Habbox Forum chat box

Hey, I was thinking, it would be good if there was a chat box at the top of the forum, where you can just chat to people and it wouldn't be classed as spam or anything because it doesn't increase post count. Obviously you would still have to be registered to chat there, and the forum rules still apply, but it would be easier and faster for members who are friends to speak to each other. Also this might help encourage new people to join in, as if they have a question and they don't know where to post it, they can just ask there and any members in chat would help them. Obviously not everyone would want a chat box at the top of the forum, so I was thinking, could there be an option to turn it off on settings, so everyone gets what they wan't.

I reckon itd just make much of spam dead and i never really liked the idea of chatboxes, look horrible and just..ugh.

we had the habboxforum chat system in before and it was ridiculously expensive and was seldom used once the hype died down.

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Originally Posted by Jamesy

we had the habboxforum chat system in before and it was ridiculously expensive and was seldom used once the hype died down.

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thats because you (well, habbox) bought a silly fancy one and put it right at the bottom of the homepage where nobody could really notice it.

put a normal vbulletin shoutbox at the top of the page and see how that goes for you. bloody hell why not just trial it on certain usergroups just to see what its like?

its not like spam's booming anyway, this wouldn't change much.

Not really a fan of chatboxes and Habbox hasn't had the best history with them as James stated above. I just think they are unnececessary server usage and look messy, sorry :(

Agree with Oli - Habbox had one and it was a complete waste of money and time. :(

Ugh. The last chatbox we had was a clunky bit of flash which cost an undisclosed amount and then got chucked right at the bottom of the forum where nobody really looks, i mean when you get to the bottom you wouldnt go searchin for something and then open it then wait for it to load then find out nobodys on it because it was flash and ****** looking

a vbulletin shoutbox however, thats a different story, that goes at the top of the forum, can be minimized whenever, can be given to certain usergroups & closed during certain hours to reduce strain on the server.

but nobody thinks of the actual functionality because they think it looks 'messy'. It's words in a box, lol alot like those mod tags omg went there. and omg wanna know the best part, im PRETTY 100% sure that you don't have to pay for it cuz its a vbulletin addon.

praise the lord for i have seen the light

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Originally Posted by Pyroka

Ugh. The last chatbox we had was a clunky bit of flash which cost an undisclosed amount and then got chucked right at the bottom of the forum where nobody really looks, i mean when you get to the bottom you wouldnt go searchin for something and then open it then wait for it to load then find out nobodys on it because it was flash and ****** looking

a vbulletin shoutbox however, thats a different story, that goes at the top of the forum, can be minimized whenever, can be given to certain usergroups & closed during certain hours to reduce strain on the server.

but nobody thinks of the actual functionality because they think it looks 'messy'. It's words in a box, lol alot like those mod tags omg went there. and omg wanna know the best part, im PRETTY 100% sure that you don't have to pay for it cuz its a vbulletin addon.

praise the lord for i have seen the light

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A shoutbox still wouldn't suit Habbox.

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Originally Posted by Oli

A shoutbox still wouldn't suit Habbox.

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Have a poll on it, and if people disagree, then meh I'll eat my words.

It's not so much the fact that the previous chat system was an awful waste of money and time, it's simply that we aim to encourage people to post more often. A shoutbox detracts attention away from the forum and creates an area where the majority of members will lurk and posting will decrease even further.

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Originally Posted by Nixt

It's not so much the fact that the previous chat system was an awful waste of money and time, it's simply that we aim to encourage people to post more often. A shoutbox detracts attention away from the forum and creates an area where the majority of members will lurk and posting will decrease even further.

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But Garion, you're judging what would happen before you've even trialled it. Why not just give it to a small amount of members and see if posting is affected between one month of no shoutbox, and a month of the shoutbox?

That way, you know for certain that it's not for Habbox, you can say you've tried it properly before (because face it, the flashchat was a load of crap lol) & the results wern't promising. Simples!

I've always liked them personally, normally they're a good way for new members to interact with older members not bogged down by a topic. Didn't really like the chat that we had for the reasons Ryan said. :)

I just thought it would be easier for new members to make friends on the forum and also have help readily available (some of them might not know how to PM a moderator)

I know one of the main reasons we got rid of the old shoutbox (not chatbox) was because it was a security threat, and a lot of trouble happened because of it.

New Members will be very accessible to help come the time we set up the Welcome Committee

I hate the look of them and beliee it would make the forum look untidy if it was at the top.

Bottomo mabey, but i've never been a fan of them.

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Originally Posted by Pyroka

But Garion, you're judging what would happen before you've even trialled it. Why not just give it to a small amount of members and see if posting is affected between one month of no shoutbox, and a month of the shoutbox?

That way, you know for certain that it's not for Habbox, you can say you've tried it properly before (because face it, the flashchat was a load of crap lol) & the results wern't promising. Simples!

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We have had them before and I do think that it would render the spam forum obsolete. By adding it and then later removing it, which is a significant risk, we will annoy some members by giving them a feature we may well later remove.

We did have a shoutbox before the flashchat, too.

My problems include:

• Aesthetically, it may make the forum index look longer, bigger and more daunting. A problem often cited by members in feedback threads.
• It will detract member attention from threads around the forum, particularly the spam forum which I believe is a very important part of Habbox.
• It can be difficult to Moderate and at times if members are misbehaving a lot in the shoutbox it will be very off putting for new members. For example saying rude things.
• It poses a security threat that resulted in problems the last time we had one, as Oli said.
• It puts strain on our server loads which already has been and can be a problem.
• There is a significant chance the shoutbox will become just as cliquey as around the main forum, as it is a lot easier to bully and break rule and exclude members when others are having personal conversations.
• In my experience using chat boxes on a couple of forums, several conversations can go on at once which makes things confusing and frustrating and can lead to arguments.

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Originally Posted by Nixt

We have had them before and I do think that it would render the spam forum obsolete. By adding it and then later removing it, which is a significant risk, we will annoy some members by giving them a feature we may well later remove.

We did have a shoutbox before the flashchat, too.

My problems include:

• Aesthetically, it may make the forum index look longer, bigger and more daunting. A problem often cited by members in feedback threads.
• It will detract member attention from threads around the forum, particularly the spam forum which I believe is a very important part of Habbox.
• It can be difficult to Moderate and at times if members are misbehaving a lot in the shoutbox it will be very off putting for new members. For example saying rude things.
• It poses a security threat that resulted in problems the last time we had one, as Oli said.
• It puts strain on our server loads which already has been and can be a problem.
• There is a significant chance the shoutbox will become just as cliquey as around the main forum, as it is a lot easier to bully and break rule and exclude members when others are having personal conversations.
• In my experience using chat boxes on a couple of forums, several conversations can go on at once which makes things confusing and frustrating and can lead to arguments.

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Reading those points, I see your problems with it. For that reason I'll back down on the shoutbox :P

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Originally Posted by Pyroka

Reading those points, I see your problems with it. For that reason I'll back down on the shoutbox :P

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Ryan I swear you were against a shoutbox last night when you said it?

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Originally Posted by Oli

Ryan I swear you were against a shoutbox last night when you said it?

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noooo? i was fully for one, i was against the mod tags. :S

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Originally Posted by Pyroka

noooo? i was fully for one, i was against the mod tags. :S

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Oh right kk, but yeh it won't be happening cause there's a lot of problems one would bring to the Forum, plus a forums about posting not chatting like that, that's what MSN's for!