Live chat room on ukbf? vote now

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Robert1989

Robert1989

Free Member
Feb 10, 2008
101
10
  • #1
    Dear UKBF admin.
    sorry if this is in the wrong place but i think it would be a good idea to expand your own site and have a chatroom where we can all chat in real time. who agrees with this? owuld be better than posting a comment or thread and waiting for an email or checking the therad every ten minutes. i personally would like to be able to log onto a live chat room and chat about business.

    anyone who agrees post here and get in touch with ukbf
     
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    Ashley_Price

    Ashley_Price

    Free Member
    Business Listing
    Feb 9, 2008
    7,096
    1,315
    Lewes, Sussex
    www.theaudiotypingservice.co.uk
  • #2
    I guess if you're not in business you can spend time in a chat room, but I like forums for the simple fact that I could post a message up, get on with work, come back sometime later and still see the answer.

    With a chat room, I could easily get called away to talk on the phone, see a client, etc.

    Besides, I've been on the internet since 1996 and have found chat rooms very quickly (as in minutes) become boring and repetitive.

    So, no, I'll stick with the forums.
     
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    J

    JohnG

  • #4
    Sally@CC said:
    I do feel bad starting a thread for a quick question I know will take 1 post to answer.
    Click to expand...

    Why feel bad? Surrely that's a great use of the forum: ask a question, someone answers it; great, job done!

    Re chat rooms, I agree with Ashley, you could finish up spending all your time chatting to all the fascinating people on this forum and not getting any work done.
     
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    Ashley_Price

    Ashley_Price

    Free Member
    Business Listing
    Feb 9, 2008
    7,096
    1,315
    Lewes, Sussex
    www.theaudiotypingservice.co.uk
  • #7
    I would also put up a note of caution, regarding people's answers and their commitment. I've been on other forums where there's been a poll to introduce something new to the site, or similar, loads of people have said "Yes, please" but when it's been introduced the take up has been very poor.

    Two examples from one photography site:

    1/ The book
    The website owner came up with the idea of doing a book which included photos from members of the site. Of course, everyone (except a few of us) thought it was a fantastic idea. Obviously the owner wanted to make sure it was worthwhile before taking the plunge. Us dissenters were told we didn't know what we were talking about, and should wait until the book was launched and we would be proved wrong.

    The result? When the book was actually in production (i.e. so no turning back) and the owner asked for pre-orders, less than 1/10th of the people who said they would definitely buy the book actually put in an order. I think it was only after a couple of years the owner actually broke even on sales.

    2/ A online shop
    Again the owner put it to the members. Again everyone raved at the idea and again us dissenters (I was trying to keep the site doing what it did best and not go into other areas) were told to keep quiet, wait until it was open and we would be proved wrong.

    The result? The shop was launched and because the owner had decided to go for high quality items the prices were quite expensive. So, of course, few people bought anything (the odd mug, etc.).

    Yet, the little extras that the site has added (bigger uploads, etc. for those paying a membership fee) that stayed in line with what the site does, have proved to be a great success.
     
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  • #11
    I thought there was already an 'unofficial' chat room, set up by Stuart, which is a little underused at the moment - why not use it and see how it goes? If it turns out the need is there, then I'm sure Sift would happily make it an official one.
     
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    T

    trade_asia

  • #13
    good day,
    well, i think the more the options the better .and also, forums and chatrooms have their own distinctive purposes and thats the reason that it is better to have them both around.
    and in case on choosing which is better from the other, ill choose forum because evryone can share their own ideas in a discussion at any time.

    have a great day everyone.
    jaymar
     
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    J

    James Poulter

  • #15
    Having just checked out the unofficial chat room I would have to say I would vote for an official one.

    It only takes a few people to be actively involved to be worthwhile - it doesn't matter if people can only glance in every few hours like they would on a forum, if enough people participate it would be ok.

    It should by no means replace a forum though.
     
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    D

    DotNetWebs

  • #17
    Alpha said:
    But just playing devils advocate here ....would a chat room be a useful addition to forum resources if it were available not for the business questions but for the social chat, 'after work' so to speak. An area where people could meet up after work to chat about anything and everything?
    Click to expand...

    I agree would this not be the perfect way of keeping both sides of the "drivel divide" happy? This issue seems to have torn this forum apart in recent weeks.

    With an official chatroom people could have as much fun as they like without diluting the forum 'business' content.

    Regards

    Dotty
     
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    stugster

    stugster

    Free Member
    Feb 1, 2007
    9,060
    2,076
    Edinburgh, UK
    considerit.com
  • #20
    The facilities for a UKBF chat-room are in place and accessible to all... however, as has become apparent, almost everyone involved in running a business does not have the time to sit in the chat room and have an idle chit-chat.

    At 8pm, a few people tend to come on to have a gossip, but not many.

    I used to advertise in the Time Out section when there was going to be a chat-room session - but even then, it was a small amount of people.

    The problem with a chat room is that it doesn't generally get recorded... so any help and advice in terms of business related activities goes "un-logged" for future users to reference.

    But yes, Chat is already available :D
     
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    D

    DotNetWebs

  • #21
    stugster said:
    T...The problem with a chat room is that it doesn't generally get recorded... so any help and advice in terms of business related activities goes "un-logged" for future users to reference... :D
    Click to expand...

    This is exactly why I have voted against a chat room in the past. IMO the more formal business posts should be part of the recorded forum.

    BUT

    Banter, drivel and flirting etc. doesn't need to be part of the recorded forum.

    I think a formal chat room it the ideal solution. The banter will not be permanently recorded so will not 'dilute' the more serious posts.

    As I said in the previous post this solution should keep everybody happy. :)

    Maybe UKBF could formally adopt and promote your chat room?

    Regards

    Dotty
     
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    A

    Alice3537

  • #23
    I worked on a site with the chatroom feature implemented once - we had more than one room set up, so there were (I think two or three) ones set up for particular interests. There was even a bot hanging about in there so you could go and chat even when there were no humans - made for a very strange conversation though!:)

    We used flashChat and embedded it into the SMF forum script we were using.
     
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