We now have a chat room!

[Undead Medic]

Moderator Comment:

Added later:  Sherlock Forum's chat function has been disabled due to lack of interest.

 

 

 

If you cast your eyes up to the main menu bar at the top of the forum you'll see a nifty new "Chat" tab. Currently we only have a free license and hence only 5 users at a time can access chat. However we may seek to up that limit with a subscription to the chat service if it proves popular!

 

Watch this space!

 

[Riddle]

Oooh good That was one thing I thought would make this forum even better.

 

Well I've just popped in and there's no one else in there, I guess that's the problem when first launching a chat feature: getting that first person in there to stay there until someone else arrives. There's probably been huge traffic of people popping in and leaving straight away because it's empty. When I'm actually on the computer as opposed to my kindle, I shall leave it open and see who stops by.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just remember that you'll be automatically kicked off after 10 minutes of inactivity.

 

[Riddle]

Oh does that happen? Well maybe I'll just talk to myself every ten minutes or decorate the chat space with smileys

[Carol the Dabbler]

That should work!

 

[Ruthyone]

If it's a Chat Room - we need a nice cosy place to sit in!!!  Sorry about the mess, Sherlock has been busy as usual!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Looks like Mrs. Hudson's been in to tidy up!

 

[Ruthyone]

Oh dear!!! Looks like she hasn't done a good job!!!

 

I just brought refreshments - enjoy

 

 

[Mr. Holmes]

No one seems to use it.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

It's hard to say.  Tim, Martina, and I were in there for a while testing it on the first day, and it seems to work -- but once everybody leaves, the history is erased, and there's no way to know whether anyone was ever there.

 

I suspect that a number of people have -- like you -- stopped by, found the place empty, and left.

 

OK, has anybody actually had a chat yet?  Please let us know!

 

[Mr. Holmes]

It's hard to say.  Tim, Martina, and I were in there for a while testing it on the first day, and it seems to work -- but once everybody leaves, the history is erased, and there's no way to know whether anyone was ever there.

 

I suspect that a number of people have -- like you -- stopped by, found the place empty, and left.

 

Yup, pretty much.  Oh well, I suppose we'll have better luck over time. 

[Riddle]

I've popped in a couple of times but it's been empty. On some other forums I've been on there's a box on the main page that shows who is in the chat room, I wonder if this is possible on here? That way we could see if it's empty or occupied before going in, if people see it occupied from the main page they'll probably stop by.

[Undead Medic]

There is a box on the index page, right hand side, at the top of the sidebar.

[Riddle]

So there is, Silly me . I go straight to 'new content' so I missed that. Ignore me.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You and me both, Riddle!  I find the New Content page far more useful than the actual home page, so that's what I have bookmarked.

 

Tim, any chance that the who's-chatting box could be copied to the New Contents page?  (Ditto the "Users online in the last 15 minutes" line at the bottom of the home page?)

 

[Ruthyone]

I've popped in from time to time but no one has been in. It's a lovely forum but I tend to get lost and forget where certain threads are!!!

 

I shall try to check in here more often

[Carol the Dabbler]

If you remember any specific words or phrases that were used in a discussion that you're looking for, you can try the forum's search function.  To get to the full-function search page, go to the top-right of any page, look for the search bar, and click on the little "cog" just to the right of it (the little goodie that says "Advanced Search" when you mouse over it).

 

[Ruthyone]

Thanks Carol - it's remembering what I said that's going to be the problem!!!

[Ruthyone]

I'm off to bed now - I've made some hot chocolate

 

[Alice Holmes]

I will definitely check it out. I think it probably just depends upon what times the site receives the most traffic, but since there are members in the UK and US, that may not actually be helpful...sorry...

[Ruthyone]

I have peeked in the Chat Room but haven't found anyone there yet!!!

[throwAway_12345678]

I think what we ought to do is open up the chatroom in another tab. So, when anybody comes to the chat room they can chat. Checking whether anybody is online in the chatroom is possibly the worst strategy probability wise.
I think everybody will agree about this.

[Alice Holmes]

Do you know I was actually about to suggest the same thing?

[throwAway_12345678]

Great minds think alike Mrs.Holmes.

[Alice Holmes]

Miss, thank you very much. I'm Sherlock's cousin. But he doesn't like me very much. He finds me annoying, because I'm nearly as clever as him. Nearly. But I shan't complain.

 

(lol)