Chat or Shoutbox

D

Digital

New member
So this was sent to me by @bird who asked if we had a chat feature or shoutbox feature.

Would our members enjoy the ability to chat with each other in real time?

 
Here's my case for it: my favourite pet site, bar none, was Verpets. At the height of it, it got a new layout, amazing new site features, a new layout, amazing artists with amazing pet colour aesthetics and grade-A community. That grade A community was made in part by a very public and widely used shoutbox that was coded for the site itself, with user integration and multiple 'rooms' people could switch to for a more private experience.

New users come in and introduce themselves immediately, and get to know the regulars right off the bat. The regulars have a place to perpetuate themselves without the loading and frankly clunky interface of forums (most pet site forums are awful, this one is quite good but still too many clicks to get yourself in the right category just to talk).

Forums are a good place for discussion, and more importantly, paper trails for discussion, but sometimes all people want to do is jump right in without worry. Sometimes that's all they have time for, like many users I see on Subeta that will hop on the shoutbox vs the very slow moving forums on there.

It's a changing landscape and the faster people get responses and reactions, the more receptive they'll be to staying, in my opinion.

 
I think chat rooms or a shout box is great if done correctly.

my only concern on a site like TGL is it down plays the forum posting aspect in my opinion.

why post when you can chat/ask the questions?

 
I have posted a shoutbox/chat feature on the fourms homepage for review. I will monitor and see if it makes sense to keep or drop depending on use.

Note: It may change its location on the homepage a few time over the next new days. Right now it takes up a lot of room at the top of the page, so it might move to the bottom. I will post any changes to this thread for people to follow up.

 
Great update! Thanks for all the hard work @Digital the pace of improvements here has really impressed me so far. To be honest I probably won't use the chat much, but I like that it is an option now.

My only complaint would be the placement (because like you've mentioned it does take up a lot of space at the moment and I'd rather not have to scroll so far to get to the forums) but it sounds like you're on top of that already. :)  

 
Sparren said:
Great update! Thanks for all the hard work @Digital the pace of improvements here has really impressed me so far. To be honest I probably won't use the chat much, but I like that it is an option now.

My only complaint would be the placement (because like you've mentioned it does take up a lot of space at the moment and I'd rather not have to scroll so far to get to the forums) but it sounds like you're on top of that already. :)  
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Thanks for the kind words! I am all about trying out ideas that the community brings forward.

 
Will there be a way for members to disable it completely? I understand the use of shoutboxes, but I personally like to ignore them entirely unless I have a reason to post in one. Maybe some other people feel the same way?

 
SingSong said:
Will there be a way for members to disable it completely?
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I don't believe the block system on the forums is user configurable.. I will have to look into this.

So, we have it on the boards for a few days, what do you guys think? Good idea, bad idea?

 
It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I was thinking of Subeta's shoutbox when this was first implemented and remembering the obnoxious and sometimes inappropriate conversations that occurred over there.

The conversations on the shoutbox so far have been pretty tame, friendly, and helpful. So I think it's a good asset for our community. :)

 
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