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

[Dan Goodwin]

Barb,

"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 ...

This is exactly what I want to avoid with CCS. There's so much intelligent and creative discussion here that can be beneficial at the time to those involved, and long afterwards to either new people joining or to older members revisiting earlier discussions. So it'd be good to keep the discussions as focused as possible, plus provide an outlet for people when they want more general chat.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Here is what I found on the chat room at NING ...

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/web-messages

[Dan Goodwin]

Ha ha, know what you mean Anne.

Don't worry, if I get too much of the run around by the "monkeys" I pop over and take a look at the Google Analytics for CCS and see that currently we're having over 5000 visits and 37000 pageviews a month.

Too much for any zookeeper to keep up with : )

[Camille]

Hi Dan, I agree that we need some kind of random chat space that is for offshoots of the main topic. It is becoming harder and harder for me to follow conversations and to add to them in the right space.

Sometimes it gets too overwhelming, so I just read, get confused, and leave without commenting... So it seems to me to be a practical idea.

However, sometimes, members add things that are clever in their spontanaeity and they get very creative responses that keep conversations organic, and that may be something to ponder...

Whatever happens, I go with the flow!

Camille

[Dan Goodwin]

Thanks for your comments Camille...

I agree about the confusion, also about the organic and spontaneous nature of comments.

(I still laugh when I think of Malinda's classic "Lin, who pimped your hat?" comment...)

We'll see what other comments people make over the rest of today, but I think new group chat space is the way forward...

[Camille]

Yes, a new group chat space seems most practical. If things are getting out of hand now....what will they be like even within the next few weeks? The growth at CCS begs for changes to be made to accomodate the needs of this community which is growing by leaps and bounds! Congrats and thank you Dan for always thinking about how to improve things for all of us!

Sincerely, Camille

[cat stone]

Dan, I think this is a good idea. I love the chat here, sometimes it's like a breath of fresh air on a dreary day, but it does make it hard to sort out the comments that are relevant to the actual discussion topic. Having a seperate area to continue unrelated conversations that evolve during the course of a discussion would be great!

[jane]

it is a REAL dilemma... i am big on dilemmas!!!! i love to hear all the chat. i want to keep up on the chat, but my life finds it difficult to do so. if i could i would spend all day contributing to ccs chat, but sadly i have an income to sustain and a life to nurture... so the happy happy bonding chat space would serve me well. i want to keep up... but i cant. most of you are wake when i am asleep... so that doesnt help!!! i never know where and what to keep in touch with.. i want to keep in touch with everyone! you are successful with this site dan, ... help us to move forwards, yes - please!?

[Dan Goodwin]

Deb, I think that's a great approach, and yes something that's easy to do in CCS. Simply start a new discussion, copy the url (the address in the address bar when you're on that page of CCS) and paste it as a link with a comment in the original discussion you're heading off on a tangent from, so people can click the link and head over to the new discussion if they wish.

I think that's a plan I'll encourage if/when we start the new random chat space...

Thanks for your input.

[Lin Neiswender]

Dan,

I get overwhelmed by the volume of one-liners (guilty of those myself) and off-topics, so I often lately just quit following a topic at all. In fact I've taken a hiatus from email when it starts taking 2 hours to get through it with the follows feature. Sometimes we forget we are not required to comment on everyone's post (done that too). Has anyone raised the dreaded "M" (Moderators) word? If things get too far off topic?

Lin

[Dan Goodwin]

Lin, thanks for your input.

It seems a pattern is emerging from what many have said here that we've been overwhelmed and stopped following a discussion that originally had a lot of value and relevance for us, because it's gone so off topic. And obviously that's sad because many times someone will come in with a new comment about the original topic, but it doesn't get noticed because so many people have tuned out and given up following.

Your point - "Sometimes we forget we are not required to comment on everyone's post" - is great too. There are often a string of replies along the lines of "LOL, nice one Dan" or similar, which in my opinion don't really add anything to the discussion.

I'm reluctant to go into moderation. As I've said in a previous reply on this discussion I think the intelligence and quality of the discussions - and therefore the benefit to all of us on CCS - is very high.

Maybe a few guidelines on using the discussions might not be a bad thing, then trust everyone to moderate themselves. I'm certainly not going to get into publicly telling someone their comment is off topic or they should stay focused or anything, I believe we're intelligent, creative people who can moderate our own comments as we go.

[Camille]

Dan, I often do one-liners, as sometimes I have nothing to add but I want to honor and acknowledge what was written.
Camille