Will there be one in the future?
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Not sure at this point, but I see more cons than pros unfortunately.
Here are some cons:
Here are some cons:
- Once users are able to message at high speeds, they may prefer posting in the C/S box over shitposting in a thread.
- We can obviously control the speed that messages are sent, but it would create an extra area that would require constant moderation.
- C/S messages do not count towards forum statistics, so users won't be able to earn rewards for activity.
Jesse Pinkman
Preeminent
The feature you are talking about is not available in xenforo . Vbulletin and pro board had that chat feature scrolling on top.
There are add-on's that exist; just not easy to find as "shoutbox" was a term used back in Vbulletin days and people simply refer to them as "chat boxes".
Shoutbox by Siropu
This is an easy-to-use easy-to-setup Shoutbox widget that you can add in any of the available widget positions on your board. Main features: Active user list Private staff room Shouts archive Enable "real-time" mode for improved performance Top...
xenforo.com Jesse Pinkman
Preeminent
Ah i see so they have inbuilt with Ajax right ?
Most of XenForo's update-related features, such as when you see that new posts are available to view when someone posts while you're lurking in a thread, are powered by AJAX. The add-on I linked uses the same AJAX as XenForo at it's core by hooking into it.
For those that don't know what Ajax is, please see this: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_ajax_intro.asp and some JQuery AJAX for advanced stuffs here: https://www.w3schools.com/jquery/jquery_ajax_intro.asp
There's even more complicated Shotbox implementations such as https://xenforo.com/community/resources/chat-2-by-siropu.5762/ (by the same author as the previous link I posted).
I'll continue to allow feedback in this thread, but generally speaking, I don't believe this will be something that we add to the forum given the cons I listed earlier, unfortunately :(
Jesse Pinkman
Preeminent
Basically another chat section since we already have one i dont think its needed .
Chatboxes, especially ones with good UI, facilitate spontaneous conversation better than a thread does. In my forum experience it might draw activity away from "chat threads" but not from general forum activity and probably encourages more activity overall. Because it encourages users to pop in more often. It's not zero sum.
We are a very, very new forum still getting its feet off the ground, and anything that potentially jeopardizes activity (without even meaning to) is bad for business. Keep in mind, some forums disable it eventually because of the constant moderation it required.
So for right now, the general discussion forums are fine.
Later down the road we're willing to try when we have a more stable memberbase. Let's say we do enable Chatbox as a hypothetical and there's high demand for it. If we do this and it detracts from activity in general or there's simply too much to moderate, we disable it. Seem fair?
I'm just saying, that I have seen this exact discussion before about implementing chatboxes, it's an understandable concern but in practice it does not harm activity. As for the constant moderation demand, I don't think that's really much of a concern at the current level of activity you guys have. Unless you anticipate a lot of rule breaking/bending for whatever reason. Maybe you have testy members.
I think chatbox helps contribute to a more stable memberbase by encouraging consistent activity, the high turnover rate of conversation encourages checking in on the forum more often to see what's up instead of maybe popping in every few hours or so. It increases accessibility, and that's important for keeping new peeps.
Just my 2c
uh ignore those dice throws lol
Rohan
ㅤ
Chatboxes are not a good idea.
1.Chatboxes will always lead to a decline in activity in chat threads.
2.Chatboxes can only show a limited amount if messages. Old messages get deleted. There will remain no records of your valuable conservations.
3. Moderation becomes difficult.
4. At high activity levels users can get away by breaking the rules. A user posts a slur in chat but the slur gets deleted because of the reaction posts. Now the staff cannot punish that user because the offending slur message is gone.
5. At high member levels (which this forum has), a chatbox is functionally useless because of the limited messages means multiple convos cannot be sustained. A chatbox is not like a discord server where you can look at old messages and respond.
6. Users get no rewards for their activity. You do not get post count, post ranks with sweet username colours or shop money.
Honestly I see no benefit. Why use a chatbox when threads exist?
1.Chatboxes will always lead to a decline in activity in chat threads.
2.Chatboxes can only show a limited amount if messages. Old messages get deleted. There will remain no records of your valuable conservations.
3. Moderation becomes difficult.
4. At high activity levels users can get away by breaking the rules. A user posts a slur in chat but the slur gets deleted because of the reaction posts. Now the staff cannot punish that user because the offending slur message is gone.
5. At high member levels (which this forum has), a chatbox is functionally useless because of the limited messages means multiple convos cannot be sustained. A chatbox is not like a discord server where you can look at old messages and respond.
6. Users get no rewards for their activity. You do not get post count, post ranks with sweet username colours or shop money.
Honestly I see no benefit. Why use a chatbox when threads exist?
that is not true. I know a forum who does this and has a cbox at the top that is actually tied to a post for chat and it counts toward the post count of the user and the forum. And, it was never tied to a decline of posting at said forum.
As for rule breaking it would simply follow the same guidelines as the forum. while it may be deleted if it's tied to an actual thread and the cbox is just an option, it would be in the database for a staff member to see what was deleted and whatnot. Not too many chances for stuff to slip by.
In light of this forum's activity declining and the discord apparently being active I feel somewhat vindicated that a chatbox suggestion really wasn't all that bad and can potentially keep activity that would otherwise be siphoned off by discord *shrugs*
realistically we may not have much traffic flow to do be doing this
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