The Chat Box/Shout Box/TagBoard

[hellyearockstar]

I am extremely pro chat box. I wouldn't even join a site that didn't have one, because I'm a very social person and I think it's important to be able to chat with other members on a forum. I can't remember a time when I haven't had a chat box on any of my forums, and the last time I was on a forum without a chat box was one I'd already joined, but the chat box was removed.

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

I'm against chatboxes, because I feel that they're an excuse to not post on the site, because you can just go on and post on the chatbox. There are Instant Messengers and Private Messages that work just well for chatting. Besides, on the sites I'm on, they never work. We rarely have a lot of people on at once. The people on the sites live in differents part of the country and world, with real lives, and such, so rarely are there more than four people on at a time. We tried to have a chatbox off the main page (because I hate the idea), and no one even wanted to try it even though it was easily accesible from the main page.

So, in short, I hate chatboxes, and yes, I feel that they do take away from the activity of the site. I was on a site once that - while it had it's problems - was not a bad site. They had a chatbox, and I did notice that sometimes people would stay there and chat rather than post on the site. I'm not saying it's this way everywhere, but it's my personal feeling that's what chatboxes and shoutboxes are whatever are mainly for. I would prefer if members took more time to post on the site.

As for the comment that members have to join in order to ask a question - not true. If the Help Board is accesible to non-members, then they can post there without having to join. Also, the two sites I run have a staff e-mail as well, so they could e-mail us there if they don't want to post. It might take a little longer to get a response, though, as we don't always check them every day, as we do the site.

[Paige Yin]

Personally,I really think Chat box is a plus!Since I am doing a RPG and another is a fans site,I even get the celebs to chat with the members,I think that's truely awesome.
I think shout box is ok but I don't like the same IP address regulation.

[viruszero]

I rather dislike chatboxes of any sort...

As mentioned, they can be useful for allowing members to talk to the people before joining... But that's really not a huge issue I find.

The problems of having a publically available cbox outweigh the benefits for me.
Such as:
-

• Advertising. Many people could more easily just post their link, no registrations needed.
  
  
• Spam. Especially annoying if they just continually post their links. But I find it quite annoying to find them posting things like: "qewebejrebjrerhe" over and over...
  
  
• Sure the guests could post feedback... but they could just as easily abuse a forum this way too. What better way to harass a forum when you know there are people online reading the cbox that you can bother?
  
  
• Linked to the above issue, anything posted on a cbox is public... that means if you have a dispute/issue on it, all can see it. And some things (such as debates between members) should probably stay out of sight. (It's not the public's issue and so it's none of their business.)
  
  
• They could post ToS violating material... I mean the cbox is embeded or linked to the site and anything that is linked to the site has to comply with the Proboards ToS right? (I mean Section 3. B of the ToS covers this does it not?)
  
  
• Some cboxes (such as chatango) are based off another website and as long as you know the url to the cbox, you don't even need to visit the forum. Which means that people might not even know the cbox is connected to a forum. (I have seen this happen.) This can be quite an issue if people just start randomly showing up and causing trouble in the cbox.
  
  

So because of the issues, many cboxes need someone to keep a watch on them. And if it's a busy forum, they may not have the time to. Even if it isn't a busy forum, it can still be a nuisance to deal with it.

And like Gia_Sesshoumaru mentioned, msn and other instant message clients exist for a reason... Chatting. I'd just as soon use them so that if I need to talk to a member, then it's just me and them... not the entire forum and whatever guests happen to be roaming about. And even if I need to talk to several members... most instant message clients have the capability for group chatting. (And if I'm not mistaken, some even have the ability of cross client chatting... MSN and Yahoo users can talk back and forth with each other now.)

As for the possible benefit to aid with the RPs... It might benefit a bit, but why bother with a cbox when you have MSN or AIM or Yahoo or Gmail... I mean it's not like those accounts are expensive or anything. (They are all free...) Get one and use it primarily for your site or something. Not to mention that by using them instead it cuts down on the code you are using on your site and speeds it up, allowing for faster loading times.


Now as for whether they detract from site activity... Most certainly I feel they do. Members might think: "Why bother to spend that extra couple of clicks with the mouse to change pages and open the post window or even to get to the topic you want to post in when you can just type what you want in the cbox, hit enter and have it appear there instantly for everyone to read. (Just like MSN.)"
Even if they don't think that, it just creates an opportunity for a distraction from making worthwhile posts. One which some members may seize then fall into the bad habit of using the cbox only.

[Storm]

Jun 13, 2009 12:27:49 GMT -8 viruszero said:

[/li][li] They could post ToS violating material... I mean the cbox is embeded or linked to the site and anything that is linked to the site has to comply with the Proboards ToS right? (I mean Section 3. B of the ToS covers this does it not?)

[/quote]

No, it does not. Craig has stated in support many times that since the chat boxes are a service that are outside the Proboards servers, Proboards can not be held liable for what is posted in them. Thus why chat boxes have their own admin controls for people to delete the unwanted material that gets posted or bann the individuals causing problems.

Edit to add: Thus why support doesn't give support to chat boxes users. We direct them to the service provider of the chat box.

[viruszero]

Hmm, I missed that explanation then.

But that means if someone dropped like a dozen links to porn sites or viruses or something in a cbox that Proboards would do nothing at all? even if the site allowed the content to stay? Or if they actually encouraged that sort of activity?

I still find this logic slightly difficult to believe considering you are embedding code onto the forum, thus making it a part of the forum. Rather similar to creating a link or adding a new section to talk in. And proboards does not allow linking to porn sites or viruses as part of their ToS. So why would they allow a part embedded to the forum to allow content that they would not allow on the forum?

