UK chat room for business?

[BusinessIdeas]

I used to be a member of a yahoo business chat room which was great fun, and quite informative. Just wondered if there is such a thing that is well frequented in the UK - Gina

 

[FluxServices]

I used to be a member of a yahoo business chat room which was great fun, and quite informative. Just wondered if there is such a thing that is well frequented in the UK - Gina

Hi Gina,

for some reason over the last week I have got very happy with your posts and your posts.

I no this is off subject by why dont you in-corporate one into B.I.A.0 forum. might be a good idea.

Cheers

 

[BusinessIdeas]

I dont know, haven't thought about it really. I think that it would prove quite expensive though - Gina

 

[FluxServices]

I dont know, haven't thought about it really. I think that it would prove quite expensive though - Gina

If you have the time you might be able to find some free chat scrips on the internet i have done before.

I dont mind finding them again, they come with the admin panels to so you can change various of things.

Cheers

Phill

 

[BusinessIdeas]

I already have a chat room script that I bought a while ago, but really its not the cost of the script that is the issue; it is the dedicated hosting that you would need to maintain the app. That is where the expense would be, and there might not be the demand to justify it - Gina

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Crewgirl, much as I like to read your posts, i find it REALLY annoying that you alter the font colour and style of all your posts. All bold in a different colour is hard to read, to the poitn where I haven't read your post above as it is uncomfortable

It also detracts from your signature so is lessening the affect.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I guess the BIG question with regards a chat room is how busy people are.

With UKBF I can come and go as time and work allows. I can put a message up, go off, do some work, pop back later and see if anyone has responded.

With a chat room, I'd have to make sure I've the time to be on there or else there's no point. If I put the same message up (as on UKBF) then get called away to the phone, or a client pops in, etc. then I leave the chat room. I return an hour later to find that I've missed anything that others might have said that would have been of interest about my message.

 

[stugster]

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=58601

 

[derek_mcgilvray]

The previous point is an important one, but chat rooms do have a role to play. I'm not sure how well UKBF's Dragons Den/Apprentice chats were participated in, but those kind of situations (amongst others) are well suited for chat rooms.

As you BIAO website runs on SMF, it would be really easy to incorporate a chat room, using one of the SMF mods. There are a few, but there is one in particular which has overall better functionality. Click here for the link. Hope it goes well.


Derek

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Crewgirl, much as I like to read your posts, i find it REALLY annoying that you alter the font colour and style of all your posts. All bold in a different colour is hard to read, to the poitn where I haven't read your post above as it is uncomfortable

It also detracts from your signature so is lessening the affect.

Ok OWG I do respect your advice, and I hope you will forgive my little transgression into individuality If my font was making people feel uncomfortable, then I apologise to all those affected and hope that the post traumatic stress disorder will be short lived - Gina

 

[SmartBookings]

I used to be a member of a yahoo business chat room which was great fun, and quite informative. Just wondered if there is such a thing that is well frequented in the UK - Gina

spam would probably kill it

 

[BusinessIdeas]

There are measure that can be taken in chatrooms to deal with spam - the ignore feature was easily operated in the business room that I used to frequent. Also the moderators can easily ban offending Id and ip addresses.

 

[Subbynet]

Many have been started over the years, none really last for long.

 

[opencontact]

The trouble is with chat rooms is you have to be sitting there to use them, and many business people dont have the time to sit in a chat room on the off chance something useful will be discussed unfortunately. Forums seem a much better option.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

The trouble is with chat rooms is you have to be sitting there to use them, and many business people dont have the time to sit in a chat room on the off chance something useful will be discussed unfortunately. Forums seem a much better option.

I like them because of the instant interaction. You dont have to sit there all day, you can come and go as you wish, although I must admit that a lot fo people were addicted and were always on line. That was fine though because you knew that there were always going to be people there that recognised you and would often pick up conversations from previous visits. I must admit that I miss it now hence the opening question. - Gina

 

[Ashley_Price]

I like them because of the instant interaction. You dont have to sit there all day, you can come and go as you wish

But that is precisely their downfall for most business people. As I said before, if I ask a question in a chat-room, then my phone goes, I deal with that, I then contact the client to let them know they've had a call, I then have to type something, etc., by the time I get back to the chat room my question has been answered but the conversation has moved on and I've missed what people said. So I'd have to ask it again (then the phone would go, so I'd have to deal with that, I then contact the client...)

 

[stevon]

I think that there's some use for it... Usually most of us would be too busy - but on slow days, when the apprentice is on, etc. then it might be fun... Something I'd most probably use if it was available through the form. Not all the time, but at least some of the time

 

[BusinessIdeas]

But that is precisely their downfall for most business people. As I said before, if I ask a question in a chat-room, then my phone goes, I deal with that, I then contact the client to let them know they've had a call, I then have to type something, etc., by the time I get back to the chat room my question has been answered but the conversation has moved on and I've missed what people said. So I'd have to ask it again (then the phone would go, so I'd have to deal with that, I then contact the client...)

There is always brb (be right back) that chat users employ to let people know that they have been interrupted and usually also a scroll facility that you can use to see who has answered while you are away. Other users can send a pm to answer your question too.

 

[stevon]

Right... I quite liked this idea. So I've done it.

http://stevon.myby.co.uk/ukbf/ukbf.html

If it's popular enough I'm happy enough to pay for a domain/dedicated hosting as a contribution to the forum, I'm going to sign up for a paid membership anyway. Obviously I'd like for it to be endorsed by the UKBF, so they could probably put a little advert at the bottom to generate some pennies for the forum? This may well fall flat on its arse - but I'll give it a go anyway seeing as I've been involved in some successful chatroom services in the past. I'm sure we could set up a live chat in conjunction with the Apprentice thread (live chat?) and arrange nights, etc.

I'll leave the computer on (its not off much anyway) until I sort out a bot for the room... I'll hand over the room to the mods (if they want it?) if/when they come in... I'll post a seperate thread announcing the creation of this (I'll PM the boss first to make sure he's a-ok with it, but there's obviously a bit of a demand)



PS: It's an IRC chatroom, you can use various platforms to connect if you don't like the website I've set up - I use mIRC (google it) which gives you some more options than the web page...) its on the WildRyde server at the moment.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Hi Gina,

for some reason over the last week I have got very happy with your posts and your posts.

I no this is off subject by why dont you in-corporate one into B.I.A.0 forum. might be a good idea.

Cheers

I did finally get round to doing this, and I hope that it will take off.
I think it is quite a long term project getting users happy to go into chat when they have a few minutes to spare from the daily grind