No Thanks Chatbox?

Looking from a community standpoint, I don't love the idea. The major objection with the concept of having a chat system for me was that it could detract from the actual activity within the forum; namely, posts. If everyone was spending their time chatting, and discussing topics they may have originally posted, that's a problem. To play devil's advocate to myself, a chat may also lead people to just leave KHV open in its own tab, which means a thread could catch their attention while they're waiting for a reply, in the time they may have been spending on some other site, waiting for a reply over MSN.

Going from a staff standpoint, yes we do have more staff than before, but a) not all of us may want to moderate the chats--it is a lot of work--and b) we have other things going on without having to check a chat every minute or so.

Going as Misty the member, I don't think I'd use it; I much prefer VM, mostly for the points Jayn brought up. I can reply when I'd like, I have logs of it, and I don't have to be online in order for someone to leave one. But, that of course is solved by the option to enable/disable the chat system on a user-to-user basis.

 

I'm kinda torn. In one way it helps community by allowing faster paced conversations. On the other hand it makes some conversations private simply for the convenience of it I've heard plenty of praise on KHV for being inclusive and would hate for lazyness to hinder that. I would lean towards yes though. It allows for friendships to build faster and stronger, and many of the conversations would be pretty exclusive anyway (e.g. Love nagging me to post in a RP)

 

In terms of activity, it's drawing people to the site. In that sense, it's not detracting from activity. Also, people are, as you say, rather fond of permanence. Even in Voxli, I've seen people reply to forum threads, so as to have their post available for all to view, instead of making their point in the chat itself, where only those present can see. Yes, people will discuss stuff in chat. However they're not going to substitute entire threads for the chat itself. The chat isn't permanent, and it doesn't gather as many viewers as the forum does. Also, if you want well-thought-out replies, you're far better off posting in the forum. I don't believe activity in the forum is going to be harmed by this; on the contrary, I believe it will increase. There is no folly in increasing the features available to people, for they will choose the best tool for the job they want completed.

On the staff issue, I can speak with a degree of experience here. While I may not always be online for trouble, for the most part, the people manage to deal with it themselves by either ignoring it, or by getting in touch with me. If they do not get in touch with me during an incident, they then contact me by some means, be it MSN or PM, and tell me that there has been a problem. This has been fairly effective at dealing with trouble. I do not believe KHV will have greater trouble, especially considering that up until very recently, I have been the only person moderating the chat room. While for a KHV chat there will be more people, there will also be more staff. People will contact staff if there is trouble. Most members are fairly fond of stability in the forum. Furthermore, this KHV chat will not have to wrestle with the problem of anonymous users.

I have to wonder though: how many staff members would be unwilling to briefly drop into the chat when PM/VM/IM'd about trouble, and tell the guys to cut it out or risk receiving a warning?

As I said to Misty, I doubt this will be used for anything that VMs, IMs or PMs were not used for. They're all methods of hosting single conversations. It just so happens that they do so in different ways. If the use of PM and VM have not eclipsed the forum activity, I do not think that this chat will do so either. Also, discussion in a thread goes very differently to a discussion in a chatroom. A chatroom can switch tac rapidly, and it is unlikely that a single topic will be covered with the same staunch approach as they are in the forum. On the other hand, when people are exposed to chat conditions, they're more likely to make various small-talk and get to know one-another better.

 

Besides that's what a trial is for, cuz you cant just predict what will hapen in the forum.

 

I fully support it, as long as you can change the color of it to match the skin you are using. Or just use a gray so that it fits forum-wide.

But on second thought... Misty is right. It would detract the forum itself. Either way...

 

Hmm...
Im kinda meh on this idea.
On one hand,it would be nice to have conversations with your friends on KHV etc..
But on the other,thats kinda what Voxli and Msn are for.
If it was installed,I would probebely use it.

Trial run maybe,see how it works for everyone?

 

I do think a trial run would be best. I personally don't think this would take away from the actual posting in threads. Because if you were just going to tell someone something or have a conversation it would be done in vm's. Besides side conversations in threads wouldn't be good anyway so this in a sense may cut down some spam.

 

It is not the typical shoutbox that distracts you from the rest of the forum. You can navigate the forums while talking to that chat thing.
@Misty/makaze: You can't say that it would have a negative effect on the posting. Thats what trial is for, to see how it does.

 

Oh I know that, it's silly to assume that there is anyway anyone can have an idea of how exactly this will work, I never said I was against a trial. I only wanted to get my concerns out there beforehand.
Have more to reply but typing on iPods is difficult. :v

 

Yup we all got that concern but it's a shame to not try it just for that.

