Chatbox

[SharanVaidy]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
One of the most difficult parts of online Model UN is communication between delegates.

Describe the solution you'd like
I'm unsure of the difficulty of this feature, but integrating a chat into the sessions is an excellent way to make the communication problem less apparent.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I've considered using MUN Command, but their regular session app doesn't have chats, only their Conference app does, which costs money at scale.

Additional context
MUN Command's chatbox.

[MaxwellBo]

Hi Sharan!

Chat is something I've definitely considered adding, but there's a few major roadblocks before I can implement it.

1. Currently, delegates are anonymous when the use the app. I would have to add a "Member picker" that would allow delegates to choose a member to impersonate. This is really tricky to get working, and would take some time that I currently don't have available
2. Recently, the vast majority of MUNs have been taking place on Discord, due to COVID. I bumped the priority for chat down a couple of notches because Discord already has a pretty extensive chat implementation, and a lot of MUNs were using that instead.

Is there anything in particular that Slack or Discord don't provide for a MUN? Chats corresponding to caucuses? Votes launched from chat? Private file sharing?

[SharanVaidy]

Hi!

For sure! I agree that Slack and Discord work well, it's just that MUN Command being so centralized is very helpful for large conferences and we were wondering if that could be integrated for MunCoordinated, or maybe as a part of a future version of MunCoordinated that has a 'Conference' mode or something! I absolutely agree though, that integrated chat is super difficult to develop and likely isn't worth it in the long run. Thank you for your response and work!

[MaxwellBo]

For what it's worth, I've roadmapped a conference mode eventually (#104), so if you have any ideas on how that should work, feel free to post your ideas into there!

[SharanVaidy]

Will do, thanks!