ANNOUNCEMENT: ChatBox turned off please use DISCORD -- LINK inside

[alyssa]

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^^^^ link to discord group

[Miss Kitty]

For those in the same boat as me, what does this mean?

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[Car_Low]

For those in the same boat as me, what does this mean?

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Basically a more modern version of instant messaging crossed with skype. Its kinda similar to Slack if you're familiar with that. Makes it easier to communicate with others at con versus using the forum.

[Miss Kitty]

So is this platform going away?

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[SamTurtledove]

So is this platform going away?

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The PC/online version of the forum had a chat function called a "Shoutbox," seen at top.  That's what is being referred as the Chatbox here.

Seems that part of the forum hasn't been working the last few months and noticed right before the sale yesterday.

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 The Chatbox got heavy use during badge and hotel sales, in previous years.

I think the Discord link was meant only to replace that chat dynamic, only.

[chocolateshake]

The issue I see with this is that it splits the forum.  There will be people that never use discord.  At best, now we have to monitor two sites.  This was a problem during the last comic-con.  I never looked at discord.  Some posts made on this site weren't seen until later.  I don't understand why making and reading posts on this website is so slow that we need discord.  Messages show up instantly.  It's quite common to have a real time dialog using posts.

May I suggest that instead of disposing of the chatbox, that it be re-implemented using discord as it's back end.  It's possible to embed a discord discussion onto a page.  That way, this site can still be the common place for all friends to meet.

[alyssa]

The issue I see with this is that it splits the forum.  There will be people that never use discord.  At best, now we have to monitor two sites.  This was a problem during the last comic-con.  I never looked at discord.  Some posts made on this site weren't seen until later.  I don't understand why making and reading posts on this website is so slow that we need discord.  Messages show up instantly.  It's quite common to have a real time dialog using posts.

May I suggest that instead of disposing of the chatbox, that it be re-implemented using discord as it's back end.  It's possible to embed a discord discussion onto a page.  That way, this site can still be the common place for all friends to meet.

Interesting idea [member=6586]chocolateshake[/member]
there are folks working on integration of discord and SMF You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
[member=3710]SteveD[/member] [member=13]Car_Low[/member] ....thoughts ?

[Car_Low]

Problem I had with the forum is you can't curate notifications to only be on just the announcement of something you have to get it for all the messages. With the role tags if you only want Conan updates on discord someone can just type "@Conan tickets are up for CocoHouse" and you will only get the notification for that instead of the hundreds of comments on the thread saying "I wonder when the tickets will drop I think it probably will be on X". Its more for time sensitive things rather than long term discussion. Many times by the time its posted on discord its gone within a minute or two so you have to have that instant role tag notification so it doesnt get lost in the shuffle of other things. Also, I found that the discord was a lot more active when on site during con. I found that during the actual con the forum would be a ghost town there would only be a few posts here and there that come in at the end of the day after stuff had happened where as the discord had people posting right away when they found things with the role tags. You don't have to monitor discord like you would the forum just have the right roles selected and mobile notifications on and you can set it and forget it until something important comes up.

[alyssa]

i've long wanted an integration of a chat feature and the forum.

I'm not sure the package from smfhack will further that goal or not

So is this platform going away?

no!
the forum is the easiest way of dealing with big goals- like planing for hotels, badge sales. Discord is the easiest way of communicating while at con. Tapatalk is too cumbersom, the old chatbox it too generic as [member=13]Car_Low[/member] said

[chocolateshake]

I found that during the actual con the forum would be a ghost town there would only be a few posts here and there that come in at the end of the day after stuff had happened where as the discord had people posting right away when they found things with the role tags.

That's the split I described earlier.  During the last comic-con there were the discord people and the non-discord people.  Effectively, discord became just another comic-con forum separate from this forum.  This year there was definitely a noticeable loss of activity during comic-con on this forum because of that.

Discord by it's design, requires an account.  You just can't browse it without one, even if it's a temporary account.  It's effectively private.  The majority of people that visit friends don't have accounts or don't log in.  Right now there are 58 guests and only 8 people logged in.  Those guests won't transfer over to discord.  The lack of activity here because it's happening on discord leads to less content here.  During this last comic-con, I had to look elsewhere to see what was going on.

[Michael M]

Maybe we should see/try the discord chat embed just to try it out.  See (1) the level of effort to integrate it in, and (2) see how the site handles it (both from a site-hosting perspective and a user-interaction one).

[Car_Low]

The majority of people that visit friends don't have accounts or don't log in.  Right now there are 58 guests and only 8 people logged in.  Those guests won't transfer over to discord. 

If they don't have forum account they won't exactly be contributing on the forum to add to the activity either. I see it as just a perk of joining the community versus lurking.

The lack of activity here because it's happening on discord leads to less content here.  During this last comic-con, I had to look elsewhere to see what was going on.

I found it lacking in activity in previous cons also not just this year. Like theres a big shift on how much posts there is pre con versus during con. With Discord there's a lot of active users during con since its just as easy as sending a text to get messages out. Maybe its just me but I found that people would post stuff as things are going on more in discord versus in previous years on the forum people would post after it already happened at con so you would still be missing out. Or you wouldn't see it before its too late. With discord you can set notifications to what you like and it will notify you if something pertaining to your interests shows up.

We set it up super last minute last year so I can see why that split happened and some were left in the dark. But I just think discord lends itself to rapid spread of information better than the forum can handle. Like the forum is great for long form discussion and searching for info but if you need something time sensitive sent out Discord is better. The Discord group had a lot of success when it came to the RSVPs and event tickets as the role notifications would tell everyone to get on and sign up. The forum would have it posted at roughly the same time and we had better luck getting tickets than those outside because its just easier to get notified with Discord and see something new is up that needs your attention.

[stl_ben]

Dischord or bust.

[alyssa]

Maybe we should see/try the discord chat embed just to try it out.  See (1) the level of effort to integrate it in, and (2) see how the site handles it (both from a site-hosting perspective and a user-interaction one).

i have not found an integration to add discord into the forum. there is one that works the other way

[Car_Low]

I found this You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login not sure how well it will play with the forum.

I would have to change the permissions on the server to make it open so that you no longer have the read the rules page and select the attendee role to see the rest of the channels. I think you’d still need a discord account to post.