I think a shoutbox would be really cool for the site. I normally leave the site open when I do stuff so I think it would be neat to be able to have it there for support of something.
That is a good idea. We might be too small for a shout-box and it will be hard to moderate as well. But we will keep it in mind for the future as we grow.
There's more than ten members here right? Besides a shoutbox could be done easily. Have a timer bar and limited text.
True, we could limit it to registered users only, but we do get spam users that post. Those can be moderated because I have to approve their posts or delete them if its spam. I'm just worried about people spewing trash on the front page and I'm not going to be there to remove it.
It could be restricted to people who have posted above a certain amount of posts, so you can be sure they are not spammers.
Yeah! Like 25 posts? 50? I mean I want a guide maker label on my page because that's what I intend to do here.
I'm sorry if I'm coming across as a Luddite here, but I'm failing to see the point? (Then again, I don't see the point of Facebook, either, previous rants notwithstanding) First, we've already established that you will have to be logged in, or the spammers will make it useless in pretty short order. Second, we've tried the IRC channel, which would also provide real-time chatting, and that's currently carrying tumbleweeds. So again, I'm failing to see the point? I'm not against it per-se, it just seems like work for no benefit?
I guess it comes down to convienience. I visit the home page about 10 times a day. If I see someone chatting, I might join in, I might not. I didn't check out the IRC channel because I would have to sign up on yet another website/service. I'm already an active user here so it would be a nice feature that might get used and might not.
Plus people find irc to be a pain in the ass. I like it for bots and to talk to other archers. But I would love a shoutbox here. Just because YOU use IRC doesn't mean someone else who just joined the site and is new to the world of everything but her parish in oshkosh probably doesn't even know what the super key does. Don't assume, make it easier.
Quite so. However, one shouldn't invest effort in things that aren't useful, either. It takes needed resources away from things that ARE useful. Look, I'm not trying to be difficult; I just would like some assurance that this is something that is actually going to be of value. As I've already mentioned above, there are great many things I don't find value in that apparently others do (Facebook being at the head of a VERY long list of 'useless' stuff in my world). That doesn't mean I think my view is the only one that matters; only that I think <I'M> the one doing the work (or ThunderRD) and I don't want to spend our time setting something up that's going to just sit there (like the IRC channel), since it's additional code to audit, additional components to maintain, and another potential vector for a security hole. I GET that you and booman like the idea. That's great. But if it's only going to be you two using it, that doesn't seem like a great use of resources. If we had hundreds of active users, it might be a different conversation. But a ShoutBox isn't going to bring new users, nor do I see evidence that it's going to be the thing that drives users away if we don't have it. On the other hand, you and booman constitute about 20% of our active user base right now. Viewed in that light, maybe it is worthwhile.
Take this to thought: If me and him are 20% of the daily use, maybe there needs to be something more active for the other users!! Obviously the ones who have been dead for a year are just dead, but, it'd be awesome to have right? Now I'm not knocking your balls here man. It's your site right? Hell I'll even code the shoutbox for you. I just think an active chat for on the site would be neat. An easier way of sharing experiences.
On the front page, we actually have a kind of live box, called status updates. That hasn't been used much, either. While I realize it isn't exactly the same as a *realtime* chatbox, it allows users to post something that is visible on the main page, and allows others to respond to it in the same location of the main page. I don't mind the work of maintaining something that is used, but, like Chris says, if it is only the three or four of us that uses it, IRC is a completely free, no-risk alternative. No signup is required on 'another' service, just the download of a client. As an attempt to solve this in a congenial way, maybe we could prove its usefulness by employing the status updates first, and seeing if they make a small attempt to fill the void before committing to a purchase? Incidentally, the IRC channel at OFTC - #gamersonlinux remains open for anyone interested. I wonder if there are any plugins that put an IRC window on the front page.
It's on the homepage, middle of the right side. There's an entry field where you type in what you want.
I'm still having a hard time with IRC chats. I usually forget to check it and I can only be on IRC from 5am to 7am When I'm at work, the firewall blocks the ports IRC uses. So I cannot chat during work hours. This is one reason a homepage shoutbox would be useful. Since it would be browser-based.
