Should we keep the DBSTalk.COM Chatbox?

[Scott Greczkowski]

So lets find out what you think of the DBSTalk.COM Chat Box.

Now that it has been online for a few weeks I am sure you have seen and possibly even tried our DBSTalk.COM Chatbox.

Sometimes the chat has been very busy while at other times it seems as though no one is home.

We here at DBSTalk.COM value your opinion, so now we are seeking your thoughts on the DBSTalk.COM Chatbox.

Should it stay or should it go?

Its your call. This poll will be open untill 9am Friday Morning. The outcome will determine its fate.

Only the yes or no votes will be counted. :)

[James_F]

I don't use it unless I'm really board. I'd rather see that chat room open since its much easier to use. I've never really seen anyone use it, but maybe I don't spend enough time here. :rolleyes:

[John Corn]

Yes, I'm still not ready to give up on it yet.

[Chris Blount]

I voted no. The idea about a chat room had been discussed before and it was agreed that it should only be open during special events.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3321

I for one rarely even look in the new chat box and when I do it's a pain to read because it keeps jumping me up to the top every time it refreshes.

Also, I think it slightly takes away valuable questions and answers that could have been asked in the forums and stored for future reference.

[JBKing]

I think it is a good idea for the chat box 24/7, but the lack of participation is discouraging.

You can right click on the refresh button (IE 6 anyway) and open in a new window and enlarge full screen, so the auto refresh isn't much of a problem. Then again, it's not much of a problem anyway with so few chatting.

I look at the chat box as just that..."chat" or "bs" may be a better word. And there is nothing wrong with that. Any serious discussion or question would be better served as a post in the forums. Buy STX a couple of sixpacks this weekend and the chat box will liven up! ;)

And Nick seemed to like the idea of a 24/7 chat, according to the previous thread Chris linked to. I haven't seen Nick in there, cat got your tongue? :eek2:

[Steve Mehs]

Agreed JB, I like the chat box, but I wish there were more participants, I did have some good conversations with Scott and I'm hoping to have some with other members.

[STXJim]

I like the chat box.
It's just another dimension of DBSTalk that I check on every visit. Just like every Forum here; sometimes there is activity and sometimes it is dead. It will catch on.
Just one night last week I stopped by the chat to say hello and some JB dude said hi. It was a full on BS chat. That's all. It was fun.
He told me he was from Kentucky. I asked him what he did that night and he told me that he went to see his 'Old Gran Dad' looking for his good buddy 'Jimmy Beam'. He then said that they were going hunting. I think he said that they were going to shoot some 'Wild Turkeys'.
I really didn't know what in the hell he was talking about but it was the first time I have ever read anything that was slurred in a chat room.
I didn't know that was possible.:D:D:lol::D:lol:
Keep the box!:)

[TNGTony]

I dislike Chats in general. I have a hard enough time following a conversation in a thread when the page is static. I have a very hard time considering a response and typing it out in a chat room before I'm three topic changes behind the group! :)

I voted no.

See ya
Tony

[Ryan]

Unless it turns out to be a bandwidth hog, I think it's not causing any problems. It's convienent to say "hi" once in a while.

[Scott Greczkowski]

47% say keep it
33% say it should go.

I guess it stays for now. Now we need to find a place to put it so that users can easily see it so if someone is chatting they can quickly join in.

At the top seems nice however it will clutter things up, just having a link to the chat will do no good, it will be like the other chatroom, no one will use it.

We need your ideas on this one.

[Chris Blount]

The chat box will NOT go on the top!

[Nick]

C'mon you two. Let's tone it down a little. :D :lol: :D

[James_F]

Just put it out of its misery. It will be gone in another month anyway when people get tired of it. :shrug:

[Scott Greczkowski]

I already said the chat won't go on top. Take a pill Chris. :D

[Nick]

I'm not much a chat person, but a couple of things I've noticed that could be improved:

- refresh on new post rather than by an arbitrary interval

- make chat window resizeable by the user - also, to capture more previous posts*

- clear text box after post

*right now I don't even have a scroll bar.

I'm using NS 6.2.2 so that may be a factor in the performance of the chat box on my pc. Otherwise, I like the concept of having it available. I have a phone but I don't use it all the time.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nick I answered your questions in the chat. (As you know) :D

[JBKing]

How about placing the chat box at the top? ;)

Seriously, what about a hyperlink at the top, linking down to the bottom of the same page. That way people will know the chat box is available, but you click to get to the bottom of the page, where it is tucked out of the way. Personally, I hate scrolling down a page, and would rather click a hyperlink and let it do the work for me.

[JBKing]

So, is the chat box gone now?

[James_F]

Looks like it. Seems to have died a slow death. :D

[Steve Mehs]

Yes the Chat Box is gone, Scott removed it last night.

[STXJim]

At least we get a warning that the forum will ge closed tomorrow, the 11th.
Now we won't wake up to find out that it is down and wonder why.
I couldn't give a rat's behind about the chat box but it would have been a little more professional if we were told that it was going to be removed instead of wondering what happened.
So what was 'that poll' all about.:shrug:

[Scott Greczkowski]

I took the ChatBox down last night for the big Charlie Chat. In that time it was down bandwidth use dropped 45%.

It seems as though there are many people who love coming to DBSTalk.COM and letting their browser sitting on the main forums page, they leave their computers here for DAYS.

The problem is that that chatbox reloads itself ever 25 seconds, so these people who were sitting on the main page were eating tons of bandwith (and most probably did not even know there was a chatbox down there)

Because we are user funded we could not afford to keep the chatbox running in its present state. (Not to mention I was getting tired of talking to myself) :D

We still do have a chat at http://chat.dbstalk.com that is open 24 hours a day.

If someone could figure out a way for us to bring back the chatbox without it bleeding our bandwidth funds I am all ears. As the person who added the ChatBox feature I really wanted it to work. No one was using it, and it was eating tuns of bandwith so for now it had to go. :(

Again if anyone has any ideas on how we can bring it back yet keep people from sitting on it all day, I am all ears. :)

Thanks everyone for your support.

[JBKing]

Take the chat box off the home page and kill the refresh. I tried the chat room link you provided, and I got so many errors on trying to enter and reenter (page not found), it doesn't seem worth the trouble.

How about providing the chat box on a separate page, off the home page? I like the chat box, unfortunately, most of the time I go in, there's no one there. People seem to like it, but no one chats, including me. :shrug: