Chatbox Discussion Thread

As many will be aware, the forum has a new chatbox. This is just a few words to explain why there was a change.

The original shoutbox got more use than is typical for a shoutbox and was actually using up quite a lot of forum resources with the amount of use it was getting, all the more so because it was located on the index page and was therefore being loaded by just about every visitor to the site. Usually being loaded by all visitors is regarded as good for a shoutbox, as shoutboxes typically contain announcements or shouts that the author wants to be seen by everyone who visits the forum. However, in our case the shoutbox was being used more for real time chat than for shouts to the forum, so it was being loaded by a lot of people who didn't need to view it.

The view was taken that it would be better for the shoutbox to have a page of it's own, as it would then only be loaded by those who actually wanted to view it. But having a page of its own also allows a better choice of boxes, so if the shoutbox was going to have a page of its own the view was taken that perhaps something more advanced shoud be used instead, i.e a chatbox that was more designed for real time chat rather than for just shouts. The original shoutbox worked pretty well and was about the best option that could be added to the site when it was located on the index page, but once you move chat to a separate page it enables something much better to be used.

Hopefully all those using the chatbox will find it an improvement on the old shoutbox, whilst those who aren't interested in the chat can rest asssured that it's no longer located on the index page and doesn't have to be loaded by everyone whether they are interested in it or not.

Forum Admin

Great Work Admin!!!! Enjoy it very much, its great to talk directly to friends

yea amazing work on this Admin. Absolutely love this feature, we just had Anna in there chatting to a few of us too, so the girls are using it also

again thank you for the chat its wicked

Great addition to the forum! Thanks for all your hard work.

I mirror all the comments above and would like to add my own thanks to admin for the new addition to the site. Cheers

I had a look in the chatbox and was impressed with this facility. I think I could see how it all worked, except I wondered why you need the logout option. Is there a reason to logout rather than just exit the chatbox?

elgar1uk Wrote:Is there a reason to logout rather than just exit the chatbox?

If you logout the other users of the chatbox will immediately see that you've left the room. If you don't logout but simply close the chat window instead, they won't know you've left the room until the chat robot times you out.

To answer a separate question asked by razzy, but related to the above, the chatbox time out limit has been increased as he suggested, so from this morning the chat robot isn't timing people out as quickly as it did before.

Keep getting kicked out saying invalid IP, any suggestions? cheers.

oopnorth Wrote:Keep getting kicked out saying invalid IP, any suggestions? cheers.

An adjustment has been made to the chatbox which will hopefully resolve this problem.

Forum Admin