Originally Posted by
Jasper2009
Ok, leaving aside that I'm a dinosaur, what platform would you recommend for a chat:
a) that involves multiple people (3-4)
b) allows participants to post replies consisting of multiple paragraphs (and a minimum of formatting/editing before posting)
c) is accessible easily both using a cell phone and desktop computer
(I had to considered a secret FB group, but was wondering whether there are any better alternatives.)
Slack is probably the best messaging option for the sort of use you're talking about. It's free for small teams (or large, low volume ones -- the limit on free is a rolling 10,000 message archive limit) and the support is quite good if you go to the paid version. It has a good web interface, a very good Android app, and GREAT a desktop version for Windows, Linux and Mac. I'm told the iOS version is better still but I don't use iOS.
A Facebook or Google group isn't a bad alternative. Google Groups are better on desktop and have an email gateway. They're much clumsier on mobile unless you're using the email gateway.
If not for the mobile access, this really sounds more like you want a private message board or wiki.
Originally Posted by
chx1975
Slack? There's minimal formatting and certainly you can have multiple paragraphs and a lot more. There's a website and a mobile site (and a desktop app which is just the website packaged with its own Chrome).
One nice thing with Slack is that you can post documents or formatted "snippets" to the channel, with a comment, and then people don't have to skim over the whole thing -- just the comment. They've also added a threaded view.