Chatboxes

[Deleted member 7467]

So, I despise chatboxes and am on a community where everyone loves them. Despite my reasoning, there to D**N lazy to want to post on a forum. I have many reasons why I hate them, but I'd like more opinions. Can you leave your opinions on chatboxes so I can take this thread and use as support? Kthanks

 

[Eternal]

I use to think that chatboxes were the greatest things for small talk and what not on my forum. After a little while though I did start to notice less and less posts were actually being made because everyone was just using the chatbox so I removed it.

 

[TheNova]

Chatboxes defeat the purpose of actually having a forum as members start using them more than the forum itself. Chatboxes or anything of the sort often turn to off-topic rants with a large rate of useless messages per second.

Using the forums would be much better, especially for a better experience of communicating.

 

[Mik.]

I'd never recommend a chatbox for a forum. It tremendously decreases forum activity. You HAVE to believe me because I've noticed a severe difference when I had a chatbox and I didn't. I had a ton more posting going on without the chatbox.

 

[Deleted member 7467]

So, basically most people are saying generally the same thing. At least I'm not alone. You guys have any other reasoning about them?

 

[Guardian]

I HATE chatboxes. You're on a forum for a reason, drop the chatbox. I cannot even explain how much I despise them. Not good at all for a forum either IMO.

 

[Eternal]

So, basically most people are saying generally the same thing. At least I'm not alone. You guys have any other reasoning about them?

- Take up to much room
- Look unprofessional

 

[Deleted member 7467]

So, basically most people are saying generally the same thing. At least I'm not alone. You guys have any other reasoning about them?

- Take up to much room
- Look unprofessional

Thank you sir. How do they affect a forum traffic wise?

 

[Eternal]

My chatbox was never visible to guests, so it never affected that part. But posting in the forums slowed way down.

 

[Hotspot]

I don't mind chatboxes, unless they get out of control. I had one member on a previous forum who would spam the chatbox so much, that I had to make a rule that spamming the chatbox was not allowed.
In which he got annoyed and disappeared for a while.
Another member thought it was silly I added that rule; but it was extremely annoying.

 

[Mik.]

I don't mind chatboxes, unless they get out of control. I had one member on a previous forum who would spam the chatbox so much, that I had to make a rule that spamming the chatbox was not allowed.
In which he got annoyed and disappeared for a while.
Another member thought it was silly I added that rule; but it was extremely annoying.

Exactly. That's a con for having a chatbox. You have to moderate it...

 

[Yehya]

1. Slow page load.

2. Decreased activity.

3. Spam.

4. Hard to keep in moderation.

5. You never know what has been posted unless it is recent.

6. Annoying.

7. Turns off guests for the reasons above and below.

8. Useless.

9. After a while you will lose chatbox activity and forum activity.

10. I get freaking mad when i look at a chatbox i can go to your forum and troll it with 20% spam to teach you a listen. :lol:

11. This is not a reason but a point telling you i was joking above.

12. Rookie mistake.

13. Useless things should not be allowed to take useless room.

14. I need a glass of water... can your chatbox give me one? NO!

15. Annoyed members by accidently clicking on porn sites.

16. Annoyed users for getting banned for sharing porn sites.

17. Annoyed admin because now he has two annoyed users.

18. Annoyed forum because no-one will post and on top of that everyone is annoyed!

 

[Tecca]

I normally don't like chat boxes. In fact, I don't call mine a chat box, I call it a shout box. It's not meant to be used like a chat room, but more for quick thoughts that normally wouldn't be able to be their own topic.

I encourage high-quality posts over post count. So if a shout box reduces the number of low-quality threads, I'll definitely keep one around.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with mostly everyone in this topic; at the same time, however, it has its benefits when your members are generally mature enough not to do those things. I have a shout box on the forum in my signature (guests can't see it) - I know for sure that activity hasn't dropped because of it, though we're still a small forum, so that may be a large factor.

I plan on getting rid of it once I can get my hands on a decent status-update feature. I'm trying to get more use out of user profiles, which is why I also added a commenting system and changed the look to be a little different from the usual forum.

When trying to build a community, I want members to get to know each other - if that means adding a shout box, then that's what I'll do. I don't want people to have to refrain from talking directly to each other and having a good time. At the same time, I don't want guests to see spammy posts and get turned off from joining. So I think a shout box, at least at this point in time, is a good way to help comply with those factors.

 

[indest]

I am new to this whole thing, but I feel that a chatbox could be essential for new sites. I for one know that it helps develop a strong userbase. When people know one another on a personal level, it encourages them to help that person out on a thread. I just started a forum 1.5 months ago and only have 250+ users with 4,500 posts+ (maybe not an impressive stat), all of which i attribute to users' contributions (stimulated by the sb).

 

[Mik.]

Those are some really good stats indest. So, you have a chatbox on your forum with these statistics? If you do that's pretty cool!

 

[indest]

Those are some really good stats indest. So, you have a chatbox on your forum with these statistics? If you do that's pretty cool!

Yes my forum has a chatbox that is visible to members (only register members can view the sb). As a result of the shoutbox, I have noticed that users have grown to support each other and comments on threads that are linked in the shoutbox.

The shoutbox also boost activity as members are always bragging about their points or arcade scores. As a result, other members try to get more points (via posting or playing some games).

We also find that the sb is a good way to remind users about site related things. For example, we have a current promotion that all tutorials they write for the FP will earn them 2,000 site credits (which they can use to buy color usernames, image signatures, groups, forum access, and more). By posting promotions like this, we have generated a good amount of tutorials that has enriched our blog with jailbreaking, wordpress link codes, theming tutorials and more.

In short, the sb has been a tool for us. I am not sure how useful it will be in the future, but for now it is essential.

 

[Medora]

I have seen this topic numerous times. It seems an overwhelming majority take issue with shoutboxes, but they are also popular enough that numerous versions of them are made even for each forum software. So the question is if shoutboxes, popular as they are, are primarily added by novices, or if they are not inherently disadvantageous but are seldom utilized.

Anyways, for people wondering if there are large forums using shoutboxes, three examples off the top of my head are forums.kametsu.com (hidden from guests), rpg-directory.com, and rpgforumsonline.com.

Also, my observations about shoutboxes were put to use in my article, "The effects of a shoutbox on a forum community."

 

[Shole]

On a bigger forum they are a success I mean if its a gaming forum even better 🙂 I am not against them but as I have a small forum atm i wont add them.

 

[Mik.]

Yeah, they're fine on big forums since there will always be a handful of posters actively posting. But, it would still make a difference if a lot of people are chatting and some are posting. Why not just make everyone post? lol

 

[juststeven]

Chatboxes certainly decrease activity on the forum itself because it's much easier to use. Instead of a chatbox have a general thread. There are also others reasons why chatboxes are a bad idea. They're is always someone who posts random links which people click which are rick rolls, etc. They are harder to moderate. They increase load time and length of page. Also a lot of them have security vulnerabilities which hackers can use to get into peoples accounts. If you do have one on your forum then I hope it works out.