Do we need a separate group for general chat?

[Dan Goodwin]

Some of the forum discussions lately have had literally hundreds of responses and have gone off on tangents not connected to the original topic.

So, do we need a separate group, called "Random Chat Room" for example where people can have these kind of chats, so the discussions stay more relevant to the topics?

Or is this simply the natural way our creative minds work, and inevitable and valuable part of the discussions here on CCS?

Let me know your thoughts, all ideas welcome!

Dan

[Malinda Neisess]

having a seperate chat room would be great! i don't mind the chatting within the forum topics and blogs etc., but it might be overwhelming to people who are not interested in the chatter but really wanting to follow the topic and if you get into one of the discussions late, you literally have to read through all the chatter to be sure not to miss the topic discussion
i love all the bunny trails and stuff especially at florabelle's because that is the atmosphere that Florabelle has tried to create and so it is welcomed and even encouraged there but I would also like to have a place to go to for chatting with people that do not stop by Florabelle's
ya know Dan, I often times think of things like this but never feel i need to voice them because i know you are always a step ahead of us making improvements and such
you are marvelous! thanks!!!

[Malinda Neisess]

and also it will be helpful in that it will be a little easier to remember where we discussed what :-)

[Dan Goodwin]

Malinda, you've summed up a lot of what I've been thinking. There have often been very interesting tangents within a discussion, that themselves would be a very interesting forum discussion for people to contribute to, but they're almost impossible to find because they're buried in the midst of an unrelated topic.

Plus, like you say, it's difficult for people to follow just the thread of the comments related to the original topic.

I always have one eye on how we can make CCS as accessible and easy to use as possible, and this might be helpful towards that. Let's see what everyone else thinks...

Thanks for your thoughts,

Dan

[Jules]

That would be a creative soultion Dan...
Perhaps rather than a seperate group (which people would have to join to add to the discussion)it could be a seperate discussion on the forum page...
We can call it the "this lead to that chat"
for all the times one thing reminds us of another and causes these conversation detours... instead of taking the detour in the discussion we are in we could just mention we are going to TLTC or TLC to add an off topic comment. Because I really do think it is in our creative nature to touch on topics within topics - and the proof is that we do it now so naturally.
This way those who want can follow up in the other discussion. And this would not stifle the creative mind tag we seem so fond of.

[Dan Goodwin]

Jules, I love your name, the "this led to that chat"...

It would be a group that could have a number of discussions rather than just one discussion because that would soon fill up and be as difficult to follow as the discussions we're creating this solution to help... Does that make sense? : ?

I agree that it's very natural to go off at tangents and whatever we experience it sparks off all kinds of associations and memories in our minds...

[Gretchen Heartaday]

I think that's a good idea. I find it really hard to track replies here as opposed to say a Yahoo group as I can't just go through looking for what pertains to me. If I could just scan through titles and threads instead of having to see the whole message it would be easier. And if I have my e-mail updated I get too much mail.

Is there some way to literally have a chat room so people could get together in real time and have a sort of coffee break if they want to? Lately I've been seeing the wisdom of having monthly meetings for an hour or two. I don't have time to chat all day anymore. I used to have time (last year, before I started my art blog and before I joined CCS), and having people to chat with all day was very helpful for me, so I don't want to take that away from anybody. But I don't participate all the time here because I don't have time to read the discussions and sort through it all. Maybe more of the personal support type of comments could go to private e-mails.

Guess I just repeated what Malinda was saying, in a way.

[Dan Goodwin]

Gretchen, Ning (the platform CCS is built on) say that chatrooms and/or MSN Messenger type functions are in the future plans...

I agree what you say about not participating all the time, I must admit I stop following discussions when they get too full of off topic replies, even though I know that later all they'll be more replies that are closely connected to the original topic.

[Eileen]

Dan,
A separate category would probably be a great idea. That way, if we go off onto tangents, we can just continue the discussion in the other forum.
eileenkny

[Dan Goodwin]

Exactly Eileen. Thanks for your support and input.

[Dan Goodwin]

Donna Lee, you said: "Personally, I'm hear to talk, think & absorb this internationally flavored art community. As an artist we don't always get a lot of that type of commradery...that's what I'm looking for..."

I love this, it's close to my vision for CCS too. I would of course add that we're here also to share what we create, and to create together, in the groups like the ATC Swap and so on.

[Anne Westlund]

Are the monkey getting out of their cages at night? I think we are keeping our zookeeper busy. Good Luck Dan!

Anne :)

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

I had this problem several years ago when I went into the Chat boards at AOL and was thirsting after knowledge about beadwork, only to find that most of the discussions trailed off into personal chitchat about pets and grandkids ...

CCS seems to stay a lot more focused, but I can see how it would be confusing and somewhat frustrating, if info relevant to the topic is what you're after. I do think we get to know each other better by allowing a few detours ...

I recently joined another NING group that has a live chat room on the main page. So that could be an option for those who are just in the mood to hang out and socialize.

Barb