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Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What exactly is CrossTalk? What is it trying to achieve?
  2. Is this publicly accessible yet?
  3. Is this being actively developed? Is it open source?
  4. I can't send some types of messages to people on other clients. Is this a bug?
  5. Why can't I log in to certain clients?
  6. Does CrossTalk take donations/is CrossTalk monetized in any way?
  7. Does CrossTalk run ads/sell my data/et cetera?
  8. I can't log in on <insert old operating system here>!
  9. Why is there a "(No Group)" group in my contact list?
  10. How do I view Flash content?
  11. Why did I see a notification that the server is going down for maintenance? What's that?
  12. Is CrossTalk down right now?
  13. My antivirus/firewall/web filtering software blocked one of CrossTalk's domains (crosstalk.im, ugnet.gay/xyz, ctsrv.gay/xyz), is this a false positive? Is CrossTalk safe to use?

1. What exactly is CrossTalk? What is it trying to achieve?

CrossTalk is a chat server that supports many protocols and clients, and allows them to interoperate nearly seamlessly as if they weren't different clients/protocols. A single CrossTalk account is all you need to sign into any client supported by the service, and user data/preferences is shared between them whenever possible.

A user on MSN Messenger can speak to someone using Yahoo! Messenger, and that same person can also be speaking to someone that's using AOL Instant Messenger or MySpaceIM (once they're implemented of course :P). It's all one central service. They near-seamlessly interoperate, even if their original services didn't operate that way.

Modern and retro protocols alike are going to be supported. You can see what clients we currently support on the Supported Clients page.

For the retro protocols, of course, CrossTalk acts as a full revival service for the clients that used them.

Because of the nature of this project, it's experimental, so keep that in mind. And also, it's still in Alpha. There are going to be bugs. If you find them, please report them!

2. Is this publicly accessible yet?

We are in an open Alpha period, so yes! Simply go to the registration page to make an account.

3. Is this being actively developed? Is it open source?

At this time, there are three active developers who work on the service in their free time/as willing.

All client-side components of CrossTalk are free and open source software and available on our two Git organizations, available here and here. The CrossTalk services are not yet open source, which we are working towards happening later this year. There are many more things that need to get done first before we can do this (server architecture redesign etc).

We will not only fully open source the service and all of its components, we will fully document everything and anything we come across.

After all, that's what real preservation is :P.

4. I can't send some types of messages to people on other clients. Is this a bug?

It can either be a bug, or that we simply haven't implemented that feature yet, or that client just simply does not support that type of a message (e.g., MSN users can't send winks to Yahoo! users).

5. Why can't I log in to certain clients?

Some clients are disabled by default due to them using login methods that are insecure by modern standards.

You can enable these manually while making your account, or later on in your account settings.

6. Does CrossTalk take donations/is CrossTalk monetized in any way?

No.

We will never beg for donations, or paywall any functionality of the service, ever. CrossTalk is and will remain 100% free to use, no strings attached. No selling your data, no ads, no paywalls.

If our financial situation becomes so dire that it's either paying rent or keeping the servers online, then we may open donations. However we don't see it ever getting to that point. Hosting fees are manageable right now.

7. Does CrossTalk run ads/sell my data/et cetera?

Never, EVER. We will never share/sell your data to anyone for any reason.

We run banner and text ads for projects and websites that we think are cool + user suggestions, but these aren't for monetary gain. We do not, and never will run "proper" ads on the service, site, or anywhere.

8. I can't log in on <insert old operating system here>!

Reroute (the client-side component we use to redirect requests to our servers for most clients) is currently only compatible with Windows XP and newer + WINE (YMMV). Theoretically, with kernel extensions, it should run on Windows 2000, but this hasn't been tested by us. Native Windows 2000 support will be coming in the future. Native 9x support is unlikely, due to low level differences between them and NT-based versions of Windows.

If you're on Windows XP - 7, make sure only TLS 1.0 (and/preferably 1.1/1.2 if available) are enabled, and update your root certificates. You can do the latter by installing Legacy Update. It'll also make Windows Update, activation, and other things work again.

If you're not using Windows, follow the equivalent steps for your operating system.

One more thing for Windows XP users: Service Pack 3 is seemingly required for HTTPS connections to our web server to work. Make sure that is installed as well.

If all else fails, try WebOne with our configuration file.

9. Why is there a "(No Group)" group in my contact list?

Some clients (Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger) require all contacts to be displayed in groups. CrossTalk also supports clients without this requirement (MSN Messenger).

To make interoperability work between these two types of clients, we do this as a workaround.

10. How do I view Flash content?

Install this build of Adobe Flash Player.

11. Why did I see a notification that the server is going down for maintenance? What's that?

We periodically perform maintenance on the server for a variety of reasons, mainly to update it or reconfigure it.

We send out notifications to all connected users notifying them of this, as well as a countdown to when the server actually goes down.

Once it's complete, you'll be able to sign back into CrossTalk.

Maintenance periods are going to be common for now while the server is still in active development.

12. Is CrossTalk down right now?

Unless you saw an announcement in the Discord server, on the service itself, or see it down on the server status page, then most likely no.

13. My antivirus/firewall/web filtering software blocked one of CrossTalk's domains (crosstalk.im, ugnet.gay/xyz, ctsrv.gay/xyz), is this a false positive? Is CrossTalk safe to use?

We have been seeing a few reports of these lately, these are all false positives (and are almost always detected by AI). CrossTalk is safe to use, and as mentioned before, all client-side components of it are free and open source software. Every patcher and patch involved has it's source code available to the public.

If you run into a false positive, please contact us with all details; mention what filtering/antivirus/firewall software you use, and the specific affected domain(s). Preferably, also link us to where we can file a dispute/false postive report with the creator of the software.



Heads up: You're in diet mode, which is the version of the CrossTalk website designed for legacy/basic web browsers. Account management/member directory is not available on this version of the site.

To use all features, use the modern version of the site.


We are in no way affiliated with Microsoft, AOL, MySpace, or any other company.