Community: What do you think about Chatboxes / Shoutboxes?

[Maximum1]

What do you think about Chatboxes / Shoutboxes?

For me I don't mind using one on like a general discussion or gaming community but outside of that I don't really like to use one because it does kill activity and posting just a bit.

 

[Belthazar]

I don't like them and would discourage them on any forum. A forum's main focus should be on the forum, not a chat box. The conversations generally seem to be of less quality. They also are hard to moderate, because sometimes they're hard to read back.

 

[Ash]

Many general discussion forums have shoutboxes but I think they take away users from the actual forum. Most discussions will happen on the shoutbox meaning less users will post around on the forum. When I had my forum I had the shoutbox only for staff and premium users

 

[xXInfectedXx]

I think you should wait until your forum is a bit more successful before considering a chat box.

 

[deltachi2012]

Many general discussion forums have shoutboxes but I think they take away users from the actual forum. Most discussions will happen on the shoutbox meaning less users will post around on the forum. When I had my forum I had the shoutbox only for staff and premium users

Thats a great Idea, talking about shoutbox for staff and premium member.
I believe chat boxes ultimately hurt overall activity on any forum.

IF you wanna put it into different perspective, what if a user only comes for interaction? maybe yeah they use the chatbox to feel welcome by members? more welcoming approach= more overall posts from that user just another way you can think about it

 

[Creaky1]

I don't like them, always seem to take people away from creating new threads.

 

[Shock]

If your forum is fairly active and is about a certain topic like sports, gaming, or tech, a shoutbox can be a good way for users to chat just about general stuff. But if I had to say yes or no I'd say no to adding a shout/chatbox.

 

[reddyash]

I really dont like the idea of Chatboxes / Shoutboxes in a forum. What I think is the members will be using chatbox more than posting on forums.

 

[JennyorAlice]

I'm not really for using a chatbox or shoutbox on a forum because I think that it has the potential to kill activity on a forum (especially a new forum that is just starting out). If you already have a well established forum, then I think it would probably be safe to have one as long as you don't lose activity.

 

[CoolixHD]

They make a forum have less posting activity going on. Because, people will start to think why is it necessary to post? If I can just post in the Shout box? This is why I will never have a Skype Chat nor a Shout box in my forum to make the posting activity stable.

 

[ddoesmc]

I don't mind them, but I don't see the reason to add it to every forum. Only general and gaming ones should be good.

 

[Thomasss]

I highly discourage anyone to use them on general or webmaster forums, I think the only place that they could be remotely useful is for roleplay forums. You don't normally RP in the chatbox, and I think it's a nice place for RPer's to just have fun, ya know?

Other than that, just don't.

 

[Teg1]

I use to think that they took away from a forum's activity as you'd think people would use them more than posting on the actual forum. However, after having had one now for two months, I no longer believe that's the case. At least, on my forum it's not the case. If it becomes an issue, I might remove it or make it available for staff only.