ChatRoom?

[AMB4311]

I don't want to make the wrong impression coming here and asking for additions becuse it is an excelent website and I love it. But I have been on quite a few forums and I suggested a chatroom for another one and the Administrator thought it was a great idea and the members use it a lot. I wondered what others thought of it. I see this forum is very active and the other forums that I have been on that were active always had a couple guys chit chating about this and that in their chatrooms.

It's also just a good way for 1 on 1 conversation with people if they don't have a similar messenger program and want to talk with each other or help each other out that sort of thing. I'm sure vBulletin has a chat feature and I reckin it wouldn't be too hard to add this feature. Just a suggestion no push for it, I wondered what others would think of it. Once again this is a great website.

[azzro10]

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me, this forum is alot more active than most other cad forums iv looked at.

[Alan Cullen]

Are you talking about a "live", "real time" chat area? We already have a Chat area.

[Cad64]

This idea was brought up a while back, but it was decided that it wouldn't be beneficial to the forum. http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12939

[AMB4311]

Whoops, sorry I tried looking through all of the topics to see if it was already brought up, must have slipped by.

[Ritch7]

i think a live chat would be good, how would it not be beneficial? i know we have a chat area aswell but you get people talking about anything in some technical threads anyway. id say get rid of the chat section and have a live chat area for anything off cad

[chrisdarmanin]

hmm... i agree with alan on what he said on the other thread. i am against a chat section.

[dbroada]

i think a live chat would be good, how would it not be beneficial? i know we have a chat area aswell but you get people talking about anything in some technical threads anyway. id say get rid of the chat section and have a live chat area for anything off cad
2 problems
Many of us don't have or don't want IM at work
Very few of us live in the same time zone as the rest

doing away with the chat forum would dilute any chat going on

[Cad64]

i think a live chat would be good, how would it not be beneficial? i know we have a chat area aswell but you get people talking about anything in some technical threads anyway. id say get rid of the chat section and have a live chat area for anything off cad

How would it be beneficial? You say this would be for non Cad related topics, so why would this be necessary for a Cad forum? We do have a chat forum, but if people want to chat live, there are other places they can do this. I know that many of the members here are already doing this on MSN is it? I'm sure Alan or one of the others would be happy to let you know where and how to sign up.

As dbroada said, many of us don't have or don't want IM. I certainly couldn't have it at work. And, not to offend anyone, but I come here to answer Cad questions, not to carry on lengthy conversations about sports or cars or whatever. And I certainly wouldn't want new members IM'ing me with their Cad questions. That's what the forum is for.

And, as far as chatting in the technical threads is concerned, we are not supposed to be doing that. It makes it difficult to find the answer to the original question when you have to wade through a dozen responses about how everyone is doing or who won the game last night or what the weather is like, etc., etc. The mod's put a stop to that a while back, and it looks like it may be time to remind everyone again, and to inform the new members, to stay on topic.

Just my opinion. :)

[CADken]

As dbroada said, many of us don't have or don't want IM. I certainly couldn't have it at work. And, not to offend anyone, but I come here to answer Cad questions, not to carry on lengthy conversations about sports or cars or whatever. And I certainly wouldn't want new members IM'ing me with their Cad questions. That's what the forum is for.

Just my opinion. :)

Cad64, the whole purpose i signed up was to chat with you :(

j/k.

the biggest problem with the live chat is that most of us do not share the same time zone... a lot of times our very own chat section gets lively when i'm leaving work or have since passed... and there are times when i noticed the forum goes dead and i'm eagerly refreshing the screen every-so-hour to see if there is any activity going on...

i think the live chat would be great for a forum that was more... "local" so to speak where we all shared the same time zones or at least all were on around the same time and we couldn't vent in the chat section like we do now...

just my $0.02, nothing right or wrong about it...

if CadTutor was to incorporate a live chat i'm sure at first it would be neat to have, but honestly all questions related to CAD should be posted on the forum so that way other people with the same problem will benefit from it.... all chat dialog goes away the moment you close the window...

like mentioned before, if you want live chat to just shoot the breeze, sign up on MSN, or AIM or whatever everyone else uses and have at it.

[Cad64]

Cad64, the whole purpose i signed up was to chat with you :(

Well, ok then, I'll make an exception for you Ken. :lol:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against chatting. I sometimes venture into the chat section myself, but mainly I just stick to the technical forums.

I just think if we had a messaging system like this, it would inevitably be used for asking Cad questions, which would lead to a decline in posting in the forums. This type of messaging would also isolate the poster from the rest of the forum. In which case he may or may not receive the best possible answer to his problem, and others would not benefit from the question and answer session.

This is all just my opinion. but I think IM would ultimately hurt the forum.

Off topic: I really like this new reply box. It really helps catch spelling mistakes. :D

[SLW210]

I would have to agree with not needing a Chat. The biggest reason being that everyone is in a wide array of time zones and with the exception of Alan, most are only on here for no more than 8 hours out of the day and not all the same 8 hours.

[Mr T]

Not required, already too much nonsense and non cadding going on in chat anyway.

Nick

[CADTutor]

I still think the opinion settled on in the previous thread holds true - that a live chat component would not add to the information value of the forum and that if members want to chat live, they can do so outside of the forum very easily.

I always keep these things under review and if anyone can come up with a compelling reason why we NEED live chat, the situation will be rethought.

[AMB4311]

I still think the opinion settled on in the previous thread holds true - that a live chat component would not add to the information value of the forum and that if members want to chat live, they can do so outside of the forum very easily.

I do agree it was a suggestion but it doesn't make much sense for a chatroom with the way this forum is set up.


I always keep these things under review and if anyone can come up with a compelling reason why we NEED live chat, the situation will be rethought.

My reason which is neither comelling nor neccesary the only thing I was thinking, becuase I am young, was I was wondering how some of you guys started into cad, and what you do or which field's of autocad you chose and why you chose them and why that and not a differnet field. As fields I was refering to the topic "Types of CAD you do" those 5 or so categories or fields listed. That was why I was even thinking of chat and happens to be the only real reason why I could see to have on. :unsure: . There arent really any other reasons but that is what was on my mind when chatroom crossed my mind and I began looking around for one. I'm sure I could just post a topic but I'm going to troll around for a while and just read.

[Lazer]

The mod's put a stop to that a while back, and it looks like it may be time to remind everyone again, and to inform the new members, to stay on topic.

Just my opinion. :)

Well said:wink: