Shoutbox

Currently /ping sends a message to that user, and waits for a reply. The problem is that some people don't know what is going on if they don't have msg plus. Three times today, I have pinged someone, they don't actually have msg plus, so they just copy and paste my message back to me and now msg plus thinks they have msg plus installed.

So I am suggesting that msg plus sends a new ping message. Instead of the current
"[those weird chars]ping" or whatever
it should be
"[those weird chars]Hey, I'm just testing something"

Just a bit of social engineering, so that the people that recieve the message think they know what is going on.

Ask if you don't get what I am trying to say.

Well, I don't think Patchou would do that, as when they don't have Messenger Plus!, the text shows as:

[Msgplus!]Ping.

and I think that's fine, and having "Heya I'm just testing something" after it would completely ruin the layout of the text... As it is just a simple basic thing, testing their ping, and testing whether they have Messenger Plus! or not...

The best bet is just to say "sorry, i'm testing something!" then do "/ping".

Also, if the text is changed, then, it wouldn't work for older versions of Messenger Plus!

And it's Ping? [MsgPlus] (i think )

You were all wrong.

Ping? [request]
then
Pong! [Xsec]

quote:

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Originally posted by Purity
You were all wrong.

Ping? [request]
then
Pong! [Xsec]

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No that is the text that is displayed. The actual text that is sent is Ping? [msgplus]

Try typing the text into a conversation window and sending it.

Is there a manual override?

quote:

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Originally posted by extasy@sbate.com
Is there a manual override?

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No there is no way to override the text that is displayed.

I realize this topic is old, but here's my findings about the flaws with the Ping function...

A friend and I were playing around with the "/ping" function, but he has the "Enable commands (messages beging with a '/')" disabled, so here was our conversation:

quote:

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(1:01 AM) Me:     
*try typing "Ping? [msgplus]"
(1:01 AM) Me:     
*I wonder if that would work
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*Ping? [request]
(1:01 AM) Me:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*there
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*lolz
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*Ping? [request]
(1:01 AM) Me:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*i pongmyself then it pongs you? XD
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*wtf?
(1:01 AM) Friend:     
*lol
(1:02 AM) Friend:     
*my ISP is so weird
(1:02 AM) Me:     
*The way it works, is that when you type "/ping", MsgPlus actually sends "Ping? [msgplus]" as a regular message.
(1:02 AM) Me:     
*I think it has to do with the alternative way of doing it, that it pongs yourself.
(1:03 AM) Me:     
*So if someone doesn't have MsgPlus, then all they see is "Ping? [msgplus]", but if they have it their MsgPlus filters the message, and displays something else.
(1:03 AM) Friend:     
*hah
(1:04 AM) Me:     
*I wonder what the pong looks like lol
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*pong? [msgplus]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*XD
(1:04 AM) Me:     
*Pong! [resps]
(1:04 AM) Me:     
*Ping? [request]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*   Pong! [02sec]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*Ping? [msgpluss]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*Ping? [request]
(1:04 AM) Me:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*   Pong! [resps]
(1:04 AM) Friend:     
*there
(1:04 AM) Me:     
*Pong! [02sec]
(1:05 AM) Me:     
*I think I understand it now, and why it displays to "pong".
(1:07 AM) Me:     
*Say I send "Ping? [msgplus]", MsgPlus filters it and displays "Ping? [request]" then it sends a the same message to me "Ping? [msgplus]". Me while my MsgPlus is timing how long it takes to get the response...
(1:10 AM) Me:     
*However, mine doesn't start timeing it unless I use "/ping", because it's part of the translation process. So my MsgPlus doesn't actually realize I sent a ping request. Your MsgPlus however thinks I did, and it bounces the message back. Now my MsgPlus thinks you are send a ping request, because you sent me "Ping? [msgplus]", and it bounces it back. But niether of our MsgPlus actually registers the timing function, because each time it thinks the the other guy is sending the request.
(1:10 AM) Me:     
*Make sense? lol

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Technically, using "Ping? [msgplus]" instead of "/ping" should result in an infinate loop, and crash both of our WLM. However I guess Patchou realized this, and some how limited it. I think the function that limits this, can be adopted to also detect who sent the "Ping? [msgplus]" first, and time it respectively so "Pong! [resps]" doesn't get outputed, and instead the correct "Pong! [x amount of sec]" is used.

Edit:
I wonder if it would be possible for MsgPlus to use a different MSN Messenger Protocol command to send the ping request, instead of MSG command.

I think you may be misinterpreting the /ping command. The /ping command is really only used to make sure your contacts have Messenger Plus! installed. It is not a ping to the server and back. Plus! doesn't send anything directly to the WLM Servers.

Afaik, it has to use the MSG command of the WLM Messenger Protocol. (hence sending "Ping? [msgplus]" through the message field, triggers a response) As you probably already know, any time you send a message, it goes through the WLM servers, and then to the target client. Kinda like a proxy. Otherwise multiple problems would happen, such as IP addresses being exposed, slow connections, and some people on routers would need to forward ports because someone has to play server.

As far as I can tell, MsgPlus adheres to these principles, and uses the ping function directly through the MSG command for the WLM Protocol. It's not a bad thing, it actually allows a more accurate reading of how long it took ping to get from point a to b then back.

I guess the problems I discussed here aren't much of an issue, but the perfectionist in me tells me I would do something different. Yet it's not my project, so I'll just leave it at that.