A Polycount Shoutbox?

XenoKratios

Just an idea but I think this community is the right size for a shout box, just a little chat box that refreshes every other second or so where the members can chat.

What do you guys think? I think it's a good idea because sometimes when I'm working on something and I get stuck a bit it's so tedious to find a fix.. Also fun to talk to a lot of people at one without msn/skype whoring .

Slum

Thats what the irc is for. #model_design on freenode

XenoKratios

The Shoutbox can be on the forum's portal page though. I still think it's a good idea

Thanks for the irc didn't know about it.

kaze369

might be good to put it under a quick help section or something. Personally, I like Skype.

SimonT

Yeah but do you have all polycount users in your skype list? I think it's a nice idea but you should have a look on game artisans, they have a chat but mostly it's empty. So the shoutbox should have the right position and size

But could be nice!

XenoKratios

I agree with you SimonT, it's altually a good idea I think, it will make the activity a bit stronger.

kaze369 I love Skype , but SimonT makes a valuable point!

[HP]

I think it will only clutter the forum even more, and I also question how useful would it actually be? Especially if people only post stuff like: "fart" "lol, I hate spec maps" ...

Calabi

[HP] wrote: »

I think it will only clutter the forum even more, and I also question how useful would it actually be? Especially if people only post stuff like: "fart" "lol, I hate spec maps" ...

Thats what you have mods for or at least persistent persons with hammers.

It would be nice to have some kind of more immediate communication, for interrogation.

Andreas

I think its a good idea. HP, I don't think you give PC members enough credit :P I think it would be good if you had a CG question you needed answered sharpish, or just posting links to trailers just released etc.

whats_true

Knowing this site, it will be just filled with a lot of phallic remarks....

haiddasalami

Whenever any forum I visited implemented a shoutbox, it just went down in flames.

Yozora

It will have to be in a easily accessible position that is viewable without doing anything (so not like game artisan's one which requires at least 1 click).

The problem is, a very small box is quite useless so you need to make it pretty big and if it were in a decent position, it would get in the way a lot of the times generating much more unnecessary clutter.

So overall, no thanks!

adam

While the idea sounds fun on paper, it seems very unnecessary. I'd much prefer that if you have a question - regardless of how trivial you think the solution maybe - that its asked on the boards somewhere. This way a record of it is made for others to reference in the future.

fearian

Having a link to the IRC room on mibbit somewhere along the topb bar would be nice.

eg:

news forum irc wiki us shop eu shop twitter

Axios

I wouldn't like this just due to the clutter it would add. I like the cleaner look of Polycount more than some other sites.

whats_true

We have an IRC?

[HP]

Axios wrote: »

I wouldn't like this just due to the clutter it would add. I like the cleaner look of Polycount more than some other sites.

I couldnt agree more. gameartisans design always kept me away from it. It's none less than bad and cluttered!

Joseph Silverman

the irc is essentially secret for a reason, guys

we can't let too many people meet noel

divi

yeah, he's odd.
mutated twin living in the walls odd.

XenoKratios

I personally think the shoutbox would tone down the "clutter", but I think I'm misunderstanding you guys.

You guys think that it would make the forum all together more messy, because of the fact that there will be a bawks on the forum, that may be true, depends on how it's executed.

I think that having it will reduce the unnecessary posts because people might use the shoutbox to post their blabber rather than a thread .

I agree and disagree at the same time... hmmmm

Autocon

XenoKratios wrote: »

I think that having it will reduce the unnecessary posts because people might use the shoutbox to post their blabber rather than a thread .

I can defiantly see this point as valid for General Discussion. Im sure ZakD would LOVE the side chat box. Then again I doubt that would go to post counts so maybe not :P

But like adam said its always great to have a thread for even seemingly unimportant topics as what is trivial to some, for others it can be a big help. Not to mention all the people who lurk here just to learn.

Also with full fledged threads you can have lots of input from people discussing different ways to approach the same situation.

XenoKratios

Your right the time factor is definitely something to consider, since a thread can last a while and a shout is simply there till it gets pushed of the screen (although there is a way to get chat history which can go up to 1000 shouts).

But lets say if I wanted to post something like this:

"COULD IT BE?"
watch?v=rpXOTdCBhPQ

I would feel uncomfortable to make a post about it, but would still like to share it with PC..

SimonT

A link to an web IRC chat would be also really nice. But why should the IRC be an secret? Is that one of these "hardcore "nerd" secret "no noob should know about it""-stuff where only the greatest hardcores on earth are in and do nothing than write nothing because they know anything?

Steve Schulze

GA house a shoutbox typed deally which can be observed here.
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32
Looks like sensible arty discussion in there at the moment, so presumably these can work well enough in a community like this if we felt so inclined to implement one.

rolfness

SupRore wrote: »

the irc is essentially secret for a reason, guys

we can't let too many people meet noel

you can talk..

and no a shoutbox is not a good idea.. its a gimmick and gimmicks last for a week then no one will use it and someone will have to remove it. PC has a well established framework for answering questions and dealing with stuff.. use it..

kaze369

as far as I can tell GA has a chatbox just for small talk. I don't see myself using a feature like that on PC that often.

McGreed

If we want to tone down the babbling, there is always the option for an Off Topic folder section, since I feel that the General section is still about graphic, but more wide (like discussion about games and such), which a off topic could be about birthdays, new bike ect.

I used to use IRC quite a lot, but these days I always forget to start mIRC up. I understand what some people says about quick response, its easier to discuss something sometimes when you can quickly ping-pong ideas and responses.

TheWinterLord

I dedicate my 1000th post to say I think the IRC channel we have is very very scary. I have been there a couple of times, im not going back, atleast not for a couple of years.. :P

XenoKratios

McGreed wrote: »

its easier to discuss something sometimes when you can quickly ping-pong ideas and responses.

That I can relate to fully!

Pseudo

There are thousands of forums on the internet that I can go to if I want to read inane ramblings or see the latest lol cat pics.

I read Polycount for discussions about gaming and art (mostly art). There is a reason that Pimping and Previews comes before General Discussion.

Axios

XenoKratios wrote: »

I personally think the shoutbox would tone down the "clutter", but I think I'm misunderstanding you guys.

You guys think that it would make the forum all together more messy, because of the fact that there will be a bawks on the forum, that may be true, depends on how it's executed.

I think that having it will reduce the unnecessary posts because people might use the shoutbox to post their blabber rather than a thread .

I agree and disagree at the same time... hmmmm

By 'clutter', I mean unnecessary stuff filling the design of the page. Polycount looks nice and organized and the more features that get added to every page, the messier the whole thing is. I don't care about useless threads as much as I do about clean web design.

XenoKratios

Axios wrote: »

By 'clutter', I mean unnecessary stuff filling the design of the page. Polycount looks nice and organized and the more features that get added to every page, the messier the whole thing is. I don't care about useless threads as much as I do about clean web design.

Ah I understand now, maybe the idea for the irc link on the topbar could be replaced with a chat porgram?

ie: news forum chat wiki us shop eu shop twitter [rss]

XenoKratios

After reading this whole thread again, I would like to say.

Please .

rolfness

-.-