EDIT: Consensus has been reached easily and quickly. This isn't an issue that necessitate any further addressing.

Having seen another sim forum, I realized that chat box are quite an easy tool to access and expect more direct replies. Due to its nature, however, sometimes it seems to undermine forum activities, making the forum itself seem less active than the chat box.

To some it might not be such a problem, but the thing I find issue in is how it's possible for valuable information to be lost within the chat, whether it's potential discussion topics that could have found itself in the forum instead or even some things related to gaming issues.

What I thought of discussing here is to think about how to encourage people for posting and DISCUSSING more in the forum topics instead of the chat boxes. It's possible to create topics that are more general and vague, then pin them up at the top of the "general discussion" board. It can be things as random as "Share your daily trivia" or something like that.

What do you people think? Do you think we should leave it like this with the chat box because, who knows, you might not find it causing any issues even with what I pointed out? If you wish to encourage more forum posting, how should we approach this? I for one, like Louma, have seen the forum becoming more active, have multiple types of topics for conversations and people posting more in general after the chat box was removed.

I will wait for more replies before I comment! Thanks for looking out for Cstyles!

actually im with Mura , have seen how no chat box can do wonders and really boost a forum =D and its waaaay to much fun

i love the chat box.
dont take it way
i just think their need to be less randomness on it

That's why I'm asking for discussion on suggestions, because some times I look at the chatbox and there seems to be more activities going on in a hour than in the forum during the entire day, and that kinda leaves me a strange feeling. I'm mostly new to the forum, so that's why people's opinion here, especially those who've been for longer, are important.

You mentioned about how you love it. That's fine, but you suggest there should be less randomness in it. Then do you have anything to suggest for that thing? I think randomness is fine, but that randomness may as well find itself in a forum topic such as "What random interesting thing happened to you today?" instead of losing itself in the chat (since there's no long history in the chat).

Those randomness are and can be part of the forum activities in a way, at least I think so.

um i dont know really how to make it less random because one person in the chat box is crazy and i dont know if he would stop LOL

and i mean that is a nice way lush hehehehe

Ok, I will make a comment on this now. First...I don't think it would be a good choice to remove the chat box, some people thoroughly enjoy the chat and the convenience of being able to have a quick chat with someone. They don't need a long back history of previous chats, they just want to make a few comments or have a little chat with whomever is online at the moment.

I don't feel that the chat box takes away from the forum at all. The bottom box is for guest and members. Although rare if a guest does comment in it, it's still there. I believe the guest don't really comment because if you check the live feed our guest come from all over the world so there is a language barrier there.

The bullshit box is just for members and is hidden from guest. In this box you can talk about ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING without prying eyes checking in on what you are saying, posting this to other sites and maybe judging your comments. (which in the past we have had some lively...err...conversations in there) Also with this box you can have actual one on one conversations which is between you and one other and even the members on the chat box can't see your conversation. They can't even see you are in a one on one conversation...they just see you in the box.

The other small box is for administration only. It doesn't get cluttered and it's for brief messages between staff that don't require going into a pm to detail.

Sometimes the forum is busy and sometimes it's not. That's with any forum. Let a stuff pack or ep come out and the site is as dry as a desert for a couple of day's. Let some creator post a fantastic piece of cc and the site is bustling...even without a lot of jibber jabber. This I don't mind. It's when the site is full blown busy with constant chatter within...we start to lose threads from the constant flow...of which I'm trying to find a way to rectify.

Just my views...please continue to comment as I do take everyone's thoughts and suggestions into consideration and I do love the community interaction when it comes to Cstyles!

I like having the chat box. I never talk about the Sims in it really lol It's just my way to be able to say a quick how are you?

I see what you mean and I do take your points as very valid. However, sometimes I feel like the chatbox still undermines forum activity since sometimes, it may happen that people seem to go there instead of trying to make the forum a bit more active itself.

Like you said Cece, people love having the convenience of quick chatting with someone there, and I think that convenience, although fun, does somehow affect the forum since it's so convenient to have random chats there that some may just as well stay there. Like in another forum I'm in, when we had the chatbox, sometimes people instead stayed there instead of posting in the forum because of how quick and convenient it is, and then they leave without having done much in the forum itself. That's kinda normal since some have spent quite a lot of time in the chatbox, and after being "satisfied", they don't have much reason to stay any longer for now. When they do, it's just to look over things instead of posting since they've already "post" a lot, in form of instant messaging though.

