I agree with Coaster and others who believe a chat room is not an effective way to communicate with or convey info to TB members. We are a 24/7/365 site...the instant info exchange feature is only available to whoever is awake and on-line at the moment. Dialog through the forums seems to be a much more effective way to engage TB members in a conversation about trains and/or modeling. Forums provide a venue for sustaining a conversation between members world-wide over the course of hours or days...and in some cases weeks and months. Having access to all previous postings in the thread lets us maintain our focus in a way completely absent in the Shoutbox. Some have tauted the Shoutbox as another feature for improving communication between members or enhancing the TB social network. Eliminating this tool from the TB/RI features will not prevent anyone from communicating with other TB members...as one of our youth members indicated above, people have email or private message options through TB. If the instantaneous aspect is critical to their personal communication, then there are definitely other sources like IM which are (intrusively) available and can do the job better and with more individuals than TB. I came to Trainboard for the valuable information available through dialog in the forums. The addition of blogs this fall enhanced the site by providing even more valuable information offered in longer format. The times I checked the Shoutbox, I found absolutely nothing to do with trains or modeling--no value to me, and, I suspect, little value to the majority of TB members primarily interested in trains or modeling. I strongly believe continuing Shoutbox would be a mistake.
I also believe chat would be detrimental to Trainboard. I feel chat would lead to less posting and thats the strength of trainboard. I can post a topic go to bed and wake in the morning with an answer and others can read and learn as well. I use yahoo messenger and have regular chats to other Administrators etc. There is nothing wrong with members using similar programs and having conference chats. We have enough issues moderating the forums let alone have to keep a watchful eye over chat as well. Open chat is often abused and if anyone would care to look at yahoo chat it has been overrun by spam and bots.
I feel yahoo messenger is more than enough. I would be happy to assist anyone in installiing and getting used to it. If anyone would like to contact me: YIM: grateful_grey_one Enjoy
I Voted No. :thumbs_down: Chat is IMO a wast of the system resources as well as a source of trouble. It will be difficult if not impossible to monitor unless you invest in a delay to allow an administrator time to remove an offensive comment and or bad language. This is cost prohibitive. Less than 1 or 2 percent of the member will use it and less than 1 percent will use it on a regular basis. It will be a slippery slope to degrading the reputation of TrainBoard. Personally I don't like Chat. It is way to fast for me and I can't keep up. By the time I can key a response 15 others have responded and the topic has moved on. I'm just not that quick. So I would never use it.
I must admit I originally voted yes for the idea, but after thinking about it for a while (and remembering that I have a Yahoo IM), and remembering that some chat rooms can get nasty, perhaps it's a good idea to drop chat. If we were to have some sort of chat-like communication, perhaps an IM roundtable would work (most likely the admins do that now) in addition to the messages we mods get in the Crummy. In that case, my preference would be a Yahoo IM, although ICQ may work as well. I'd rather steer clear of AOL's AIM.
Good point Boxcab. That kind of thing can be a problem even in the regular threads. Someone pops in with a question or comment and it gets ignored, they may or may not make the effort again. Trainboard has always been one of the most welcoming sites I've found but 'shouts' have kind of a clique feeling about them. It's too easy to unintentionally exclude people who aren't 'in' without even realizing it. Besides, as noted elsewhere it's nice to be able to go back and see what's gone on all day without a rush. I often breeze by for a few minutes when I get off duty and look around just to help unwind. The shouts were useless to me because there's not much context unless you've been there for a while and after a 12+ tour, I don't have the energy. The shouts feature sounds kind of like a trainmaster job description to me...it costs you money, involves some risks, nobody likes it much and you have to watch it all the time or it can bite you. I voted no.
I would be willing to provide support as well. Provided the following. 1. Rules of conduct are STRICTLY enforced. 2. Moderators are numerous and have banishment authority. 3. There is an ignore option to block seeing those that are unpleasant or unwanted in the discussion. 4. The ability to create subrooms, so modelers and prototype discussions can be seperate if the chatters so choose. I ask for these due to the ongoing problem with 4 people in another forum's chat room. They have driven away over 90% of the regular chatters and the board ownership has taken little action. I'd hate to see that here. Joe Having said
I initially did not vote because all options are absolute, either Pro or Con. Personally, I see no need for a "Chat Room" because, as many have said, we talk amongst all comers in our Forums. However, I voted Not Needed after re-reading what I had written. Chat Rooms, being immediate by nature, and therefore potentially emotional, would require constant oversight and management. Since the TB does not have paid employees, oversight would be a hit or miss proposition, depending who in authority was online at the moment. Video Phones, Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, Chatting are all nice features, but just because they are the latest "gee-whiz" product doesn't mean that we must all run out and buy them.
We have blogs, & other means to keep in touch. Some Forums have a weekly chat feature, but all have to be awake at the same time to make it feasable. I'm not sure if you could charge enough to make it worth the cost.
Trainboard Chat I think, it would be a good idea. Although, being a driver and gone during the week, it would be hard for me to contribute financially, and gain from it. But it would be beneficial, I feel.:sun:
Mike Based on the results roughly 77% voted no and less than 10% are willing to contribute financially. I imagine chat is now a dead issue.
I would say that it probably is for now. It looks like most people are opposed and it is pretty solid. Charlie
Came here to vote and the poll is closed hehe. You should probably remove this announcement so others don't get suckered into coming here: Announcement: We are asking your opinion on adding a chat feature to TrainBoard December 27th, 2006 E-8 (Administrator) No chats please though.
Personally, I'd spend some time in a TB chat if there was one. An IRC room would be fairly easy to set up, I believe.
There is one, although it doesn't get much use. Go to: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/vaispy.php .
I've quoted myself because I voted no then and I still vote no. I have not changed any of my opinions. See ya Ron
