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Chat room changes [May '08]


Saru

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Some changes have been made to our live chat room as of today, these changes are designed primarily to reorient the room from a general off-topic chat room to a destination for topical unexplained related discussion and debate.

The 'General Off-Topic' room has now been dropped and we now have a single room called 'Unexplained'.

We will be setting up regular topics in the room for members to discuss, the topic being discussed will be displayed when you enter. Discussion on topics outside of the subject area of the site are not strictly disallowed but we will be looking to keep the discussion topical as much as possible.

A new entry has been added to our terms of service to cover general chat room ettiquette:

4e. Chat room: First and foremost our chat room is intended for topical chat pertaining to the unexplained; while discussion on unrelated subjects is not strictly disallowed please make every effort to stay on topic whenever possible. Be polite and civil to other chat room users at all times and make sensible, constructive contributions. Please cooperate with a chat moderator if they ask you to stop doing something; disruptive or offensive conduct can and will result in your removal from the room.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks. :tu:

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  • Saru

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  • MissMelsWell

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Well Saru I'm not gonna lie, I think I'd rather talk about a specific topic rather than just screw around but let's get real here. There's still gonna be PLENTY of general chatting :hmm:
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The chat room is intended mainly for topical chat, the moderators will be working to steer the discussion away from general chit-chat; anything you can do to help them in that regard would be appreciated.

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The chat room is intended mainly for topical chat, the moderators will be working to steer the discussion away from general chit-chat; anything you can do to help them in that regard would be appreciated.

lol yeah I bet ;) I'll help when I can. Gonna be plenty of things for us to talk about in the not too distant future Im sure

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what was wrong with the two rooms?

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I haven't been in the chatroom in ages, I'll have to check it out and see the new changes. I agree..a specific topic discussion sounds good :yes:

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Interesting....

Will in-chat PMs be reinstated anytime soon/in the future?

Edited by crtbud
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what was wrong with the two rooms?

Most people either didn't know the second room existed or didn't use it, it wasn't receiving enough use or interest.

Will in-chat PMs be reinstated anytime soon/in the future?

No, there are no plans to reinstate this feature.

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Well I for one won't be in the chat room much. I regret to say it but yeah I will stop coming. I believe two rooms worked fine and this change takes away all the fun from chat. I can't find myself enjoying a discussion that is fixed on one topic. General chat was nice.

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The chat room won't be fixed permanantly on one topic, we will cover a large range of topics as well as accomodating at least some level of non-topical discussion. Remember that this site is about the unexplained and therefore our chat room should reflect that, if you are looking for a purely off-topic general chat room then ours probably isn't the best place to go.

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Remember that this site is about the unexplained

Will this apply to the forums at some time to?

General Off-Topic Discussion

Computers, Gaming & The Internet

Writer's and Artist's Hangout

Movies, Music, Books & Television Shows

Edited by satan_incarnate
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Will this apply to the forums at some time to?

No, these changes are for the chat room only.

Edited to add:

The vast majority of this site is dedicated to various aspects of the unknown. As such there is plenty of room for off topic areas of the board which do not detract from those interested in the unknown.

I am not a user of the chat room, but this does not seem to be the case there, with off topic conversation dominating the rooms. It seems to me that the aims of these changes is to have a similar balance between the on-topic and off-topic material in the chat rooms as existes in the forums.

I'm sure Saru or one of the chat room moderators will correct me if I am wrong.

Edited by Waspie_Dwarf
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I'm sure Saru or one of the chat room moderators will correct me if I am wrong.

You are correct, sir! Please go to the front desk to collect your prize.

The topics in the chat room should first and foremost contain something pertaining to the "Paranormal"/"Unexplained." We are hoping the changes will stimulate and create interest and discussions of Paranormal topics within the chat room.

-Akaebeel

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i think its a pretty big slap in the face to the users of the site.. ppl know that there are two rooms..and putting up a subject for us to talk about? what are we.. muppets..? ppl go to the unexplained room to chat about those things.. and advertise that they are going in there.. why censor what your loyal members have to say and enjoy about the site? why fix something that is not broken?

this is not an aerian race.. conformity is not needed let your members decide what to chat about in whichever room is they chose.

that is my rant.. it is not intended for ill.. i just feel that my opinion should be put forward.. as should others, with out fear or reprimand or backlash or edit from mods

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i think its a pretty big slap in the face to the users of the site.. ppl know that there are two rooms..and putting up a subject for us to talk about? what are we.. muppets..? ppl go to the unexplained room to chat about those things.. and advertise that they are going in there.. why censor what your loyal members have to say and enjoy about the site? why fix something that is not broken?

this is not an aerian race.. conformity is not needed let your members decide what to chat about in whichever room is they chose.

that is my rant.. it is not intended for ill.. i just feel that my opinion should be put forward.. as should others, with out fear or reprimand or backlash or edit from mods

You couldn't be more correct Tigger. That is exactly how I feel. Two rooms worked fine and was quite nice. People should be able to talk about whatever they want.

