Forum Suggestion - Chat box

[SLiiDE]

Hey, This is kind of a simple suggestion (in terms of concept) but might be harder to implament. My suggestion is some kind of chat box on the forum homepage. Can be an easy way of asking questions or just talking to someone without making a thread.
Example:

Spoiler (Click to View)

Heres the one we use for our teams forum (SpeedHunters Drift)
http://jdmdriftserver.freeforums.org/index.php

What does everyone think?

[Aus]

You can always ask questions via PM.

[[TC]►BP◄]

It'll probably end up with:

"hey admins, check my appeal" and annoying stuff. But can also be used for good purposes, so I say why not give it a try..

[◄Chuck►]

Well, we had exactly that discussion a couple of times now, but the conclusion has always been "we don't need it". And that's still my opinion. I've seen it on other forums but it never served some serious purpose there, and I doubt it will do here.
If you got something serious to say, make a thread (or send a PM), if not, be quiet

[SLiiDE]

Its one of those things, I agree there isn't any real need for it, but its a nice thing to have and from my experience it has been very handy.

[[TC]►BP◄]

I don't think the "we don't need it" attitude is right. We don't need a lot of things yet we still have them, that's what makes things interesting in my opinion.

[Speed]

Or just make a sticky topic with "Small questions topic''
I have seen this on many car/motor forums and this works great.

[Aus]

I agree with Speed. The small questions thread would be a good add-on.

[SLiiDE]

Its not just about 'Small Questions', Its being able to Ask, and have conversations in real time.

[[TC]»Elmo«]

(2012-07-29 11:28)SLiiDE Wrote:  Its not just about 'Small Questions', Its being able to Ask, and have conversations in real time.

And having people ask the same questions again and again, because the answer goes away after a while. This may be nicer (quicker) for the person asking the question assuming someone's actually paying attention to it, but it's really annoying for the person/people answering them.
Most questions are either private (use a PM) or other people may well find the answer useful (post a thread). Enough people lurk around on the forums enough that it's never really very long before questions get answered anyway.

As for real-time conversations, aside from those we already have in the servers, we did have IRC for a while, but a whole 2-3 people used it after a few days.

IIRC, we did try a shoutbox as an experiment at one point, but it was just spam, and most people didn't notice it anyway because the only place for it is the bottom of the page. The top is just obnoxious and in the way.

"We don't need it", is a valid reason not to have one, however the most compelling reason is that there isn't really any beneficial use that can't be done better by something else. That and the cons seem to be massively outweighing any reasonable pros.