Skype Public Chats: Redesign the Redirect

Recruiting people into a room from the web makes a Skype public chat useful. The pattern is:

Web badge (on a web page)
–> Skype.com redirect page 
--–> Skype client

As long as Skype is working on it, a few improvements come to mind.

Reform the blob namespace so blob-names are short, even with a dozen hosts. Very long blobs impair our ability to use those urls in email, chat, or over the phone.

Add permanence. Create public chat permalinks that don't change with time. Right now they change with time, as hosts change. We need more permanent links, even if it increases dependence on a referring server.

Preview before click-through. Rebuild the redirection service to show more information about a public chat before a person clicks through. I'd like to see for example,

• date created,
• number of people,
• title,
• description,
• tags,
• moderator name, and
• date (or days since) someone last joined via public click.

Group chat owners should also be able to end-of-life a listing by withdrawing it or by setting its status to retired-but-still-visible-for-historical-purposes. 

Directory. As long as you have the data, host a searchable directory of public chats, for chats that opt-in.

Bonus Points: The directory is an opportunity for community behavior, including comments and feedback on directory entries, integration with event sites for cross posting and updating, and embedding within group sites using protocols like OpenSocial, RSS/ping mesh. This might even become a successor to the Skypecasts service.

Platform. API for search, to extract data about public chat objects. The better to create topical directories elsewhere, and create smarter badges.

Grandfather older public chats to the new services.

tags: public chats, im, voim, skype, directory, find, prime

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