Making Chat Even Better

I can see where your coming from hadenoughnow, but it's been some of the male humour and yes innuendo that has lifted my spirits when I was very down.
I agree it would be useful to know if male or female but also to be quickly check out a profile. When someone with the same name as my stbx logged in I was out of there like a whippet and I've heard a lot of others say the same thing.

Megan,

I don't mind male humour - even the odd bit of smut - but it would be helpful to have some sort of taste and decency "minder" if things go too far .. I think some women have felt a bit oppressed by the testosterone on occasions .. and I am aware of occasional unwanted attention via PM which there should be a way of preventing .. although it would be better if it didn't happen in the first place.

Perhaps as a first off WIki could give us a big slap (rather than punch) emoticon? Or a yellow card and red car for the mods?

Hadenoughnow

Fair point hadenough. Although guilty of the odd subtle innuendo myself , must confess to having felt a bit embarrased about the tone of chat occasionally when there has been a few newbies around. Maybe there should be a 'snug' for regulars where no holds barred chat goes on, but it is acknowledged and tolerated. Shouldn't be in main room though. I think as FB said, it is more of a cultural education thing than a functionality thing.

Mike

Hi All,

Earlier on today we discussed using the "Busy" button to indicate when pm-ing.

Some indication that one is engaged in pm-ing would be useful to avoid a newbie having 6 experienced chatroomers eagerly jump on them at the same time. Likewise it wold show that the newbie is not in pm, perhaps not saying anything and therefore in need of a question as to how they are ON THE BOARD.

Someone could say that the visibility of being in pm may upset the secrecy of some male members and their harems but I say that there is no one on the board like that, so it doesn't matter.

YA

I think that a few of us real regulars or veterans of the site maybe happy to feature in a welcome page, whereby there is a little bit of information about each of us, so that newbies on seeing us in the chat room may at least feel able to approach one of several people at least as an initial ice breaker to the chat room.

Some sort of alert that shows a newbie, say for initial 5 visits, or something that the newbie themselves can activate and de-activate as necessary.

A special feature that if someone needs urgent advice or attention then the whole room is alerted.

Think we need to make better use of the other rooms, using the lobby as just that, an initial place, that maybe brings up information about choosing which room to enter, but also a feature that if you are happy to meet and greet newbies in the lobby that you get an alert to say a newbie has entered.

A list of members that are happy to have a private message sent to them for an initial burst of information or a pointer in the right direction.

Maybe better use of the support groups we have on the site (I know I need to give my group "Dealing with Domestic Abuse" more input but they need to be utilised more maybe for specific questions - maybe even a designated chatroom that is only open at certain times for people to know they have to be a member of that group to access that chat. Similar to the suggestion of female only chatroom.

Maybe a list of people that are happy to discuss a certain topic so other regular members can steer a newbie in the right direction and yet still giving that member the control as to if and when they approach the newbie in relation to that.

Male and female icons are a good idea as some names do not suggest one or the other and having to check the profile takes you away from chat room.

A list of guidelines as to how to approach chat and how to not ask personal questions until you get to know that person individually (quite often get pm's from people that I don't know asking things like name, age, location etc.).

There are many vulnerable people on the site and some chat can feel inappropriate. I like the idea of the "snug" where those of us that know each other can go, but that we also appreciate that other members can enter, but that they know it is an open room (ie open discussion).

I do like the idea of the yellow and red card system, although not sure how you would police that, maybe that if a person feels it inappropriate they click a link and say 3 people hit that link within a certain time period the person in question gets an initial warning flash up and then if it continues, a time out period.

Obviously I don't know a lot about computers and how viable some of the more technical options may or may not work.

Still giving the subject more thought, but needed to start with my suggestions.

xx Sarah xx

Sometimes, in conversation it can be dificult to judge where somebody is in the process.

At first, everyone feels very vulnerable and don't want to say what their name is or even what part of the country they are in and there is no problem with that.

I am at the stage where I don't feel threatened by prospects of my x2b logging on, or people I know seeing me.

So, perhaps like Facebook, you can choose what to reveal about yourself. Unlike Facebook make the default reveal nothing.

I would be quite happy to have a location field where I could type in general region like Scotland, East Anglia, South West. I may want to type in Cambridge/Suffolk borders but not go to Postal Town level (yet).

In age I would be happy to say mid-40's, but not reveal my birth date or exact age.

I might be happy to say I have two children but no more than that. Nothing about their ages or sexes. Especially important for women to control this sort of information.

I know this can be done in the general profile and that may be sufficient but it may be worth doing it as fields so that they can be shown and hidden if you change your mind without amending a profile.

Hi guys

ive posted on a thread that markymark did earlier but just wanted to give my 2ps worth...

when i first came onto wiki i was frightened, daunted, concerned about coming on even...i think i registered once then de registered if thats possible but you know what i mean....

the chat room for me was really hard, too fast, everyone knew each other and just a really scarey place, especially when yes everyne seems to know each other...ive been here i dont know 3 mths or so and feel that i know alot of people quite well, i do look out for newbies especially the women but have to say i have got it wrong a few times !! re the names etc, so i think a sign is a great idea..re male and female...

anyway also wanted to say there's already a lounge we just never seem to use it much, so do you not think its our responsibility to make use of the tools we have already ?

so there we go if i think of anything else will post..

thanks for a great site though wiki team... couldnt get thru this without you and everyone here..

Daisy
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