Group Chat Room

[JeniSkunk]

Whilst the new webpage hover overlay based chatroom looks good, being restricted in accessing the main chatroom is not good at all.

With the old chatrooms on the previous versions of TgR, I could log into the chatroom, any time of the day, any day of the week, without needing to wait for a site admin or Moderator to be online to unlock the main chatroom for me.

With the new system, users have to hang around and wait for a site admin or Moderator to show up just so they can access the main chatroom. This aspect of the new system is a You Fail.

Why is it a You Fail? Because this new system actively prevents easy access by all members of TgR to the main chatroom.

Jenifur Charne

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with you Jen I certainly wont be waiting around for a moderater to open the chatroom up it should go back to clicking an icon and agreeing to the rules and enter the chatroom

[Adrian]

Jeni,

Thank you for taking time to share your initial impressions of the new chat facility.
It is great that you see the improvement of having a chat that is integrated into the main site as an overlay.

You will be aware that the previous version of our chat room had no obvious facility for one-on-one chat and so everyone used the chat room. Perhaps you haven’t noticed that the new chat has an easy to use instant messaging allowing you to open a chat with anyone else logged into the web site. It is no longer necessary to enter a group chat room just to talk to another member.

Group chat is not a commonly available feature of messaging systems and we are lucky that our selected vendor did offer this functionality. Although the new TgR chat offered 3 different ways to manage a group area none of the options would be completely acceptable to us. What is currently being offered is a mixed-solution that should provide an enjoyable experience for those who like to chat socially.

Perhaps the video I made didn’t make it clear that our Group Chat Hosts are not admins or moderators. Anyone who is prepared to manage the group chat room to enhance the chat experience will be welcome to be trained in the additional procedures involved. I don’t expect there will be any difficulty in finding a chat host on line.

It is unfortunate that whilst you were typing your evaluation we were attempting to contact you both by invites and by instant messaging so you could join in the group chat. Had you accepted our invitations you might perhaps have been able to form a more complete assessment of the relative merits and disadvantages of the new group chat solution.

Obviously I don’t agree with your initial assessment of the system as a “you fail”. I am excited that we now have a more immediate way of chatting with each other, and a group chat room totally dedicated to socialising.

I hope you will soon have a chance to use the chat and enjoy its benefits.

[Adrian]

Erica,
It was good to see you, if only briefly in the group chat room tonight.
I appreciate your reluctance to wait to group chat, but the reality is the use of a group chat room is often so low you will have to wait most times to find anyone to talk to. Certainly looking at the logs of the old chat room showed a large number of people just entering and then leaving without meeting anyone.

We hope that the integrated chat room encourages a more fluid communication either by instant messaging, or when 3 or more gather, in the chat room. It is early days at the moment and we are still ironing out technical issues – but I hope that you would always find someone to chat with and there will be less waiting around for someone to drop-by.

Erica wrote:

it should go back to clicking an icon and agreeing to the rules and enter the chatroom

As part of the 6 month development of the new web site I did a comprehensive review of chat rooms that could be purchased for the new site. I am not aware of any product that meets the requirements you have. This reflects the trend away from group chats and to instant messaging on the web.

[JeniSkunk]

Whilst your last sets of modifications to the immediately previous version of the TgR chatroom had easy access to private chats made exceedingly difficult, in the original install of that version of the chatroom, easy access to private chat was viable. The modifications made extra rooms and private chats harder and more difficult.

In the version of the chatroom before that, the one which was used before the rename of Tranny Radio to TgR, being in multiple private chats and group chatrooms at the same time was utterly effortless.

In short, each version of, and modification to, the chatrooms since the the rename of Tranny Radio to TgR has reduced functionality.

In terms of your private chat invite, at the time you started trying to do it, I had little ability to respond, as apart from the 5 or so minutes I needed to type up my reply, I was on the phone with amander from Tasmania. By the time your private chat window popup came up, I was ready to close down my computer for the night.

Jenifur Charne

[Adrian]

Last night was the first chance to properly test out the group chat room – with a few bugs finally put to rest. It was great to see so many members drop in – I counted 10 – with many new faces. I know a few are upset by the scope of the change on the new website – but it appears many more share my excitement for new opportunities it presents.

If you don’t see the chat room then you need to wait for a host/moderator to come on line. Their names end with **. When the host comes on the room will appear.