About The Community
tldr we're an awesome tech-centric community that plays video games and chats about technology and other random bullshit.
Welcome to BetaChat, an online community unlike all others. We like to call it more of a family than just some random online community. Reason being, all the members of our community know each other on a personal level and have become great friends over the years.
BetaChat was formed as a small community back in 2006 to create a safe-place for geeks and computer enthusiasts to come and chat without strict rules typically found in other online communities at the time. We've evolved greatly over the years and have all become really great friends (for the most part) and some of us have even had meet-ups all around the country. The community has gone through hell and back. Since it's more of a family than a rule-strict community, we don't have many rules or put restrictions on anybody that joins. We all flood a bit and talk pure shit half the time, but as long as you're playing nice with others you can do whatever you want. We believe that's what "fun" in an online community is defined as. We've seen some other communities and IRC networks out there that will ban you for cussing or using caps. Lolwut? We're not like that. We actually like when people stay and make friends.
We wouldn't call ourselves hardcore gamers, but we do play games quite often. It's common to see us playing Cyberpunk, Stardew Valley, GTA Online & FiveM, Golf With Your Friends, Team Fortress, Rocket League, Urban Terror, Minecraft, and others. We've got our own private servers for a lot of these.
Though our community started out solely on IRC, we've moved on to something more modern. We can't seem to make up our mind on a good platform and have been switching back and forth lately, but currently Discord is our primary place.
BetaChat started on IRC in 2006 and remained the primary place of residence for the community's chatter. In 2008 or so, a Mumble server was provisioned, followed by a TeamSpeak server around 2009 or 2010. In early 2014 a Telegram Messenger group was created, but not really used until late 2015, where it was used up primarily up until June of 2018. We then transitioned over to Discord for the better bots, integrated voice, better interface, and all-around more community-centric features it has to offer.
Timeline of Major Events
2006
05/05/06 10:29:54PM ZTecNet launched running Unreal3.2 and Anope!
2010
06/2010 Switched to InspIRCd and Atheme due to popular request.
12/24/10 The 2010 ZTecNet Christmas Giveaway, where a $10 app was given away to randomly-chosen winner Ryan B.
2011
04/11/11 Changed the network name to TinyCrab.
04/14/11 Changed the network name back to ZTecNet. (nobody liked it)
09/22/11 Switched to ShadowIRCd, still running Atheme.
09/25/11 Switched back to InspIRCd. The ShadowIRCd switch was a massive fail xD (nobody liked this either)
12/24/11 The 2011 ZTecNet Christmas Eve Event, where an iPod Touch was given away and won by randomly-chosen winner Kait.
2012
06/29/12 Switched to Charybdis after learning that Atheme support would no longer be provided to InspIRCd, among Inspire's many desync bugs and other issues.
07/20/12 Changed the network name from ZTecNet to TinyCrab.
11/02/12 Chicago Meetup: AJ, Zach, Nathan, Tim, Jon, and Noah meet up in Detroit/Chicago to share a meal, go to visit the scene and cast of Hardcore Pawn, and to visit a local apple store.
12/24/12 The 2012 TinyCrab Christmas Eve Event, where a pair of Incase Sonic headphones were given away to randomly-chosen winner Clay.
2013
12/24/13 The 2013 TinyCrab Christmas Eve Event, where a $50 gift card was given away to the OnDeck winner.
2014
02/04/14 New TinyCrab logos!
02/24/14 A group on Telegram Messenger was created for BetaChat
03/02/14 Changed the network name to BetaChat. Switched back to UnrealIRCd, continuing with Atheme services.
04/13/14 Corey met Kyle in California to make good bang.
05/10/14 Switched back to Charybdis IRCd, UnrealIRCd servers were splitting a lot.
12/24/14 The 2014 BetaChat Christmas Eve Event, where an Apple TV (sponsor Noah, winner Sm3gal), $50 Best Buy gift card (gifted by Mike), and $25 Amazon gift card (gifted by Nolan) were all given away to randomly-chosen winners.
2015
12/24/15 The 2015 BetaChat Christmas Eve Event, where an HP stream laptop (gifted from Noah, winner Jakob) and $50 Amazon gift card (gifted by Tim) were given away to randomly-chosen winners.
2016
07/16/16 Miami meetup: Taylor, Steve, Noah, Matt, and Christian meet up in Florida to make good bang on the beach.