It happened multiple times, and it's not always as bad of course, but it was still a result of the chatbox taking a big part in a way. And let me put something clear too: I LOVE chatboxes, and it was kinda strange having it taken away suddenly there, but eventually I thought it was better. I'm not suggesting we should take it away at all, which some seem to believe. I'm just sharing why I think that the chatbox sometimes do undermine the forum.

I think I just need a bit more time in this forum to make another idea about this. I believe I haven't been long enough to really be able to hold my own opinion on the chatbox yet, so in my case, I'll accept your valid points for now, especially since most of you seem not to find problems with it, which, if you don't and can't see what I'm addressing, probably shows that I'm in the wrong, at least for this forum.

Mura everyone is more than welcome to have an opinion on here, I hold no judgement against that at all. I think you need to have a voice in regards to everything you have in your life.

Your amount of time has nothing to do with how you may or may not view something and I don't fault your newness at all. I do think that you are basing somethings, although valid...they were valid for that particular site you mentioned. The one thing that we steer away from here is being like everyone else. I don't see a point of taking away the chat because I've seen and continue to see many post...really sometimes more than the site can handle. Maybe once you are here for a bit more you will see this also.

Please keep your suggestions coming!! I love this!

Haha that's what I thought, that I just haven't been here long enough to see how it goes here! Time will tell. Thanks for being very open =)

Quote :

What I thought of discussing here is to think about how to encourage people for posting and DISCUSSING more in the forum topics instead of the chat boxes. It's possible to create topics that are more general and vague, then pin them up at the top of the "general discussion" board. It can be things as random as "Share your daily trivia" or something like that.

Such topics as "What did you do today" can be very fun and interesting at first , but soon theywill gradually moving slowly to the recycle bin on the forum.

Why?

It may be because people don't have time to spend all day telling their life in that topic and reviewing the lives of others , because their life has nothing interesting to say or that no one take mind when they tells their life.

Quote :

What do you people think? Do you think we should leave it like this with the chat box because, who knows, you might not find it causing any issues even with what I pointed out?

Of course

Quote :

If you wish to encourage more forum posting, how should we approach this? I for one, like Louma, have seen the forum becoming more active, have multiple types of topics for conversations and people posting more in general after the chat box was removed.

What forum is that? It is certainly very strange.

For me the chat doesn't affect anything to the forum.

Why?

Because I keep posting the same on all topics on that I post , regardless of whether there is chat or not.
Because I've seen that in all the forums I've been the chat doesn't affect anything to the forum.

Why is good to have a chat in the forum?

As you said, the chat has more activity in one hour than the forum in one day. Why? Because you talk in the chat with your fellow of the forum of how are you now, what you're doing right now , about casual conversations, you get to sing, and so on. And all of that can not be done in a regular topic of the forum.

So , the people having already finished to posting in all the topics they had to post , so they have nothing to do. And then what they do? They leave the forum.
However , if a forum has chat , when you finish posting , or even while you are posting , you're entertaining talking to some fellow of the forum in the chat. And that makes that when you're done posting on the forum you stand talking in the chat.

Quote :

You mentioned about how you love it. That's fine, but you suggest there should be less randomness in it.

Ehm ... Hello?

If there is a chat , I'm going to talk about all the things I like , so stop saying stupid things like "less randomness in it" ... that produce me arches

Quote :

um i dont know really how to make it less random because one person in the chat box is crazy and i dont know if he would stop LOL

Prohibit types of conversations in a chat is bullshit. You put the chat or you don't put the chat , but if you put the chat the chat is free.

Quote :

and i mean that is a nice way lush hehehehe

Definitely you don't feel the chat as I do.

When I see the chat I think ...

Oh , the sparkling chat with it write-in box and the tempting Send button ... mmm ... thousands of funny conversations and songs ... *Drooling*

And surely when you see the chat you think ...

Oh , look , there are Lushness and Shyne in the chat speaking about horses and Beyonce's new album. Why they didn't seek a job or a boyfriend? ...

Quote :

First...I don't think it would be a good choice to remove the chat box, some people thoroughly enjoy the chat and the convenience of being able to have a quick chat with someone. They don't need a long back history of previous chats, they just want to make a few comments or have a little chat with whomever is online at the moment.

I don't feel that the chat box takes away from the forum at all.

Sometimes the forum is busy and sometimes it's not. That's with any forum.

Exactly!

Quote :

However, sometimes I feel like the chatbox still undermines forum activity since sometimes, it may happen that people seem to go there instead of trying to make the forum a bit more active itself.