One would think that if you attach something to a site that the new attachment must comply to all the site's rules as it is now a part of the site. If it doesn't/won't/can't comply, then it shouldn't be there.
I mean you would think that the embedded part would inherit and comply to the ToS of the site because it is a part of the site. And if content in the embedded part violates the ToS, then it violates the site's ToS...

Even if the cbox has the powers to remove the content... if they choose not to, what would happen then? Nothing? or would Proboards intervene?

[Micko70]

I have a great shoutbox on my site
members have a bit of a laugh using it, which is good and looks good to future members.

It has a great admin feature where all admins can log in live to the shoutbox, if any member posts something wrong it can be instantly deleted, and if a guest spams then you have the ability to block their ip address by clicking 1 simple button

[Paige Yin]

Jun 14, 2009 14:23:41 GMT -8 Micko70 said:

I have a great shoutbox on my site
members have a bit of a laugh using it, which is good and looks good to future members.

It has a great admin feature where all admins can log in live to the shoutbox, if any member posts something wrong it can be instantly deleted, and if a guest spams then you have the ability to block their ip address by clicking 1 simple button

Are you saying about shoutmix?
That's the one I said about IP regulations,and I don't like that.There may be some members who go online is cyber cafes and if they are using computers at different cafes,then they have trouble when they want to chat with you guys all the time.
I am not saying the C-Box I use is awesome,I don't like that it bring advertisement to my sites,but it got transparent background.

[Storm]

Jun 14, 2009 8:33:32 GMT -8 viruszero said:

Hmm, I missed that explanation then.

But that means if someone dropped like a dozen links to porn sites or viruses or something in a cbox that Proboards would do nothing at all? even if the site allowed the content to stay? Or if they actually encouraged that sort of activity?

I still find this logic slightly difficult to believe considering you are embedding code onto the forum, thus making it a part of the forum. Rather similar to creating a link or adding a new section to talk in. And proboards does not allow linking to porn sites or viruses as part of their ToS. So why would they allow a part embedded to the forum to allow content that they would not allow on the forum?

One would think that if you attach something to a site that the new attachment must comply to all the site's rules as it is now a part of the site. If it doesn't/won't/can't comply, then it shouldn't be there.
I mean you would think that the embedded part would inherit and comply to the ToS of the site because it is a part of the site. And if content in the embedded part violates the ToS, then it violates the site's ToS...

Even if the cbox has the powers to remove the content... if they choose not to, what would happen then? Nothing? or would Proboards intervene?

Even then so, Proboards has no access to the chat boards servers to be able to remove the content added. Also, when ToS reports are done, the ToS People thoroughly investigate the claims and know the difference between the admins and members posting things and when others maliciously post things to get a forum deleted.

This is sort of getting off topic but you want a confirmation, feel free to ask Craig in support regarding this.

Edit to add: when or if you do, include a link to this thread so Craig can see our replies to know what the subject is fully about. :]

[LadyTwilight]

A have noticed that boards such as general talk, introductions, etc. are extremely empty on forums with chat boxes, or no one really uses the chatbox. It just depends on the members I guess.

I would say that wether it is good or bad just depends on the forum and what you are going for. If you have a roleplay forum and aren't really worried about people posting in the more chatty threads then I would say that having one would be fine. But if you are counting on people talking in threads about just general things then I would say that having one would probably take away from the forum.

[Wolfe]

If it's one of those slow chatboxes that only shows new messages everytime you refresh it I think it's more hassle than benefit. My chatbox is set to where you practically can't spam, and if you do I can ban the person's IP from the chatbox permanently; even if they're only a guest. I can also kill the message records at any time if an argument or somesuch was going on while I was gone if needed. Easy to save records and the like as well. The only con I can think of is that people think the chatbox has no rules; and think they can whine and spam their way out of any disagreement or order. For example; I told one member she couldn't have a dragon that could kill everyone within a post because of power-balance issues and the fact that dragons aren't allowed in the first place. To top it off she wrote maybe 3 sentences about the monster and titled the thread 'Monster!!' instead of his name. She and another member spammed the chatbox so badly with whining I had to clear the chatbox and ban both of them for like three days. =/

[gippaloo]

I like the chatbox sometimes, but like other people have been saying, I think it takes away from people actually posting on your board...

[Venomstrike]

From my experience, having a Chat Box on your site increases activity. I think it makes newcomers feel more welcome when they can see that there are nice people online to talk to and answer questions they may have about your form.

The only downside to it is that some guests tend to spam the Chat Box to their own free will. If there isn't someone online that can put a stop to them, it ruins the chatting for everyone else.

[Imprintation]

I don't think a site is all that social without a chatbox. Myself I like to talk and get to know people on the website. If they don't have a chat box and they just use it anywhere it kinda doesn't work. Chat boxes can get annoying depending on which one it is you get. If it's one that makes a sound every time you log in, type something, someone else types something, I get really frustrted with it.

But a Chatbox helps a site grow i my opinion. If a guest has a question and there is no where they can post it what makes you think that they are going to join that website? Chatboxes are just something there to help maintian a friendly envoiroment. As long as there are no spammers and everyone keeps it clean then there is nothing that goes wrong with having a chat box.

[marshall5i2]

My site uses a chatango shoutbox, well its more of a chatroom. It doesnt have to be refreshed (live Chat).
I personally find its a great way to talk, sometimes you dont want to have to post something so people go on the shoutbox and talk to each other, I dont find that it takes away from the activity of the forum.
It isn't possible to spam on it either because it gives a user a 15 minute ban if they type too much in a certain amount of time