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i think its a pretty big slap in the face to the users of the site.. ppl know that there are two rooms..and putting up a subject for us to talk about? what are we.. muppets..? ppl go to the unexplained room to chat about those things.. and advertise that they are going in there.. why censor what your loyal members have to say and enjoy about the site? why fix something that is not broken?

this is not an aerian race.. conformity is not needed let your members decide what to chat about in whichever room is they chose.

that is my rant.. it is not intended for ill.. i just feel that my opinion should be put forward.. as should others, with out fear or reprimand or backlash or edit from mods

Very well said tigg

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Well, that's disappointing. I've gotten to know some nice people and like shooting the breeze with them. I'll check it out, but honestly, I have a feeling I'm done with the chat here now.

The reality is that you have about 15 regular chatters, that's all. Maybe 5 of them like to talk paranormal all the time. They go to the other room to do that. It's not a big deal.

People talk paranormal on the Forums, they use chat to get to really know the people they're debating in the threads. That's part of what bolsters the community feeling of UM.

And honestly, after running topical Undernet and DalNet channels for more than 10 years, it never works out the way you think is should. It always goes back to general chatter or no one talks at all. That's just the way it is.

What would be a far more interesting idea is to schedule days and times for topical chat and actually announce them and promote them. You'll have a lot more sucess with a guest or host, a topic, and a time limit (90 minutes is about the maximum people can stay on topic, and that's stretching it). Your have to promote it though. From experience, I KNOW that method works.

Edited by MissMelsWell
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I think it's a good idea for this site and at least worth a try. But I agree that using the chatroom to just relax and talk about anything and have fun will feel more resricted. It doesn;t have to be, though...I mean they did say there can still be general chat as well. So I imagine it might go something like this, perhaps?

Hi everyone!!

Hi Bob (7times)

oh, I just got a new kitten, it's so cute!!

Oh kewl, do you have pics?

I could post some...

(some other conversation going on)

So, what's the topic today? I forgot to look.

Ghoulies

Ghoulies??? What the... what are they?

wierd ghosts, maybe

Does anyone know specifically what a ghoulie is?

How's the wife and kids, Bob?

Oh, they're fine, thanks. Mikey lost his first tooth today.

According to wiki, a ghoulie ie (explanation of ghoulie)

Oh. Has anyone ever heard of them before or know of any experiences?

Hey, I uploaded my kitten pics, here's the link linky linkety link

Once my brother was beat in a game of chess by a ghoulie.

Oh, that's a really cute kitten, Bob!!

Ok, something like that, but with more people chatting. I'm tired and don't feel like using my imagination tonight. But yeah, just chat about anything as usual, PLUS whatever knowledge one might like to share abt whatever the topic is. It can't be that much of a strain to at least give this a shot. I'll be the first to admit that whenever I have used the chat room, it was always to relax and have fun. But it was also nice to talk about some posts sometimes or discuss someone's paranormal experiences/abilities/knowledge as well that never did seem to interrupt the natural flow of chat anyways. At least give it a chance and if it still feels too restricted, then maybe start a thread so the mods can know how everyone feels. On the one hand, it;s a good idea, but on the other hand, if there's 6 people in at 3am and all they want to do is talk about their goldfish, just let them. If someone comes along and wants to talk whatever the topic is, then it should be obliged by whoever can...which has always been done anyhow. Well, I haven't been in chat for a long time. I do hope we're not expected to participate in the topic chat just because we're in the chat, as well. If the topic is of something I don't know about, or don't agree with, yet I choose to watch just to learn, or keep my opinions to myself, yet chat to Suzy abt her new dress, then I wouldn;t want to be chastised for it. Anyhow, its got its pros and cons, and is a good idea to at least try, at the same time I don;t think it will last in the long run. Perhaps it might be easier if the chat mods made an effort to keep the chat going along about anything paranormal, weird, unexplained instead of forcing a specific topic. That would help keep the chat more relaxed as well as cater to more different people at different times. You never know, someone might be attacked by a ghost (which happened alot when I frequented chat!) and, well, oh darn, the topic is cryptozoology.

I don't know the point of my post anymore LOL I just went with the flow of my thoughts. Oh yeah, we can at least try this..

