The Chat Room

[Colin D Wilson]

Over that last few weeks it's been noticed that the chat room is being used on a fairly regular basis and by quite a few people in some cases.

This is GREAT, and exactly what it's there for !!!!!

It would be fantastic if the chat room could be used for the purpose it was intended for .... "talking in real time"

There was an idea in place where we would have "guest spots" on a particular night and the chat room would be open for discussion of a certain topic, or just to ask "experts" and TV personalities questions about themselves and the hobby. Due to time and work commitments for staff and guests this has really been put on the back burner for a while but hopefully we'll get a "Guest night" sorted out.

This doesn't stop anybody wanting to set up a time and date for an online discussion (maybe on a certain topic) for any time in the future, or maybe if you all just wanted to pop in the room throughout the day and evening then this would be just as good an idea.

If you want to set a date and time for a chat then just pop a thread up in the discussion section of the forum letting people know.
Hopefully this will become quite a regular thing

The boring bit........
Sometimes opinions vary, feelings run high and untoward comments appear out of nowhere ... more often than not "unintentional" and just in the heat of the moment, so can you please make sure that the content of the discussion is kept quite "clean" and "relevant" to topic, we have some younger / sensitive members that may be attending.
Moderators and/or Admin will try and be present to join in / offer advice / keep things running ok. (although you may not see us..... we have cloaks of invisibility )

Thanks for listening to me waffle on

Colin

[Scott Pritchard]

I must agree the Chat Room is awesome! Was in there yesterday just having a general chat about enclosures and the addictiveness of the hobby. Well recommend popping into it if you see people in there!

[R Thomas]

Moderators and/or Admin... have cloaks of invisibility

So that explains why like buses you see none for ages and then they all turn up at once lol

Richard

[Colin D Wilson]

Well it seems the Chat rooms becoming a daily thing. Topics vary ... as they should do, advice is given and received (spider and non-spider related) and it seems to be coming a nice little ever-growing community.

A few things have arisen and been addressed, one thing still in process is the language filter, this has some weird settings that are being looked at by "Sir" at the moment and hopefully will be in order quite soon.

There's been a few times where language has had to be "checked", this is nothing to do with picking on people or treating them like an infant (reference a post on another forum) but to respect the fact that there may be people in chat that do not swear, despise swearing or be too young or delicate to be subjected to it.

We don't want the chat room to become a "fairytale" place where you do no wrong, but nor do we want it to become an online dating service or a place to vent or to slate other hobbyists or forums.

nice place, nice people, nice chat is the aim

Thanks

[Mark Pennell]

Well it seems the Chat rooms becoming a daily thing. Topics vary ... as they should do, advice is given and received (spider and non-spider related) and it seems to be coming a nice little ever-growing community.

A few things have arisen and been addressed, one thing still in process is the language filter, this has some weird settings that are being looked at by "Sir" at the moment and hopefully will be in order quite soon.

There's been a few times where language has had to be "checked", this is nothing to do with picking on people or treating them like an infant (reference a post on another forum) but to respect the fact that there may be people in chat that do not swear, despise swearing or be too young or delicate to be subjected to it.

We don't want the chat room to become a "fairytale" place where you do no wrong, but nor do we want it to become an online dating service or a place to vent or to slate other hobbyists or forums.

nice place, nice people, nice chat is the aim

Thanks

Colin is right we run a tight ship here but we do so for so many reasons... one important one, as we are a society with paying memberships we have certain obligations to protect our membership for legal reasons, of course the age limit of these vary from minors to seniors and all in-between. So a common ground has been set on the BTS forums and Chat room, that should allow fine discussion, and fun, with out being over the top or totalitarian...

All we ask is respect for others and for everyone to enjoy. I have addressed the filter and certain words will give you a message to re write your post. The standard filter should just add stars for inappropriate words.
We will try and get guest in shortly… and these should be on a Saturday night about 8pm till 10pm.

Cheers
Mark (admin) Pennell

[christopher furlong]

Would be nice if andrew smith attended a guest night!
Chris

[Colin D Wilson]

He's being bullied into it don't worry

[christopher furlong]

Cool..I recon the chat room will be full that night lol Is there a limit to how many can be in it at once?
Chris

[Ray Hale]

I popped in the other night but will try to arrange a night when I can spend a bit longer on line.
Abdrew Smith? Getting him to answer the phone isa job and half

[Neill House]

well last night I think we had about 12 on, and it was brilliant.. right now, at just after 4pm, there are 6. I think we need to really push this with the American and Aussie Societies, which would mean it would be used 24/7..

[Colin D Wilson]

Is there a limit to how many can be in it at once?
Chris

I think this is unlimited by default but admin can put a limit on the maximum amount allowed.


As an extra to this and to further the point Mark made about running a tight ship....
... would visitors refrain from using the chat room to discuss issues about other tarantula forums & members. If you have a problem with another forum then take it up with a representative of that forum.

As Mark also said above "we have certain obligations to protect our membership for legal reasons" or to put it another way we don't want to get caught up in a libel case.

BTS members are members elsewhere, i think we all use several forums some under different user nicknames, these can be hidden behind which is one of the reasons why we have a real name policy on here.

Dont forget if you're in chat whinging to "John Doe" about some idiot on "forum X" called "plank123" you might just be talking to the same person.

Please think before you type, lets keep the chat room open and a nice place to visit.

Thanks