Next up, a post about the 8-11 month transition. But before I get to that, I'm wondering if anyone has some expertise they could share with me about how to set up a "space" to vent and commiserate "live" during the wee hours of the morning. I've heard from several readers about their interest in having a place they could go as an offshoot of this blog to talk to other parents going through similar trials and tribulations either during sleep training or just simply during the no-sleep stages of parenthood.
I've investigated a couple of options, but I'm not sure how to proceed. I had this idea that I could just have a link to a place that people could go live and use instant messaging/texting/SMSing — something like that. But apparently that's not that easy to set up as part of a blog. The other option would be to put up a post every night and leave the comments section open to anyone and everyone who wanted to "meet" there over the loneliest hours of parenting. That seems like the easiest solution. But I'm new to this. Anyone have any other ideas how I could facilitate this?
How about Internet Relay Chat? Set up a channel on Undernet or another server network.
That may, however, be too complicated for people who haven’t been IRCing for ten years like me.
YuKu is a message board service that comes with a chat room, as I recall. Java-based, no additional software needed. I think there’s a fee, though.
There are free chat room software like Meebo that you can use to create a Bed Timing room. Put the link on the blog somewhere, and people can just go there. Or you can install a chatroom on your site. Which do you prefer?