 

Yeah... I'd say go for a trial run.
No harm in it, as it can always be removed if need be.
And if not... then yeah, it can be kept. Either way, I think that based on the fact it's a new server. We can afford to try things without too much worry.

 

Certainly, a trial run sounds acceptable. It's preferable to arguing back and forth about the potential effects.

So when will the trial run start/end? We could do it so that it gets officially reviewed at the end of a two-to-four week period, or we could simply activated it and keep in mind that if too much trouble arises, a kill-switch can be pressed.

The actual conditions of a trial are also something to consider. Of course, it's important to use the trial to get an idea of how the plugin will function on the site, but it could also hand the kill-switch for the chat over to anyone who dislikes the chat and wants to cause trouble, depending on how the review works.

Overall, I'm thoroughly for a trial period.

 

I say we give people time to get ready for a trail period, so maybe in a few days or something?

 

I support it. I mean, "KHV ISN'T SOCIAL NETWORKING" is a lame excuse. We have things like role-playing, the Spam Zone, KHV awards, Introduce Yourself, About Me(small as it is), visitor messages, personal links where you can instantly add someone's IM service, threads about hobbies, albums and the sort, and even a thread where you can put up pictures of yourself. Not many people here can't say that they haven't made great friends on here and people have even dated or are dating people they've met on here (not to speak from experience lol).
Also, to go along with something P said, I often saw on Voxli (can't say if I have now since I don't use it anymore) people post a link to a thread on here that they found interesting or had just posted in for response. Hell, I've advertised RPs there.

Another useful thing would the group chat. Yeah, I know MSN and Voxli are valued options but it is a hassle for someone to go get an MSN (especially for certain people here who aren't allowed to download things on their computer or have a dinosaur of a computer) and this would help tone down the abuse on Voxli (i.e., fake names). To go with the MSN comment, I've often had to had several people on my MSN that I don't really want to add for a group convo for something I want to discuss. I mean, yeah, it's easy to delete them afterwards but then I feel like a dick or get a mutual friend to put us in a group convo, but considering I use my MSN for irl things as well, I'd rather not have it cluttered up in the first place with people I don't intend on keeping. If I were to get all people in one of my role-plays (or graphics collaboration, or recording project or whatever else people do on here) in one conversation to discuss something, this would be ideal.

And this really doesn't take much more time to moderate (I would think) than anything else.
"Member Joe is insulting me!"
"Screenshot?"
"Here you go."
"Member Joe, here's your warning."
...is it really any different than anything else? I mean, if a member was going to abuse someone on the site, I doubt they would use PM, VM, and the chat. WIthout the chat, they'd just abuse through PM. I think it'd be a little tougher at first because it might have that 'staffless' feeling, but after a while, it'd be decent.

Anyway, I support this idea.

 

This probably doesn't work the way you're thinking. I mean, the Pro version does(I believe). But the lite version only has one general chatroom. So you can't make any special chartrooms for a select group. You can however, add them to your friends list and be able to chat one on one.

It's a very bare-bones chat/chatroom system. But it is very clean, from what I've seen and tried. I wish it worked better, though. Hopefully, it will in the future.

 

I agree with this. I don't like the idea, but I'm pretty easy going, so I don't really care.

 

Okay, first going from the need to moderate point of view, on this comment:

We'd of course be willing to do that, but I'm afraid we'd have to babysit the chat almost. I am willing to give that a chance, though.

I also want to say that we haven't yet made a decision on a trial run, please don't assume so quickly. I understand that members are supporting it but that does not insta-mean you're in. (also nothing can be done atm because neither RvR nor I have server access at the moment, though that will hopefully change soon)

I know some people brought up the point of aesthetics (or at least I think they did? i dunno lol), but it looks like it can be modified via StyleVars or CSS which is a good sign.

As I said before though, I have no problem with a trial run. But we've not yet made a staff decision. Give us some time, you only posted this 32 hours ago, haha.

 

I may not be a staff, but I could always help moderate the chat if you need any help

 

I just want to say once more that the posting activity might go down, but it might go up. Saying that it will be reduced is exactly like saying it will raise, because both statements are based on just thoughts... not even experience. Or it might just stay on same. Noone can calculate how it will effect the site regarding the posting. This can only be cleared by testing it, anything else about it is useless.

 

Would a screen shot not work out? I mean if we are going to eventually have this installed then why not just do that?

I think it could benefit my section actually. Get people talking while getting ideas around and get some work done.