Phreik Chat

Phreik Chat network is an Australian based clone of the former MSN Chat Network, that offers a similar service to the one that was previously run by MSN. In my review I will discuss generally what I think of the network, it staff and its features. I haven’t had a good experience with this site but I will try not to be too biased when I am writing about it.


Phreik Chat was first opened in June 2004 to the public, around the time ...
...video section, Radio and a Phreik Toolbar, which are all very odd looking amateur productions that no one on the site uses. If the site wants more users this is not the way to go the best thing to do would be to have a high quality chat support team and a better easier to use site.
The site has 15 categories of chatrooms to choose from depending on what you’re interested in but most of these categories are bare and have no users or chat rooms ... more

Phreik Chat network is an Australian based clone of the former MSN Chat Network, that offers a similar service to the one that was previously run by MSN. In my review I will discuss generally what I think of the network, it staff and its features. I haven’t had a good experience with this site but I will try not to be too biased when I am writing about it.

Phreik Chat was first opened in June 2004 to the public, around the time MSN Chat shut it doors due accusations that paedophiles were using the network which is probably true to some extent, but it was really due to financial reasons, but I wont go into that. The site itself runs on an outdated community portal by PHPBB which gives it some major vulnerability in its back bone, the site hasn’t really received any major updates apart from a few graphical changes since it opened, and generally looks very old.

The chatrooms run on a custom be internet chat relay server that works with the MSN Chat Control which is used illegally by the site without Microsoft’s permission to have it as part of there site. You can also use PJIRC to access chat if you’re a MAC user but there is nothing on the site to tell you how to access it, which I see as a major floor in providing that service at all. As it is an IRC network you can also uses various applications to use the server including mIRC with some modding and ICEChat, there is probably more but I have never tried them.

As a former MSN Chat room owner I visited the site originally to the quality of chat, but unfortunately this didn’t meet my expectations, the rules there mean you can be banned at anytime meaning the site staff have a little demi god thing going on, removing your freedom to have a normal conversation. The amount of people who used to use the network used to be a lot greater, but problems with the key people who run site have led to most of these users being banned. Popular rooms on the network after a while become scrutinised by the network admin, causing rifts between users and staff eventfully leading to the chatters moving on to other sites that meet there interests. However the site does manage to keep a couple of its own rooms going averaging about 25-30 people in them at a time.

The support on the site isn’t really as they say dedicated, helpful or supporting in anyway its common to be told in helpdesk which is there support chat if you disagree with anything on the site you will be permanently banned. I do have one of the former Admins on this site on Xbox live but he doesn’t seem to use the site anymore, and some other former staff have started there own rival network twice, which just says to me that the staff who disagree with the bigwigs also just move on.

One thing I cant understand about the site is why they offer additional poorly run features such as an Arcade, Forum, A video section, Radio and a Phreik Toolbar, which are all very odd looking amateur productions that no one on the site uses. If the site wants more users this is not the way to go the best thing to do would be to have a high quality chat support team and a better easier to use site.
The site has 15 categories of chatrooms to choose from depending on what you’re interested in but most of these categories are bare and have no users or chat rooms what so ever which is slightly hard to imagine why they would these areas if no one uses them, Although if there is nothing you’re interested in you can start your own room and once you have 15 simultaneous users in the room it automatically become permanent that’s if the admin decide its okay to have a normal room where you and your friends can chat about a subject you’re interested in.

The site is also common to downtime, which is annoying for it users this either due to the systems there running failing or bills not being paid but either way if you’re looking for a chat to use where the service is stable then this wouldn’t be place for you.

The site has also due to the closure of MSN Groups started to offer its own community groups, which I have to say are very poor and uninspired, using part of a social networking software known as phpFOX this site is limited poorly run and unpopulated and I wouldn’t recommend it to users interested in online communities.

The sites usability is a let down as it is just a lot of publicly released copies of other peoples software clumped together to make an all together poorly run web site, which I find unimpressive, poor and quite bemused on why it had been made this way.Its outdated vulnerable site isn’t worth a shred of respect, and the owners obviously need to look up a few things about web design and the consequences that it might have from using outdated mass used publicly released web scripts.

My personal experience of the site is that the service is poor, when I have used it, I have been banned for no reason, I was even banned by mistake once, When I have asked for support it wasn’t given, the staff were unhelpful and friendly and they even one time had the cheek to ask me to donate money to there site when they couldn’t afford the bill. I defiantly wouldn’t recommend this site to anyone.

What’s next for Phreik?, well they’re working on a new site at http://www.phreik.net/ which is again using outdated software, I did look one time and they had a very nicely made site that did look amazing but now it seems to look like a mess again, maybe the horrible green colour they use on the sites is an Australian thing, who knows.

Overall Phreik chat isn’t for me and is poor in most areas of its presence, offering poor support, services no one uses, using out dated software and having poor staff that couldn’t manage a sky viewing competition.

Thanks for reading,

Ben

Oh and did I mention it has a stupid name?? 

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