[Debate] Using Chatrooms On Your ProBoard

[R Ø G U € »]

myke said:

Chatrooms - Not to be confused with shoutboxes or c-boxes chatrooms and c-boxes/shout boxes are two different things completely.

Remotely hosted chatrooms seems to be a rather common addition people are making to their ProBoards forums these days, but are chatrooms an addition you want to make?

Some people will tell you that open chatrooms added to a forum is a good way for a community to keep in touch by taking part in live chats. They will say that it brings extra opportunity to a forum for it's members/community to get to know one another, which will in turn make them want to come back to visit the forum.

Some people will tell you that a chatroom defeats the purpose of a forum, since the forum itself is a forum for members to to chat and hold conversations. Some people will also say that having an open chatroom on your forum will reduce the amount of activity and posts on a forum because people are too busy talking in the chatroom, thus the forum suffers as a result, and eventually no one will want to return to the forum because it's become inactive.

So, what's your opinion on using chatrooms on a ProBoard? Do you think it's a good idea or do you think it can potentially harm a forum?

Debate!

I like the idea of a live chat. If there are no interesting topics at the time and you just want to chat, it can be a very fun. Especialy sice its not a standard PB feature.
I recently added an embedded Java Chat Room applet to my forum. My members love it!
Im constantly updating, fixing, and teaching on my board. I never get tired of it. The chat room has helped me a lot in those areas. There was an emergency on my forum at one time. A MAJOR coding error, had it not been for the live chat, my staff and I would not have been able to get the board fixed.

[rabieta]

I have a very active chatroom linked to my forum and feel that it hasn't detracted in the least as to posting threads. But, my board is not open to guests and each user is screened. In other words, it is a board aimed at a specific group of people. When used this way you are much less susceptible to spam, etc. As to using free java chatrooms (like SigmaChat), you can easily change the colors to blend it with your forum, and if you don't advertise to anyone but your user base then security "breaches" can be kept to a minimum.

If you are worried that more people will use chat than post threads, then it might be a good idea to re-evaluate what topics or boards your forum offers and promote that more.

[bigfish1965]

We have a chat room through Sigma chat and it is quite popular. I've just bought Flash Chat and have it on another server to test it. The chat bot is somewhat annoying ATM, but I am programming it with many topic-realted replies. The flash chat gives me way more control and runs better than the Java chats. This fall we will be offering the Flash Chat over the Java.

[HoudiniDerek]

One of the boards I was on hosted an anniversary chat of the show the forum was about and then got it transcribed for members who could not be there, which was nice.

Otherwise, most forums I attend just have AIM or something...and when you log onto the forum, you log onto the AIM and that makes it easy to converse about general stuff in AIM and about forum-specific topics without having to dredge through constant PMs.

[Bubzzzy]

Im not sure... A while ago I was on a froum with a chatroom, it worked out well i guess, but you couldnt talk to people if they werent in it. On my Forum I have a Shoutbox, It works alright, but if my forum had alot more members, then I would take it off.

[Eternity]

I dont think they're needed personally. you have the forum to talk to people, why not just have an off-topic board instead of a chatbox which slows loading times?

[Gamoc]

Well, chatrooms are okay sometimes, you could make them password protected right. So why not do that. I am not going to go very often, and chatrooms are a pretty good waste of time.

[kelendria]

I've never used a chat room, I want to be there to supervise (I can't be online 24/7)
Plus I find I don't have enough people online at the same time to chat.
Tagboards & shoutboxes maybe you can control better, but a chat room is something that's never really appealed to me.
But it is a good way to get to know other members & make friends.

[carry]

Well I have added a chatroom to my forum, also open for guests. Only incident ever was someone sending pms in chat to all there asking for their addresses LOL.. but that was taken care of fast, as I use one that is paid for and has the option of banning people.
I have started a regular Friday night chat now, and even though last Friday it was not all that active, only 4 people there, we had fun, talking about non forum related topics, joking around..
So I think a chat is something good, especially with a forum on a topic like mine (Death Penalty) where opinions can clash and it gets rough at times. In chat normally people get along great

So all in all I'd say it was a positive addition to the board.

[Ali]

There are pros and cons to adding a chat room. I recently added one, but with discretion.

I have a board titled, "chat room" and then a thread with the link to the chat room and some user information. Only registered members can access the board/thread.

The chat room does not clutter up my site and it's accessible for those who wish to use it, by simply clicking on the link. Some like chat rooms and some don't, but the option is there. It hasn't distracted from the site, but has been an enhancement.

So far this set up has worked very well.

`Raven

[harville]

i just joined is there rp threads on here

[C0ssh]

I think they COULD be a good idea, as long as the chats are staying positive and your not cytting other people down

A forum i am currently with uses a chat room and i think its fun and we can all hang and not have to wait for the delay of each other posting, but then some times are chats turn bad and we cut down other people and we dont relieze there other people reading what your writing, and now you have everyone reading what one person said about another one.

Also on alot of chat rooms you have no admin power to stop someone or something if they are breaking the rules all you can do is kindly ask them to leave, which I dout there going to do...

But in all i still think there a great idea!

<>< c0ssh

[Former Member]

In theory, I think the chat rooms are beneficial. However, in actuality, I think they do more harm than good to a message board/forum. I have seen two ProBoards add chat rooms, and ultimately it had the same effect (although to be fair, the two forums were almost identical). Anyway, many of the members would log into the chat room during a popular television (i.e. American Idol), and they would do a "live chat" during the show. In this respect, I like the chat room. However, over time, the members got/get more and more used to entering the chat room, and the thread and post counts start declining. There is also the comfort factor. There are still many people out there (myself included ) who are not adept at the computer or typing so a chat room can move too quickly. By the time I have typed in a sentence, the conversation has changed. So I guess, I like them for a session during a television show, but as a 24/7 deal, I think they are detrimental to the board.

[darkmagican]

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[darkmagican]

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