Do you you think that didn't hurt me that the damn forum has no activity?
Do you you think that didn't hurt me that Miss Lochness don't upload a sim everyday or that Shyne don't upload makeup everyday to be admiring all these incredible creations and be commenting on all the time?

Your words hurt me

Lushness wrote:

It may be because people don't have time to spend all day telling their life in that topic and reviewing the lives of others , because their life has nothing interesting to say or that no one take mind when they tells their life.

Just like any forum topics, you don't have to go and tell EVERYTHING. People have the time to say those little things in the chat, so what's the issue of doing it in the forum? When someone asks you "what did you do today", are you going to take all day telling what you did? Of course not. As for the last part on how "their life has nothing interesting to say or that no one take mind when they tells their life", I can't speak for others, but are you telling me that people here wouldn't care at all about what others say, and that they don't have anything interesting to say about their lives at all?

Lushness wrote:

As you said, the chat has more activity in one hour than the forum in one day. Why? Because you talk in the chat with your fellow of the forum of how are you now, what you're doing right now , about casual conversations, you get to sing, and so on. And all of that can not be done in a regular topic of the forum.

I take your point.

Lushness wrote:

If there is a chat , I'm going to talk about all the things I like , so stop saying stupid things like "less randomness in it" ... that produce me arches

Please don't pick one part of my sentence, close it like that, and then pick on it, especially since the rest of my paragraph pretty much says something from my mind. That part you chose and closed is a response to STEVIE'S OPINION, not mine.

Lushness wrote:

Your words hurt me

With all due respect, I don't get what you're offended about. I NEVER said the forum didn't have enough activities. All I was thinking was that MAYBE the forum would have more if there wasn't a chatbox, which I have already been proven wrong, a point of view I accepted.
Also, this may be mostly a CC forum, but that doesn't mean that's the only way to make the forum active. There are already multiple topics that are created which could still have potential to have fun with, especially discussion one.

EDIT:

Lushness wrote:

And surely when you see the chat you think ...
Oh , look , there are Lushness and Shyne in the chat speaking about horses and Beyonce's new album. Why they didn't seek a job or a boyfriend? ...

Wait, was that response directed to me or Stevie? All the things you quoted from that part isn't from me, but I'm not sure anymore because of how you interpreted something I said about someone else's opinion. Either way, that's quite a bold assumption.

I don't see how the chatbox effects Cstyles. Sure it does on other forums I go to...one of which ALL the activity goes on in the chatbox and the other the chatbox having a heavy influence. The one that doesn't have a chatbox they talk on msn instead anyways lol. I try to avoid chatboxes whenever possible because once I get talking I can waste a whole day shooting the breeze lol.

Removing it however doesn't at all stimulate conversation, you would think it would, but it doesn't. Sometimes what people talk about in the chatbox isn't something they would write in a thread, either it's not something that's going to provoke an interesting lengthy discussion and is something more suited to a conversation (E.g how much I like Cookies) or something that's just inappropriate (how I ripped my underwear this morning, or how much someone pisses me off from the Officials).

Overall it's easier to get to know someone in a real time environment than it is via a forum, so a lot of the personal stuff is going to go down in the chatbox....which I think is good, since some people don't really want to read all about how your Monday was when they logged on, on a Wednesday lol.

Perhaps they want a timely answer to a question and don't want to sit there waiting to see if someone sees their post, perhaps its something private or something that they don't want EVERYONE and their dog seeing up on the public forum, maybe its something like just saying hi, finding out how someones day was which doesn't warrant having a thread when it's more appropriate to do it in real time.

It would be a bit silly if the whole forum was filled with peoples conversations about their breakfast, their trip to the doctor or how much they love the flavor Vanilla wouldn't it? lol

The chatbox doesn't stop you from making such threads though if you wish to....like over on Symlish there's a My Little Pony Fan Club thread, at Unbound they have game like threads where people can share their music tastes etc etc. It's only as active as the members want to make it (have time to make it), with or without a chatbox.

I agee with lush and Cece...while u have a valid point I dont feel the chat box takes away from CSTYLES... I can jump in the chatbox n have a quick chat or request for Shyne or someone and less than a half hour later theres a new post with what i asked for... Also as cece said ..our convos arent always sims related and we may not want that to be glued to the site... I dont feel like valuable informations get lost there because we are pretty good at attaching things we find, learn and create to cstyles... Team CHat Box!!! ESPECIALLY the party and bullshyt bOx... I think its a Great way to reach out to members of our cstyles family quickly seeing as though alot of us are on different schedules... As you said Mura... It didnt work for thst forum u mentioned but it works great for us... And as far as the activity on cstyles ithink we have good activity here it all depends whats going on... Just this month alone we've had more memebers coming out of hiding to participate and post

Indeed, I take your points and I agree, as I already said about Cece's response. I suppose that with all these responses already, we have a pretty good opinion on this subject matter. I assume we can call this a close! ;)

Quote :

When someone asks you "what did you do today", are you going to take all day telling what you did? Of course not.

