[Suggestion] Forum Wide Shoutbox

[Andrei]

Hey everyone,

I've been running some communities of my own since 2006, and I know for a fact that a shoutbox on top of every page of the forum ends up getting your member's closer to eachother, making members spend more time on the forum and talk more to eachother.

So, I thought I'd suggest such a shoutbox for IMS, I think it would be a great addition.

What do you guys think?

 

[robertdn]

I don't agree with this idea, it can increase conversations from members on chat box but it will decrease replies on threads/posts

Which not good for increasing content for our forum.

This should be done for moderator groups

 

[Andrei]

I don't agree with this idea, it can increase conversations from members on chat box but it will decrease replies on threads/posts

Which not good for increasing content for our forum.

This should be done for moderator groups

Reduce posts: - not really, since if a thread is started and you wish to reply to that thread on that subject you won't do it in the shoutbox, where your answer would be totally out of context.

Reduce threads: - also not really, since anyone really interested in starting a real conversation/thread, won't ask or post this in the shoutbox where he can't see replies if he goes afk for 10 minutes, or the next day, or be notified of new replies on his subject.

This is a very common misconception that shoutbox = less forum activity, it's like comparing apples and oranges, one does not substitute the other.
The shoutbox would be used for small talk across the forum, small talk that would keep your users hooked longer to the forum, not just a page refresh to see if new threads or not, without impacting the actual usage of the forum, but on the contrary boosting it... small talk that you cannot actually have in a thread.

You can't expect users to start a new thread every day if they feel like saying "hey" to the community, or "how's it going today?"...