Chatbox

**Rhino.Freak** · **Rhino.Freak** Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:12 pm

Do you keep a chat box in your forum? Is it on your homepage?
Do you like the concept of a chat box on a forum?

I personally think chatboxes on homepage can work counter intuitively on forum activity and needs to be taken care of. If not done right it can pretty much steal the posts and users, out of sheer convenience, try to talk on the chat box about most things instead of creating topics.
What do you think?

**SLGray** · **SLGray** Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:16 pm

I used them once, but hardly anyone used it. I also removed it because I did not want to take away from posting activity.

**Sonikku1011** · **Sonikku1011** Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:09 pm

I usually don't like setting up a shoutbox/chatbox since I fear that it may take away some activity on the board. However a shoutbox for staff isn't that bad of a idea. Smile

Zephyr · Zephyr Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:20 am

I would have a Chatbox/Shoutbox for staff. I also believe having it open to members will drain the activity of a forum.

**Poser** · **Poser** Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:40 pm

For a student/ class forum that I own, I use chatbox to interact with my students. The number of posts/activity isn't that significant for now because what I only need is that they will submit their assignments to the forum.

Baymax · Baymax Sun Jul 17, 2016 3:07 am

Having a chatbox, for me, may raise the chance of reducing the activity, especially in the posts because obviously, members will just use the chatbox in interacting with other members.

Allenafaith · Allenafaith Sun Jul 17, 2016 3:16 am

I love having shoutboxes. I think it's a good way for members to communicate with each other and staff quickly instead of using the PM system but sometimes I feel like it will take away discussion from the forum.

alakazam · alakazam Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:23 am

Yes, I have a chat box on the homepage of my forums. They may take away from the forums activity, but it's fun, so it's whatever...

showcrit · showcrit Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:15 pm

I agree with most of the people in here. A chat box would reduce the forum's activity and it's harder to moderate if it gets really active.

alakazam · alakazam Thu Jul 21, 2016 7:47 am

showcrit wrote:I agree with most of the people in here. A chat box would reduce the forum's activity and it's harder to moderate if it gets really active.

Why would you need to moderate a chat box? Just set it so the messages get deleted after 24 hours.

Guardian · Guardian Fri Jul 22, 2016 4:58 pm

I got one, but I don't have it active. I prefer not using a chatbox/shoutbox.

GreenDot · GreenDot Sun Jul 24, 2016 10:19 am

I've never been crazy about the chat boxes myself. I've always felt that they tend to take away the focus from the boards in the forum. I wouldn't mind implementing it if there was a great demand for one from our members however it's not a feature I'm willing to go out of my way to carry out.

Cierra · Cierra Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:34 pm

On my forum we had both shoutboxes and chatrooms. The chat room was by 123Chat, if you've heard of it, and had different rooms for different discussions. We wanted to expand on it and do things like host moderated chats with professionals in our niche (travel and languages) but that didn't end up happening. It ended up not really adding anything to the forum due to spam and abuse so we removed it. In the future I'd be willing to re-evaluate it if there was more interest. The only problem with it is it basically adds a second layer of moderation for staff members on top of their normal duties.. I remember we had to have schedules for it and everything.

SamDLowe · SamDLowe Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:26 pm

There has always been negativity around a chat box on forums however I like them. Being able to talk with members about anything in a relaxed way, without having to wait hours for a reply on a thread is what I like most. It may decrease activity in the off topic areas but the main niche areas shouldn't lose any activity. Create guidelines if you need to, explaining the use of the chat box is for off topic discussions only etc.

**Koshka** · **Koshka** Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:34 pm

Wow. Reading this is really eye opening maybe I just might remov the chat box from my forum so people post more on the forums. It'll be hard though because I have used a chatbox for a long time I not talking to people directly would be an awkward yet positive experience for the forums.

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