12/24/16 The 2016 BetaChat Christmas Eve Event, where over $250 in gifts were exchanged between community members. A $100 Amazon gift card (from Tim) was won by Zach and $50 Amazon gift card (from Noah) was won by Jonny for placing first and second in the first-ever Live Quiz. A $15 iTunes gift card was gifted to Steve by Jonny, $10 Amazon gift card to Jesse R from Noah, another $10 Amazon gift card to Astra from Chris, $5 Amazon gift card to Chris from Noah, GTAV gift code to Astra and Rocket League gift code to Steve - both from Jonny, a betachat sticker pack to Sm3gal from Jad, and $25 ZTNH credit to Ben from Noah. The first live video-chat was done for several of the giveaways.
2017
03/27/17 BCOM was created - a fun way to earn points and prizes for chatting and being a part of the community.
05/25/17 Detroit Meetup: AJ, Annie, Nathan, Rachel, Corey, Nick, Zach, and Noah meet in the Detroit area; some for the second time. Some visited a datacenter, all went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Hung out at AJ's apartment. Nick was ambushed at his work by many.
05/27/17 Chicago Meetup: AJ, Annie, Jonny, Tim, and Noah meet in Chicago. Some visited Jonny's house. Jonny's brother finally called "loud mouth." Portillos was visited. All met in downtown Chicago to go to go to Lou Malnati's for the best pizza ever, snuck into a very nice hotel to use the bathroom, and visited a flagship T-Mobile store. Stayed at Hotel Indigo, where all hung out and broadcast ridiculous music over local FM radio stations from the hotel room.
12/24/17 The 2017 BetaChat Christmas Eve Event, where over $300 in gifts were exchanged between community members.
2018
02/10/18 New logos!
06/01/18 Discord! BetaChat begins the transition over to Discord as the primary chat and voice platform for the community.
06/04/18 Telegram groups shut down, Discord now primary chat & voice platform for the community. BCOM completely rewritten for Discord!
12/24/18 The 2018 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party, where over $250 in gifts were exchanged between members.
2019
01/20/19 BetaChat realizes the move to Discord was a really bad idea and switches back to Telegram.
06/13/19 Back to Discord again ¯_(ツ)_/¯
12/24/19 The 2019 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party, where over $250 in gifts were exchanged between community members and won via Bingo.
2020
10/31/20 The 2020 BetaChat Halloween Bash, where $40 in prizes were given away, and a BCP bump for many members that participated, who will have a big advantage come Christmas time!
12/24/20 The 2020 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party, where over $600 in gifts were exchanged between community members and won via games of live Bingo.
2021
09/02/2021 Detroit Meetup: AJ, Annie, Nick, Ben, Jay, Amber, Zach, Mike, and Noah meet in Detroit. See BetaCat (Amika.) Visit local restaurants including Zehnder's, Culvers, American Coney Island, Bob Evans, HopCat, and Fords Garage. Visit Frankenmuth, downtown Detroit, went real life mini golfing with friends, Maybury State Park, Twelve Oaks Mall, Michigan State University (short scooter ride,) University of Michigan, Downtown Ann Arbor, and the Henry Ford Museum. A trip to MicroCenter was also a requirement, where members went and were given $50 gift cards to spend how they choose during the visit. Late nights spent at AJ, Annie, and Amika's house playing Cards Against Humanity, enjoying some of AJ & Annie's famous bomb-ass pasta dish, and playing games.
10/31/2021 The 2021 BetaChat Halloween Bash, where $75 in prizes were given away. $20 and 100,000 BCP were given to the top trick-or-treater, and the remaining funds were given to those that participated, giving them a huge advantage come our Christmas event!
12/24/2021 The 2021 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party
2022
09/03/2022 Connecticut Meetup: AJ & Annie visit Noah in CT. Visit local restaurants including Red Heat Tavern, Dave & Busters, Tickets Bar & Grille, Bistro 63, Zeneli Pizzeria, Wahlburgers, Ellen's Stardust Diner (NY), Junior's, and Krispy Kreme. Visit local towns & attractions like Mystic, Mystic Aquarium, Old Mystick Village, the Yankee Candle store, Foxwoods Casino, Emily Dickinson Museum, and local malls and Apple Stores per tradition. Watch Apple's "Far out." event.
10/31/2022 The 2022 BetaChat Halloween Bash
12/24/2022 The 2022 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party
2023
08/31/2023 Detroit Meetup:
10/31/2023 The 2023 BetaChat Halloween Bash
12/24/2023 The 2023 BetaChat Christmas Eve Party