Of course that yes.

Quote :

As for the last part on how "their life has nothing interesting to say or that no one take mind when they tells their life", I can't speak for others, but are you telling me that people here wouldn't care at all about what others say, and that they don't have anything interesting to say about their lives at all?

I am not saying that people here wouldn't care at all about what others day , I am just saying that that can happens.

So what's the problem if that happens?

The problem is that you've removed the chat for what the people say in the chat say it in the forum (I think that I didn't say it well. Mmm ... I mean this: For that the things that you said in the chat , now you have to say them in the forum ... Now? :/) , then a person that usually told his/her day in the chat and that the people listened to him/her , now that person told his/her day in the forum and no one makes no fucking case. Then how feels that person? Shattered and scammed. That's the problem.

Why am I saying this?

Because in a forum that I was they removed the chat and created a topic of "What did you do today" , and with more than one person happened that , that they didn't make her nor fucking case. And I also felt bad. Do you understand?

And that "their life has nothing interesting to say" I say for myself and for the people who don't like to tell their life. My life is bullshit and what I do in the chat is to discuss a little of everything and sing , and if you remove the chat on the topic of "What did you do today" I won't have anything to talk about. Do you understand?

Quote :

Please don't pick one part of my sentence, close it like that, and then pick on it, especially since the rest of my paragraph pretty much says something from my mind. That part you chose and closed is a response to STEVIE'S OPINION, not mine.

I am just opining about that in general , I am not judging anyone or anything.

Quote :

All I was thinking was that MAYBE the forum would have more if there wasn't a chatbox, which I have already been proven wrong, a point of view I accepted.

Of course, your opinion is yours and my opinion is mine. (Continue reading)

Quote :

it may happen that people seem to go there instead of trying to make the forum a bit more active itself.

Those are the words that have hurt me. I speak for me , since you say that people seem to go there instead of trying to make the forum more active , and that for me isn't true. I use all the forum , the forum and the chat. And I am the first who want the forum to be active and I do everything I can for that to be so. (I finished)

Quote :

Also, this may be mostly a CC forum, but that doesn't mean that's the only way to make the forum active. There are already multiple topics that are created which could still have potential to have fun with, especially discussion one.

It's difficult that a forum be active by something else other than the downloads yes.

Quote :

Wait, was that response directed to me or Stevie? All the things you quoted from that part isn't from me, but I'm not sure anymore because of how you interpreted something I said about someone else's opinion. Either way, that's quite a bold assumption.

I was talking to Stevie xD

XD

Quote :

once I get talking I can waste a whole day shooting the breeze lol.

Lol That can happens yes xD

Quote :

Removing it however doesn't at all stimulate conversation, you would think it would, but it doesn't. Sometimes what people talk about in the chatbox isn't something they would write in a thread, either it's not something that's going to provoke an interesting lengthy discussion and is something more suited to a conversation (E.g how much I like Cookies) or something that's just inappropriate (how I ripped my underwear this morning, or how much someone pisses me off from the Officials).

Quote :

Overall it's easier to get to know someone in a real time environment than it is via a forum, so a lot of the personal stuff is going to go down in the chatbox....which I think is good, since some people don't really want to read all about how your Monday was when they logged on, on a Wednesday lol.

Quote :

Perhaps they want a timely answer to a question and don't want to sit there waiting to see if someone sees their post

Quote :

maybe its something like just saying hi, finding out how someone's day was which doesn't warrant having a thread when it's more appropriate to do it in real time.

Exactly How I ripped my underwear this morning? LOL!

Quote :

It would be a bit silly if the whole forum was filled with peoples conversations about their breakfast, their trip to the doctor or how much they love the flavor Vanilla wouldn't it? lol

Yes lol. Cstyles' Diary. XD

Quote :

The chatbox doesn't stop you from making such threads though if you wish to....like over on Symlish there's a My Little Pony Fan Club thread, at Unbound they have game like threads where people can share their music tastes etc etc. It's only as active as the members want to make it (have time to make it), with or without a chatbox.

You're absolutely right And you gave me ideas for new topics

Quote :

It's difficult that a forum be active by something else other than the downloads yes.

