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Mythic Scribes Shoutbox

A chatbox would be a nice addition to the forums, and I think everyone could benefit from it. Not only could it be the source of quicker updates than typing out a forums post, but it could stimulate some conversation faster than waiting for a certain topic to update.

Most chatboxes come with potential restrictions as well, such as only a certain amount of posts or a certain rank can see the chatbox. They also have spam-filters and things of that nature that help with posting too many messages at once, preventing potential spammers.

Another alternative would be to establish a Web IRC Chatroom, something like what Mibbit does. You could actually place it inside certain topics. It's a nice little widget that allows you to chat with friends and other people within the chatroom, all the while listening to music or watching a video that someone might've linked inside the application.

Just an idea.
 
In my experience running my own forums, having a chat box is great, but the posts take a nosedive. Since mine was an RPG message board the in-character posts stayed the same, but all of the out of character posts dropped dramatically. There was no point in posting and waiting when you could chat real time with everyone. Since this isn't an RPG, I can see it potentially causing issues with post count.

I think it's a personal preference for the admin/mods of this board. I don't prefer one with my own boards though. Just my opinion.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I dunno, for most of these topics, a good percentage of us are writing 3+ paragraphs. We'd probably still be posting in the forums proper, though perhaps less in Chit Chat sort of threads.
 

Amanita

Maester
I don't really see the point of that. Most things I want to write are too long to be written in a chat format. The world-building corner in the show case would be more to my taste. ;)
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
Hey Sigillimus,

Thank you for the suggestion. Given the nature of this forum, I don't know how well a shoutbox would work. As others have pointed out, the majority of posts here tend to be rather lengthy and thought out. A shoutbox may not lend itself well to our target demographic.

From my perspective, I've read that shoutboxes can be rather server intensive. They can slow down a forum dramatically, unless the forum has the server capacity to handle it. At this point in time we're trying to keep our server costs as low as possible.
 

Behelit

Troubadour
Its a worthy suggestion, Sigillimus, but I have to agree with some of the comments above as well.

As for the dedicated IRC chat room, this would be a better idea as it would cause less drag on the server. Given that the chat room would be a separate entity, it should be less likely to interfere with the thread/posts. Unfortunately, it would be better to see some interest in it before hand.

An idea to throw in of the same vein would be a Facebook page dedicated to the site.

At least the way that I see either of the ideas they are outlets for users to connect on a more personable level as opposed to expanding the site itself.
 
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Actually, now that I think about it, there always was that little Facebook icon near our login at the top of the forums...
 
I dunno about that... I think it would be a good idea to let's say.... have a group chat on FB o_O I have one for AOL RPG group and it works out wonderfully.. But here on the forums themselves.. I dunno I don't think enough of us are on at same general times for that to work out well o_O
 
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