I do have a question though. If the topic is Ghoulies, but everyone would rather chat about UFOs, could the topic be changed if there's a chat mod about? If there's no chat mod about, then I assume whoever is in chat would chat about whatever they wanted to anyhow.

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Here's the problem.

I go to chat nearly every evening. Sometimes, I don't say much, whatever the other folks are generally talking about might not interest me. I can read the forums or surf the web, or work, and keep an eye on what's going on in chat, and respond when someone says something interesting.

But honestly, if it's only topical chat.... there are MAYBE going to be one or two topics a MONTH that interest me, and I'm not going to be able to join, because the topics are a complete BORE. Like tonight for example.

I hate to tell ya, you do this, and you're going to find within a week (maybe a little longer, but not much) that you won't have more than one or two people in chat at any given time. Right now, you have a few people in there who are just seeing how it will go. Don't expect them to hang around for topics they don't like, or when people stop talking all together.

I was in support of turning off the PM's in the chat room... PM's are always problematic in chat. (not that turning off PM's solved anything, people just added each other to their MSN and Yahoo IM's) But this, this idea is chat death. I've seen it too many times. I mean, you remember what happened when you switched the General room to the secondary room. Chat died momentarily until it was changed back. New users came in, looked at the current topics of chatter and ..... left.

I tell ya... create a forum for Chat topics, schedule times, days, a topic, and maybe even a cool guest. Announce it a week before it's going to happen. Put up system message in the general room and Unexplained room and announce it there too. People will show up for a scheduled topic that's interesting to them. Use the power of your forums and threads to announce cool topics and guests. Schedule a start and stop time. That will actually drive traffic TO chat, not away from it.

What you've done here will drive every one away. Or is that the idea?

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I tell ya... create a forum for Chat topics, schedule times, days, a topic, and maybe even a cool guest. Announce it a week before it's going to happen. Put up system message in the general room and Unexplained room and announce it there too. People will show up for a scheduled topic that's interesting to them. Use the power of your forums and threads to announce cool topics and guests. Schedule a start and stop time. That will actually drive traffic TO chat, not away from it.

Excellent idea here. I dont think though that the Mods wanted to drive people away. It would be amazing to have George Nory here for a few hours. Surely this site could make a request. There would be dozens in the chat room to talk with him about UFO's and Ghosts etc..

Edited by Ghost Ship
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Perhaps it might be easier if the chat mods made an effort to keep the chat going along about anything paranormal, weird, unexplained instead of forcing a specific topic. That would help keep the chat more relaxed as well as cater to more different people at different times. You never know, someone might be attacked by a ghost (which happened alot when I frequented chat!) and, well, oh darn, the topic is cryptozoology.

I do have a question though. If the topic is Ghoulies, but everyone would rather chat about UFOs, could the topic be changed if there's a chat mod about? If there's no chat mod about, then I assume whoever is in chat would chat about whatever they wanted to anyhow.

You might be glad to hear that this is how it has been running. We aren't forcing people to stick to the one topic at hand, quite the opposite. The chat mods are there to keep chat going along the lines of what the site/forums is about. If people wish to bring up topics for discussion that is fine, it's something we have been encouraging by asking if anyone has anything they would like to discuss. The point is to allow these kind of topical discussions to get off the ground and flow, allowing for decent and interesting conversation.

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What you've done here will drive every one away. Or is that the idea?

On the contrary, I believe it will help to encourage new members and participation.

If you were a new member who'd come to the site and decided to try out the chat room, what would you be expecting ? Would you be expecting to find other people to chat with about your interest in the unexplained or just a group of people talking about nothing in particular ? Which would be more likely to keep you interested ?

We realise that some of the current regulars in the room are opposed to this change however the chat room has always been and always will be intended first and foremost towards discussion on the subject area of this web site.

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mhm. Exactly Anvil. THe point of the daily topic isn't to force people to discuss Poltergeist activity or whatever the topic is. Its to encourage any paranormal chat.

If the topic is Ghosts and you want to talk about big foot thats fine. But if the topic is Big Foot and you are just here to talk about your favorite brand of beer then quite frankly its not really the right chat room.

This move has basically been prompted by the total lack of meaningful chat of late. The chat room has been nothing more then a social hangout, and while we certainly don't want to kill that completely we do want to return the chatroom to a state in which it complements the site rather then as a small side part that very few people are aware exist let alone use.

Anyhow I hope that it becomes more lively and I as well as the rest of the chat team invite all members to the room, Those of you that have been here for years and never used it and those who have recentally joined. I hope it can benifit you and in the end improve everyones UM experience...

AR

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