mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
61 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
Zulip was started in 2012 by four SIPB alums. We think it’s the best team
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chat tool for mystery hunt teams.
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**How is this different from Slack?**
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In Slack, IRC, and nearly every other team chat application, users subscribe
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to chat rooms (“channels”), and get all the messages sent to each channel in
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a chronological dump. The model is largely designed to support real-time
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conversation, where it’s easy to participate if you’re online, but not easy
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to come back a few hours later and reply to a conversation that started
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while you were gone.
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In Zulip, there is an additional layer of organization in each channel:
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messages have topics (like “puzzle: duck konundrum”), so it is easy to
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follow conversational threads. It also makes it easy for someone to come
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back after 8 hours (okay, 4 hours) of sleep, catch up on the state of
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various puzzles, and answer questions even if a question was asked many
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hours ago.
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**You have to write a topic for every message you send? Sounds like a bit much…**
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Nope! Just the first person writing a message to a given topic has to write
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it out. Replies to that message are automatically grouped in the way you’d
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expect. Sending a message in Zulip feels just as lightweight as sending a
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message in SMS, Google Hangouts, or Slack.
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**Is it free?**
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Yes! We provide free hosting for all MIT mystery hunt teams, student groups,
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and research groups.
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Besides being easy on the wallet, Zulip is also free (open source)
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software. We make it easy to export your data from a
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[zulipchat.com](https://zulipchat.com) hosted Zulip and import it into a
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self-hosted installation.
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**Can I integrate Zulip with my current puzzlehunting software?**
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Yup. Zulip has a well thought out [API](https://zulipchat.com/api/), and
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it’s easy to write bots that send things into or out of Zulip.
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**Where can I test it out?**
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[Click here](https://zulipchat.com/new) to create an organization; it
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only takes only about 30 seconds. If you decide to continue using it, just email
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support@zulip.com to tell us you’re a mystery hunt team.
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**Where do I go for further information?**
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Come find us on the [Zulip community chat](https://chat.zulip.org). Feel
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free to post in
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[#mystery hunt](https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/mystery.20hunt) or
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anywhere else that seems appropriate.
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**Help! I’m trapped in a mystery hunt puzzle.**
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This is not a puzzle! But feel free take a look at
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[Zulip for companies](/for/companies),
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[Zulip for working groups](/for/working-groups-and-communities), or
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[Zulip for open source projects](/for/open-source).
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