What Happened to our Forum Chat ?.

[longbridge]

I have been keyboard conversing with 1936ace this afternoon and was thinking how much better it would have been had we still had the Forum Chat, I think we lost it when we changed thingemyjigs but I for one used to poke my konk into it every now and then to try and strike a conversation.

Is it possible to bring it back and if so how much more would it cost 

Over the past 12 months or so there has been some real friendships made on this great forum, maybe chat would work well now the forum has settled 

[port perran]

I'd probably use a Chat section from time to time if one were available.

[Tank]

I got rid of it about a year ago, long before the upgrade.  It just wasn't used, and if I remember rightly, it was slowing the forum down.

If members would like to show interest in it, then we'll see if it's worth bringing it back.  I thought it was a great idea.  I think I successfully managed two conversations on there!   

Perhaps if we have set times for 'meet ups' or something?  The only trouble with that is the speed at which people are able to reply.....  Anyway, let's see how many members would ACTUALLY USE IT, and not that would just like it. 

[Illori]

actually it was removed after the forum upgrade was done but before the move to the new server. it was removed in attempts to cut down on the server load and due to the fact that tank said almost no one was using it. you could always look for a chat room on another website and link it to the person in their PM and go chat there. most chat rooms will cause an issue with server load [even on a good server] due to the way they are coded.

[longbridge]

I used to belong to N Scale.org which is mainly for American railway fans, they have a chat section that is used all the time so I thought why not here.

If it causes problems to the forum server its hardly worth thinking about.

[scotsoft]

I know this is not in the same spirit as a chatroom but you could always hook up with another member using Skype or another similar program.

I stopped using Skype after I had nothing but problems with it when Microsoft bought them out plus, I have been told, the conference call that was at one time free you now have to pay for 

John.

[longbridge]

Thanks John, my problem is if its there I will use it, if it ain't I won't loose any sleep over it.

Thanks for the Skype info but I don't think I will venture into something I don't understand.

[scotsoft]

Skype is just an enhanced instant message service.
The big difference is when you and the person you are speaking to have webcams you can see each other and chat using the microphones instead of typing.

It is not difficult to set up as the installation takes you through everything step by step.
When it worked for me I used to regularly have chats to my cousin in Australia and it is free 

MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger plus others all have this free video chat capability.

John.

[trainsdownunder]

Skype is fine but you need to have peoples details to know if they're online.

The main advantage with our own is you would know that "anyone" in the chatroom would be interested in this hobby and you wouldn't need a huge list of contacts to maintain.