Assuming that it's difficult for "a" forum to be active by something else than downloads is another bold assumption because that's not completely true. It depends on the people and what the forum may focus on. For example, another forum I've been on has both downloads and a section where people create sims album and show off their stuff, whether it's just pictures of their sims or random stories. That section was the most active part of the forum because people loved to see what others do in their game, what kind of character they give to their sim than just "normal gameplay sims". Whether you want it or not, Sims has often been about showing off things, whether to boast or not, and that kind of "show off" was able to bring some forum quite active.

Not everyone are focus on downloading sims, CCs and such and restrict themselves to that, which to me sounds like is what you're assuming as a generality. I think you and I can say it is true HERE, in Cstyles, but please don't speak as if this was a general idea in Sims forums.

Quote :

Those are the words that have hurt me. I speak for me.

Well then I apologize if that hurt you, sincerely. However, just like you previously stated a comment that clearly sounded specific but apparently wasn't, in my case I made it clear that "it may". This implies a possibility of being both right and wrong, all depending on each individual, that I'm not pointing at anyone specific and that people reading my comment on that should take this into account, to not take it personal as you did, so you don't have to get offended and keep on arguing and analyzing with a broader horizon than only with your field of view. That is all.

Like you said, we both have our opinions, but not all opinions may have the same credibility, which is why I wanted to address this, give my opinion on the matter, and see what people think about it MY credibility, also for me to see OTHERS' credibility on the subject, and I've got my answer on that already. Thinking "to each their own" would just be a pitiful excuse not to think (just to make sure, I'm not talking about you, nor am I talking about anyone here; I'm stating this as a general thought).

Now that this has been made clear, can we close this topic? =) In order to avoid any more misunderstanding on an already solved thing, it would be good.

Quote :

Assuming that it's difficult for "a" forum to be active by something else than downloads is another bold assumption because that's not completely true.

Sorry , said so at first glance you're right.

I was referring to a forum that is accustomed to being active mostly for the downloads.

Quote :

Well then I apologize if that hurt you, sincerely. ... I'm stating this as a general thought).

No problem

Quote :

Now that this has been made clear, can we close this topic? =) In order to avoid any more misunderstanding on an already solved thing, it would be good.

Of course

Ok...I think that Mura tried to close this thread out many post ago. I want to say a few things and then I will close and lock it.

First, I'm sorry there have been some misunderstandings and hurt feelings. I think sometimes people tend to skip and scan a thread and not truly and really read it thoroughly and that can make all the difference in the world. Point in fact...seeing that (solved) was posted after Mura edited her post would be a good case in point.

I'm so please to see members, new and old are always looking out for Cstyles and are eager to do what they can to make sure that Cstyles stays active and alive. Without these different opinions also any site can easily dry up and die. We are all NOT going to get along and agree with each other from time to time...that's just life. We just need to be respectful of each others opinions and be aware of how we respond to each other. No...we don't walk on eggshells here...we are just courteous of each other and aware of each others feelings.

Mura, whether or not she knows it has accomplished something she was concerned with regarding this post...she wanted to make sure that the site and the threads remained active and with this post she has contributed just that.

I do want to point out that we do have a photo gallery where you can not only post your pictures but you can actually make your own albums that can be given points and also you can leave comments. Like Mura mentioned...some of us like to show off our work, each for their own reasons sometimes, some just like the feedback they give, nothing wrong with that at all, some like to be critiqued and some just want some honest feedback because they are not sure about a certain sim or item they want to put out. All this is good.

The photo gallery, however, is NOT free and I pay for it's usuage. It is not being used and with that I have considered to no longer pay to have it. It's pointless to have something and it not be used and since I pay this out of my own pocket...it's seriously a waste of money. Nobody has the money in these times to just toss money to the wind and until we can start getting donations contributed I will have to cut corners in areas that I see that are not being used.

I LOVE the idea of the gallery and have had it since I opened the doors to Cstyles and loved the idea of each member having their own personal little space just for their pictures. Also...a little slideshow plays on the right side depicting each others pictures which also give to the beauty and life of the site.

I'm going to close this out, my little precious Lushie has had his feelings hurt, but not intentionally and I think a lot of this has just been due to misunderstandings.

I think we have all expressed our feelings and thoughts on this and if it continues to remain open can only cause more misunderstandings.

I you all and it truly touches my heart and makes my eyes misty to see such love and admiration for Cstyles! You all make it so worthwhile!!

*I know this is probably full of typo's and I ask you to forgive me. As I mentioned in another post...I woke up seriously sick and am just not feeling at all like myself.