Chat Feature Discussion

[cybercoma]

Let's use this thread to discuss the chat feature and decide together as a forum whether we want it enabled or not.

Con: Chatrooms tend to take away from the discussion in the threads on the forums.

Pro: It's a lot easier to discuss a live event, such as election night results, in a chatroom than on a thread.

[Mr.Canada]

Let's use this thread to discuss the chat feature and decide together as a forum whether we want it enabled or not.

Con: Chatrooms tend to take away from the discussion in the threads on the forums.

Pro: It's a lot easier to discuss a live event, such as election night results, in a chatroom than on a thread.

I agree with your cons aspect that it certainly can but at the same time I think that the chat feature will be more quick thoughts while posts will still contain more lengthy content. I don't think I worded that correctly but you get the idea.

Cybercoma, I agree with your entire post. All in all I would like to see it implemented in a box along the top of the page.

[Michael Hardner]

Can we do a chat on this thread to see how it works ?

[Boges]

I wouldn't oppose trying chatting. But I agree we'd have to have a test period to see how it goes. If no one uses it or people stop making threads then, yeah it would take away from the site.

[Guest American Woman]

Personally, I think that if people want to chat, they could join a chat room. I joined this site because it's a forum, with rules and guidelines. I think chat rooms can become clique-like, and an easy opportunity for someone in a heated discussion to leave the forum portion and go to the chat room to say whatever they want about other posters, with other like-minded members joining in. I also think it will cut down on the number of posts. How could it not? If members opt to "chat" about their views rather than post about them, it stands to reason that there would be less posts.

[Michael Hardner]

Let's use this thread to discuss the chat feature and decide together as a forum whether we want it enabled or not.

Con: Chatrooms tend to take away from the discussion in the threads on the forums.

Pro: It's a lot easier to discuss a live event, such as election night results, in a chatroom than on a thread.

Also - I realize that it was a member here that started this thread and not a moderator. There are other considerations as to whether chats will happen here or not - technical, and support considerations come to mind.

[Shady]

Pro: It's a lot easier to discuss a live event, such as election night results, in a chatroom than on a thread.

I think that's probably the best idea. For live events, like sporting stuff, or debates, or election results, etc.

[Guest Manny]

You all know me, you know I resist change of any kind, unless it's thoroughly substantiated. Needless to say I'm rather put off right now, by things around here in general. But it's not a big problem. After giving up some time and energy to learn what the new things are, so that I can get back to doing what I was doing before, and making mental note of the changes for next time, I'll get over it.

Oh sure you may say, he'll be back to post and it'll be the same despite all these changes. The politics remains.

But... chat room?

You gotta be flippin me...

[Argus]

Who polices the chat room against insults?

[cybercoma]

You do. Didn't you get the memo?

[Moonlight Graham]

What about limiting the time the chatroom is open? Say from 7-12pm EST? This would force people to still post messages on the forums primarily, it would make the chatroom easier to get people into at one time and to moderate/monitor, and these times are almost always when big political events worth live chatting about are held (debates, elections, not to mention sporting events, Oscars awards etc).

[cybercoma]

Not that I speak for him, but I doubt Greg is really interested in making things complicated by having to recode things. I think the consideration here is whether it's simply enabled or disabled.

[TheNewTeddy]

I like chat rooms. It's far harder to insult someone when it's live real-time discussion.

[Moonlight Graham]

I like chat rooms. It's far harder to insult someone when it's live real-time discussion.

I personally disagree. It's also far harder to moderate those insults.

[Mr.Canada]

I don't think that the chat room should be moderated. Let's have some free speech going on. maybe people don't need rules to govern every aspect of everything.

[Bonam]

I don't think a chat system would be appropriate for this forum. One of the key advantages of a forum is that there is a permanent record of what was said, which can be used for later reference. In a chat system, messages are usually only stored for a (relatively short) finite amount of time or amount of lines, so if someone misses a discussion as it is going on, there is no way for them to go back later and find out what went on. In other words, a chat system rewards those who stare at it constantly with information that is not available to people who just periodically check into the forum. This invariably results in a clique of people who spend the most time on a site, talking effectively behind the backs of other posters. Additionally, posters cannot be held to account for things they say in chat, as they can be with a forum post that has a permanent record.

As someone who has used several forums, both with and without associated chat rooms, I have a good feel for how it changes the dynamics, and while it is appropriate for some genres of forums, such as discussing computer gaming, TV shows, science and technology, I don't think it would fit well with a forum where people try to have serious discussions on contentious and subjective issues.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Bonam

[Michael Hardner]

Sorry to be slow on this - chat shows as disabled for me right now - is that right ? Can I enable it somehow or not ?

[cybercoma]

We can't enable it as users. Greg said, in the other thread, that if enough people want it he will enable it. I thought we could use this thread to discuss whether or not people want it, then perhaps post a poll after we've had a thorough discussion on it.

[Michael Hardner]

We can't enable it as users. Greg said, in the other thread, that if enough people want it he will enable it. I thought we could use this thread to discuss whether or not people want it, then perhaps post a poll after we've had a thorough discussion on it.

Ok, thanks - that's clear. Now... how does it work ? It it simply a chat (like facebook or MSN Messenger) that happens in real-time ? How is it related to threads ?

[Topaz]

The only way to find out is this would work is to try it, I like both forums and chat rooms.

[cybercoma]

Ok, thanks - that's clear. Now... how does it work ? It it simply a chat (like facebook or MSN Messenger) that happens in real-time ? How is it related to threads ?

Sort of, but you don't message people with it. You log into it and chat with others that are logged in. The mechanics are similar tot hose other services.

[Michael Hardner]

Sort of, but you don't message people with it. You log into it and chat with others that are logged in. The mechanics are similar tot hose other services.

How is it tied to a thread then ?

[Greg]

How is it tied to a thread then ?

It's not related to a thread or posting - it's simply a chat function/plugin provided by IPB.

Implementing this functionality came up before in the past, and I always nixed the idea. However, I am considering it now -- but I have to first get the plugin to work and do some testing before I make any definitive decisions.

[cybercoma]

How is it tied to a thread then ?

Like Greg said, it's a separate feature of the forum not tied to the threads in any way.

My objection stems from other forums where people will discuss things in the chat window, leaving threads to die on the boards because the discussion moves to the chatroom.

[Greg]

Who polices the chat room against insults?

No one, as that would be next to impossible to do in real time. There would be rules, and if someone was present (and I could confirm the infraction) then normal suspensions and or bannings would be issued.

What about limiting the time the chatroom is open? Say from 7-12pm EST? This would force people to still post messages on the forums primarily, it would make the chatroom easier to get people into at one time and to moderate/monitor, and these times are almost always when big political events worth live chatting about are held (debates, elections, not to mention sporting events, Oscars awards etc).

That is an option, I can set the forums to be open during specific times/dates. That's not a difficult thing to do.