Chat?

[Owen]

Okay, so this may seem like a long shot but what if SBF had a chat room/shoutbox? A lot of the forums using IP.Board use it (amazing software, another software I 100% recommend transitioning to, it's $130 a month for cloud hosted with 200+ visitors at once).

It's a great way to connect the community a little more and would be nice for those who have quick questions or just want to chat, especially when I have a question that's either repetitive or quick :P

You could make it so you have to have a minimum amount of posts to chat/shout and some of the members can be moderators like Harold, etc. and even I would love to moderate the shoutbox/chat. You can even create a special group for the chat moderators if the only thing they moderate is the chat.

What do you think SBF staff? c:

[Brian Altenhofel]

As someone who's managed large boards, live chat is asking for trouble.

By the way, $130/mo for 200 visitors at once? That's kind of expensive...

[Owen]

As someone whose managed large boards, live chat is asking for trouble.

By the way, $130/mo for 200 visitors at once? That's kind of expensive...

Don't tell me, tell Invision Power. It's like $130/mo for all their software, 200 visitors, and some other stuff.

https://www.invisionpower.com/buy

[vangogh]

While I appreciate the suggestion, I don't have any plans to add live chat. I think it would mostly make the site more difficult to moderate. I don't want people to come here and expect instant answers either.

[Harold Mansfield]

Okay, so this may seem like a long shot but what if SBF had a chat room/shoutbox? A lot of the forums using IP.Board use it (amazing software, another software I 100% recommend transitioning to, it's $130 a month for cloud hosted with 200+ visitors at once).

It's a great way to connect the community a little more and would be nice for those who have quick questions or just want to chat, especially when I have a question that's either repetitive or quick :P

You could make it so you have to have a minimum amount of posts to chat/shout and some of the members can be moderators like Harold, etc. and even I would love to moderate the shoutbox/chat. You can even create a special group for the chat moderators if the only thing they moderate is the chat.

What do you think SBF staff? c:

Not a fan of that idea either. First of all it would require 24/7 moderation. Thanks for your confidence in me, but no thanks.
Second, I only use chat when I feel like it. Most times I never have a chat window open or accept chat requests from Skype, Hangouts or anything else.

Chat is great when you're communicating with a team or coworkers. Other than that, it's either constant messages from strangers who will take up hours of your time asking for things that I normally charge for and will never be customers, or open chat is a spam fest that can easily get out of hand with bad behavior if it isn't constantly monitored.

I think the questions here get answered pretty fast and the members answer and help out when they have time. No one wants to be on call 24/7 to answer questions. I don't even do that with paying clients.

[Owen]

Not a fan of that idea either. First of all it would require 24/7 moderation. Thanks for your confidence in me, but no thanks.
Second, I only use chat when I feel like it. Most times I never have a chat window open or accept chat requests from Skype, Hangouts or anything else.

Chat is great when you're communicating with a team or coworkers. Other than that, it's a spam fest that can easily get out of hand with bad behavior if it isn't constantly monitored.

I think the questions here get answered pretty fast and the members answer and help out when they have time. No one wants to be on call 24/7 to answer questions. I don't even do that with paying clients.

But what about a shoutbox? It's kind of less chatty I guess. It's not really a place for conversation.

[Harold Mansfield]

But what about a shoutbox? It's kind of less chatty I guess. It's not really a place for conversation.

I guess I'm not understanding where it is that your needs aren't being met or how this would make the forum better. Is it that people aren't moving fast enough to help and give free advice, or are you looking to have some kind of on call shoutbox open to answer your questions immediately? Who is supposed to be on the other end of that shoutbox?

[MyITGuy]

I think chat defeats the purpose of the forum, where questions can be asked/answered for all to see. By moving to chat, questions will not get answered and no history will be logged/searchable for other members to see.

Additionally as touched on, $130/month for 200 visitors is expensive for something that is currently being offered/given away for free compared to <$100 for support for the year on the existing/alternative solutions.

[Harold Mansfield]

I think chat defeats the purpose of the forum, where questions can be asked/answered for all to see. By moving to chat, questions will not get answered and no history will be logged/searchable for other members to see.
.

Yes. This. Especially this. Chat is something that is done one on one. This is a community. The discussions here don't just benefit the OP, they benefit everyone who has the same question or just want to hear different perspectives.

I'm sure anyone reading this who has ever sent me a PM can confirm that I'm always telling people to post whatever questions they're asking via PM, on the forum so that they can get many answers.

I've been a member of MANY forums where question or threads go unanswered or responded to for days, or weeks.
This isn't that.

If you need that kind of one on one, on call consulting support, that's the kind of thing that you hire people for.

[Owen]

I guess I'm not understanding where it is that your needs aren't being met or how this would make the forum better. Is it that people aren't moving fast enough to help and give free advice, or are you looking to have some kind of on call shoutbox open to answer your questions immediately? Who is supposed to be on the other end of that shoutbox?

Everyone would be on the other end of the shout box. For example, Invision Virus has a shoutbox (invision virus is the people who cracked invision power software).

[MyITGuy]

Everyone would be on the other end of the shout box. For example, Invision Virus has a shoutbox (invision virus is the people who cracked invision power software).

And that may work well when you're in a team environment working to a common goal (I.E. Cracking Software where you are decompiling code and sharing ideas/thoughts in a quick/rapid fire manner), however I do not see the benefit to a forum such as this one.

[Harold Mansfield]

Owen it's a good suggestion for a customer service environment. I don't think it's right for this community. Just keeping the normal forum spam free is involved enough. I don't think any of the mods, who have businesses to run, want to be monitoring ongoing conversations all day. Besides, I don't see where you'll get any different advice than you can get by just posting on the forum.

[billbenson]

The beauty of a forum is its not real time and everyone can benefit from your conversation. That includes lurkers of which I believe there are a bunch at any given time. One step down from that is email which is not real time either. It is usually one on one though.

Most people here work. Chat could be very disruptive, I have chat on during the day, but that is only for real time communication with my partner who is in a different location.

I always have the forum open on my pc and when I want to take a quick break I glance at it or if I have a question, I make a post. But again, that is not real time.