Add "waste chat" or an option to ask for help in the wastelands..

This may sound odd coming from me (since I suggested it) but I've been talking to some other players about this and I have to agree about some of the suggested problems..

It can be distracting. Right now we already have plenty of players who confuse @e for @t (economy vs. town chat) and worse. I actually ran into a player a few days ago who was constantly trying to chat in @l and didn't know how to go back to @t. He got lucky that I ran into him. So this could add more confusion.

Could add extra tax for staff. When people can chat some people are going to abuse it. This isn't bad mouthing anyone, its a given. So in the end it'll be extra work for our staff members. Worse: such a "semi-private" channel could even have the potential for serious abuse. I mean: there are usually always some veterans around town chat who know when to use /report and can help maintain a little control there. But in such a separate channel?

And I also can't help wonder how hard this would be to set up. New channel, optionally coming up with new channel rules, etc.

I think the suggestion wasn't all that bad but the main goal here is to try and help new players find their way around the wastelands, not the addition of a chat channel (only if this could help players).

SO yah; a useful help message when using /home in the waste for example could probably help out better.

I like how you listen to other people and are willing to change your points of view (I don't know if that's correct English, "standpunten")!
Many people are often too proud to admit their idea wasn't the best, I really appreciate your attitude!

This reminds me of a very annoying 'feature'. That channel you are in saves.
If I go into group chat in SMP5 and switch to SMP8, I do not want to remain in group chat. I have had it where I was in group chat, I left for a day, and I am still in group chat when I come back. I would love for it to default to Town chat (Or whatever chat is best available) when I join a different server. The only instance where this 'feature' is good, that I know of, is cross-server advertising that annoys some people right now.

I would love to see this specific 'feature' that I am talking about made into a /ps.

You can use this exact argument for almost every channel in EMC, it does not make it a great argument. Mods will just have access to that channel and that channel will share the same rules as every other channel. I dunno why you are under-simplifying it.
Take Supporter chat for instance, it is an entire 'private' chat that every supporter has access to. If you were a mod, didn't matter if you've ever been a supporter, you still had access to it. In my mindset, I think that a 'Wastelands Chat' would be just as hard to control as Supporter Chat.

All in all, if I wasn't clear, I suggested that a Wastelands chat should be implemented that is only available to people in the Wastelands and Supporters. This would mean that 2 channels (For non supporters) are available in the wastelands: Local, and Wastelands chat.
This allows new people to ask "How do I get home" in Waste chat and hopefully be answered by a Supporter or somebody else in the Wastelands.

Perhaps I am being too bias, I don't know.

I think it is easy to have both. We already have the ability to create temporary chat channels.
I imagine it could work like this:
/sos <message> sends a distress message
/sos ack acknowledges the message, creates a group (if it does not yet exist), adds the (both) player(s) to the group and switches the chat channel of the player in distress to group
The people can then use the group chat to try to help.

LostPlayer is in the Wastelands and is lost.
APlayer is in the town.
BPlayer is in the Wastelands.
TC: Town chat

LostPlayer: /home
>> This command does not work outside of the town and outposts. If you are lost and need help please see /help lost
LostPlayer: /help lost
>> If you're lost, ..., you can use /sos <Message> to contact other players and ask for help
LostPlayer: /sos Help! I'm lost!
>> You're about to send distress message to other players. Please repeat once more to send. Do not abuse!
LostPlayer: /sos Help! I'm lost!
>> Sending distress message, please wait for a reply

TC: SOS message from LostPlayer in Wastelands x=333, z=444, y=64: Help! I'm lost. Respond with /sos ack

BPlayer:
>> SOS from LostPlayer in Wastelands x=333, z=444, y=64: Help! I'm lost. Respond with /sos ack
BPlayer: /sos ack
>> You have been added to a group with LostPlayer, use @g to talk to the group chat
BPlayer: @g hi LostPlayer, what kind of help do you need?

LostPlayer:
>> BPlayer has joined the group. Your chat channel has been switched to group.
>> G BPlayer: hi LostPlayer, what kind of help do you need?

APlayer: /sos ack
>> You have been added to a group with LostPlayer, use @g to talk to the group chat
APlayer: @g Hi, how can I help you?

LostPlayer:
>> APlayer has joined the group.
>> G APlayer: Hi, how can I help you?
LostPlayer: Sorry, I got lost, no idea how to return to my plot.

BPlayer:
>> APlayer has joined the group.
>> G APlayer: Hi, how can I help you?
>> G LostPlayer: Sorry, I got lost, no idea how to return to my plot.
BPlayer: Hi APlayer, I'm in the Wastelands not far from him, I'll pick him up.
BPlayer: I can be at your location in few minutes, would you like to wait for me?

...

I know the feeling, but it doesn't really bother me too much because I usually resort to using aliases (@g, @r, etc.). Still, you make a good point IMO; it seems a bit odd to retain group chat when you basically left the group already by switching servers.

Because, in my opinion obviously, it usually boils down to simple basics / basic issues. Sure, it can also apply to other channels, but there aren't that many around. You mentioned the support channel but in my opinion that channel is different by design because it only allows a select amount of people access who chose to get that access by becoming a supporter.

And all channels have one important thing in common: the main access is town related and not any of the other areas.

The main problem when looking back to my first suggestion, as I see it of course, is quantity. Usually there are a lot less players around in the wasteland than there are in town. And although this doesn't have to matter too much for the staff I think its also fair to say that a lot of the moderation in the several chat channels is not done by moderators but by the community itself.

And one of the reasons why that works is because of that amount of players. Obviously it varies, but in general I think that there will always be more players around in town than in the wasteland. So trying to separate that would also mean taking a degree of community control away.

Which I now (edit) think may introduce too many problems to make this a feasible option.

Yep. This should be added. Today Uber was telling coords to a fairly new player and he got lost and died. However, he couldn't tleepirt to town, so he blamed Uber for the 'death trap'. :O I like Mattheus' idea and could improve new players experience

Good idea 10+