#WPChat: Defined

#WPChat is a weekly Twitter chat that takes place on Tuesday night at 8PM EST  (5PM PST).  We focus on having discussions on WordPress design and development, and on showcasing WordPress used in unique and interesting ways.

Sounds awesome.  What do we talk about?

I want to run #WPChat very similarly to how #BlogChat runs.  Every week we’ll have an overarching topic that we can discuss.  Every so often we’ll have an “Open Topic” where we can come in and talk about the interesting things we’re doing with WordPress, talk about upcoming WordPress events, and just network with other people who love WordPress as much as we do!

How do Twitter Chats work?

Having a discussion with a group of people on Twitter is hard – especially if you have lots of followers and messages scroll by in droves.  It’s just as hard, I believe, if you have very few followers; you only have so many people you can talk to.  We use the #WPChat hashtag to connect everyone who’s talking to an easy-to-follow section.

How do I Monitor the Conversation?

Log onto Twitter a few minutes before the scheduled time.  If you use a service such as TweetDeck or Hootsuite, add a column with the “#WPChat” hashtag – you’ll be able to follow all of the conversation easily as the tweets come in.  If you don’t use either of those services, there is also TweetChat – you simply enter the hashtag in at the top and the tweets will trickle in as new ones are posted!

How do I Join In?

Just do it!  Write out a post that you feel contributes to the conversation and add the #WPChat hashtag – it’ll show up in the hashtag feed and everyone following it will see it – regardless of whether or not they follow you!

(as an aside, if you’re replying to another user in #WPChat, make sure to avoid putting their username at the front of the tweet.  Either structuring the tweet around their username or adding a ‘.’ to the beginning will help.  See this post for more info!)

Are there any Rules?

So… this is Twitter, and therefore I don’t own it.  I can’t MAKE you follow these rules, but I’d appreciate it (and so would the rest of the participants) if you’d remember these four guidelines:

1. No Spamming!  Linking to your blog is OK, but only do it once per chat (we’ll usually call for introductions from everyone at the beginning – that’s a PERFECT time to shoot out a link).  You can also post links to your blog posts only if they are directly related to the topic at hand.  Use your best judgement; we’re all adults here, so let’s act like it!
2. Stay On Topic!  With the exception of “Open Topic” nights, there will be an overall theme to the night’s discussion.  Try to stay within it so we don’t confuse people who may be following along.  These chats can be hectic as-is with ONE topic, let alone adding in sub-discussions.
3. Be respectful!  Once again, we’re all adults, and we expect everyone to act like one. Name calling, baseless accusations, racism, sexism, bigotry, and just plain hatred isn’t tolerated.  Not only will we all shun you, but I won’t hesitate to block and report you to Twitter.
4. Remember: You were once a newbie too! There’ll be developers and site administrators of all levels – from the “power user” and the “master developer” all the way down to the grandma who wants to use WordPress to talk about her knitting.  If someone asks a question, be respectful and politely answer.  I don’t care if you’ve written 10 plugins and are on the core commit team… don’t be a jerk.