneously. So hosting a chatroom all day long for a few friends is not worth it. Plus since not many people know how to host one. So i thought mabye..........

[Bearded Blunder]

well it's way more workable now than back in 3.31.. favourites make finding channels so very much easier.. as doees the filter box, you only need a room's name to find it, even a partial name makes it easy

[Sharecat5000]

hafta say this sam, but love it or hate it, good old yahoo chat is probably the best solution to your wish

if you get a number of winmx buddies on your friends list, simply put them into a group of their own, and if you use invisible mode, make yourself visible to that group. educate your buddies to do the same.

Since yahoo closed down user created rooms makes it difficult to have a room, altho theres some really (un)interesting rooms that you could always 'hijack' i know a group of aussies that occupy the gardening room, with nary a word about gardening lol

but theres my thought: a group in ur yahoo buddy list that u stay visible to, and 'borrow' a empty yahoo room if you wanna do that

[Scyre]

That really IS the best idea...

Use yahoo to contact, and then just use someone elses room to meet.

"Hey Joe, I am at this room:    GenericRoomName_A825B4213065"

So they put that room name in their winmx filter box and click join room.
Once they are there just add them to hotlist.

No need to host a room, and no need to search through thte room list. Winmx also has a setting to disable the room list fetching, and I don't use it often unless one of my favorites has changed IP addresses. Then it IS necessary to search through the list, but otherwise I never even fetch the list.

Hope this helps

Best regards and BE GOOD!
Scyre