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What are your thoughts on the new chat feature?

Didn't notice it until i saw this thread.. I like it a lot though! a very nice feature indeed!

I didn't even know this was in the works! Whoever is behind this, they did an amazing job of keeping it under wraps. I mean, I had no idea this project was happening, or even under way! This is really a throw back to the facebook group chat that they took out months ago. A very welcome return, now let's bring about chaos and inside jokes! Thank you!

"What are you guys talking abo-HOOLY SHIIIT."

This is crazy. Wow.

Are the names of anonymous users shown in the general chat, too?

This post has been edited by Nerubian on Nov 14 2012, 10:45 AM

Chat is full. I do not approve.

Minor gripe, but chat does not support any foreign language that requires correction (namely, pictographic languages). Attempting to correct them instead posts the message.

Main language being English, it's really a minor gripe, but I figured it's worth mentioning anyway.

The integrated chat was a feature that was discussed many times in the facebook and IRC rooms between Perry and a multitude of members, so really, you can thank everybody for making it a (sort of) reality.

It's in a test phase right now, and Perry is stress-testing it to see if it will be a permanent feature. At the moment, it's loading the server enough to increase load times by around 200ms, which he does not like. There is a member limit (I believe it's 24). We can increase that limit to 100 for a monthly fee, but we'll think about that after deciding whether or not to keep it around.

Let us know what you think of it! I am all for having an integrated chat feature, so I'm pulling for you guys. With enough members behind it, I know we'll find some way of keeping it around for your enjoyment.

Nice one! It kind of surprised me to see it when I logged in.

I personally love the chat a lot. I do not have a Facebook, and I don't want one, so I cannot participate on the chat over there. So, having this feature here, makes me smile. I like to drop a silly line from a song from time to time

And the chat limit is 25, I believe.
I hope Perry will find a way to have this feature stick.

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This post has been edited by sometrueno on Nov 15 2012, 03:28 AM

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If user-limits is an issue, how about just embedding the irc chat instead? That shouldn't need any monthly fees right?

Personally, I'd prefer an embedded chat feature (could be on a little sidebar per say) as opposed to the Facebook style popups/tabs instead. But I think it depends on what the aim of the feature is. To have one big group chat or more personal one on one type chats? Maybe perhaps a mixture of both even?

Overall, a very nice and welcomed feature in my book. Much appreciation for the effort that went into this. Looking forward to see things getting ironed out over time.

This post has been edited by bROCKoLEE on Nov 15 2012, 05:14 AM

I hate to be the elephant in the room, but its not loading for me at all!!

Is it active for all members?

It's not active for all members. We are seeking alternative method to implement an "on-site" chat integration. This software is not free and it's only limited to 25 users at any given time. This is just a test and it's definitely not final.

So you guys took it off? I was using it yesterday and its so nice.

It was a free trial and we all agreed that the paid version would not be worth it. We're continuing to look into it though, so we may have a chat feature back again in the future.

It will eventually come back in a different form. We decided that the chat software used on the site was not adequate due to performance issues and server load, so it was pulled.

Trust me, it's not gone forever.

I'm looking forward for the chat to come back. I really liked the experience while it lasted.

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Another thing to try IMO would be a shoutbox at the top of the main page, but have it not load on any other page. Would keep it centralized but at the same time retain page load times (beyond the forum index). Just a thought.

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Shoutbox...eh, what about an embedded IRC in a small part of the bottom of the index. with a link to the full embedded page, that does not open in a client. Or something of the sort that they have on justin.tv or something of the nature?

The chat is used often by members to hail others to certain threads on the site. If we kept it centralized only to the main page, discussion about current events would be stifled.

Welcome to the year 2012, where tabbed browsing doesn't exist. Oh, wait...

Another board I'm on is setup the same way. Actually a couple boards. One of them is huge and doesn't do this, but the other one does and it works pretty well; thread replies are mentioned in the shoutbox, where it states "*X USER replied to the thread BLAH BLAH BLAH*" and works quite well for allowing one to monitor active threads without leaving the index page.

I prefer to have something up that doesn't require me to cycle tabs. The always-on chat that we were testing earlier this week accomplished that, albeit at a cost of some pretty bad lag.

That's just me, though.

No, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think the chat we had going there was great in theory, but it just lagged too much to be as useful as it could have been. If we can get a lighter and quicker alternative in the same format, that would be perfect. I'm sure Perry can make that work - he's a master at speedups.

The chat was brilliant for getting some more colloquial conversation in. Needs to be somewhere if the Facebook one is never coming back.