this site need a chat!!

[Stefan-A]

Were you all talking about a chat function, or an IRC channel?

[Snaky]

A chat function on the forum and irc channel can be combined.

I once was admin of a chat channel of another forum for reptiles. It was not that much of a success back then. Most of the time it's just a medium to write all kind of nonsense and not to actually discuss about your animals. And there are lots of other chats for that. If there is a question, you have to be lucky that someone is online that can answer it. Theme chats where more fun, because everybody knew there would be a chat on a certain topic and everybody that was interested came to discuss it.

Also, I would never be an admin of a chat channel again. It's way more work than moderating a forum, which I also did.

[Stefan-A]

The point of a chat channel like this wouldn't be to discuss subjects that belong on the forum, but to provide the users of the forum with a place where they can hang out and discuss anything and everything.

[Elliot]

I also agree that there isn't enough traffic, it says 90 active members but it seems more like 20, then with the time differences between those few members, I don't think it will be useful yet, but in the future if we get more serious members I say go for it.

[abcat1993]

Yeah, I agree. There are only about 10 at most people (not just members) at a time

[KITKAT]

Traffic does not dictate the success of a chat room...! Chats should be SCHEDULED, and then available members can deliberatly show up at the time of the chat!

[Elliot]

That could help, and I've noticed that there are usually more members and guests on at a time now.

[Stefan-A]

Chats should be SCHEDULED, and then available members can deliberatly show up at the time of the chat!

Can't really say I agree with that. Chats should be available 24/7 and those that are online at any given time should be able to chat. Scheduled chats are a poor choice for an international forum, some of us are, for example, at GMT+2, while others are at GMT-5.

[abcat1993]

Maybe they can be scheduled but still have it open 24/7. For example, five people want to discuss breeding techniques at a certain time. Then they just go on whenever they decided to talk about it.

[Boots]

I guess I should wade into this discussion since it has been going on for a while. While I hope the forum will one day have a chat room for the forum, I do not think we currently have a large enough membership base to support a chat room..

One of the benefits I have found with forums is the fact that you are able to search the posts to find answers to question you might have months after they were discussed. With a chat room, once it has been posted, the conversation is lost to the rest of the members of the forum since they will not be able to benefit from the information.

Also due to the fact that our membership is almost evenly divided between Europe and North America, scheduling a weekly chat would not really work either. It is a good suggestion, don't get me wrong, but we would almost have to have two different chat times. One for our European members, and one for our North American members since If I scheduled the chat at 7:00 pm MST, which should work for North America, Since it would only be 9:00 PM on the East coast and 6:00 PM on the West, it would be 3:00 AM in Frankfurt, Germany.

Maybe once our membership grows, we can add a chat room. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jason