Chat box?

This is something I've seen work on other forums quite nicely. Although we're small, sometimes when enough of us are online at a time, it'd be nice to be able to chat directly with eachother rather than through threads and posts. What about a chat box?

We'd have quite a few options. Forumotion allows for the implementation of a standard, optional chat box that could be placed on the bottom of the forums' main page. We could also use a chatbox widget, such as ShoutMix, which I personally prefer (Although it does have a limit of 100 posts per hour... But again keeping the size of this group in mind, that might not be a problem at the moment)

Just a thought of mine- Might I ask what your's are, on this same subject?

We tried a chat box for a very, very short period of time, but it soon became apparent that if there were ever more than a few people involved, it would be next to impossible to tell who was chatting with who... perhaps there is something about this I do not understand, but I find a chat thread much easier to utilize, in that one can always select who one is responding to, and that fact is clear to all viewing the thread... jmho...

What Dbl said and it also made the forum run slower (browser-wise).

But if enough people care to try it again, i can implement it.

dblboggie wrote:We tried a chat box for a very, very short period of time, but it soon became apparent that if there were ever more than a few people involved, it would be next to impossible to tell who was chatting with who... perhaps there is something about this I do not understand, but I find a chat thread much easier to utilize, in that one can always select who one is responding to, and that fact is clear to all viewing the thread... jmho...

Oh, I was not aware that you had one before.

Hmm. In the event that your forums does grow more in size, however, I would encourage you to re-consider the idea. Do not ask me why, for I cannot say with certainty, but many individuals out there in this wide world are too lazy to dig into a thread and actually post. That's far too strenuous. But wait- What if there was a delightful little box on the front page, where one could type up gibber-jab and not have to waste another mouse click? I am, of course, sometimes one of these people.

But, seeing as you do have a Chatter section, I can see why a chat box may not be necessary. Still, I would like to think that one day this place will active enough to warrant its re-installation.

TexasBlue wrote:What Dbl said and it also made the forum run slower (browser-wise).

But if enough people care to try it again, i can implement it.

Was it a forumotion-based chatbox or no? What type was it?

v wrote:But, seeing as you do have a Chatter section, I can see why a chat box may not be necessary. Still, I would like to think that one day this place will active enough to warrant its re-installation.

That other forum we came from had one of these "community chat" threads going. It seemed to work fine for all those involved. I never participated myself though.

v wrote:Was it a forumotion-based chatbox or no? What type was it?

Yep, it was enabled thru the admin panel via the widget doo-hickey's.

I've never had a problem using forumotion chat boxes, I quite like them, if you find it confusing to follow who's who, people can always swap their font colour - though if it slows the forum down it may be a bit of a pain in the arse.