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MNHQ

Chat threads

339 replies

tech · 09/03/2005 00:21

We are going to start "retiring" threads in the _chat topic once they are over 30 days old.

What this means is that once they are 30 days old (since last contribution rather than since starting) you won't be able to add messages to them any more - they'll still be in the archive search, they just won't have the "add a message" box at the bottom, and they won't be in the thread lists under the topic. This list is at over 8500 entries currently and becoming useless.

If archive searching starts to slow down, we might start deleting chat threads from the board altogehter after a certain time. As the content of these threads tends to be chats (surprisingly enough) rather than requests for information, there's not a huge amount of point keeping them for future reference.

On the subject of chat, we are currently test-driving chatroom software with a view to putting a live chatroom up on the site - for them as wants.

OP posts:
mummytosteven · 09/03/2005 10:29

what about a compromise - keep a chatroom off the MN site and out of MN control/responsibility, but if people want to do it privately, set up a MSN group open to all MNetters which includes a chatroom?

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:29

give it time...

psychomum5 · 09/03/2005 10:29

like the 'ignore feature' thought

AnnieQ · 09/03/2005 10:28

But if people want to use a site with chatrooms, surely there are plenty of them out there? One of the thins I like about MN is that it's not like your average site with chatrooms.

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:27

then why not an ignore feature

psychomum5 · 09/03/2005 10:27

Its not a requirement that you go into a chatroom, or post photos - it is just extra choice for those who do want those things... lots of people can have the things they want rather than just some when there are limited options.

Anteater · 09/03/2005 10:26

I also offered help with the reviews..

anorak · 09/03/2005 10:25

I also fear that people may become nasty. They are in other chatrooms.

As the site stands now if anyone says anything nasty their remarks stand and they must defend them. I can imagine now the 'she said this' 'oh no I didn't' type of arguments that would ensue if we had a chat room.

I don't like the idea.

Anteater · 09/03/2005 10:25

But do the people who use MN have any say? I would say not(?) The introduction of photos and now a chat room imo change the basic site ethos.

CountessDracula · 09/03/2005 10:22

I will NOT continue to post on a site with a chatroom. Simple.

There are other sites out there without chatrooms.

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:22

I have volunteered!! Ages ago! But nothing yet.

Marina · 09/03/2005 10:19

You volunteering to help collate, Enid?

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:19

ahem...the reviews??

Marina · 09/03/2005 10:17

Not keen on a chatroom personally and won't use it - also often have to say, "no, not a chat-room" when recommending Mumsnet.
But if people want it and someone like Lou is prepared to moderate it so that unhelpful, abusive talk is excluded, then fine.
I am really fed up as a mod with having to mail links to nasty threads to MNHQ, only to see another one has sprung up like a toadstool five minutes later. I find that side of the site really at the mo.

SeaShells · 09/03/2005 10:17

I doubt I'd use it tbh, but I expect some people will. We could at least give it a try, see how it goes.

Oh and I don't having a chatroom will attract wierdos, I think we have a few already!

flamesparrow · 09/03/2005 10:16

I don't see how it is destroying mumsnet - it is adding an extra option, not taking away the set up that is going already. If you don't want to go in it then you just carry on as before.

marthamoo · 09/03/2005 10:16

Oooh this one's going to kick off big time I reckon...gotta go or I'll be here all day

AnnieQ · 09/03/2005 10:14

If a thing ain't broke, don't fix it ...

snafu · 09/03/2005 10:14

but isn't the idea just for a chatroom to run alongside, not to get rid of the threads?

i wouldn't use it anyway

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:14

agree cd

Love to say no it isnt a chatroom

flamesparrow · 09/03/2005 10:13

All that would be going is threads that haven't been added to for a month... is anyone going to miss them anyway??

HardcoreEnid · 09/03/2005 10:13

HardcoreAnteater!

I moaned on about the chat thread, the topics and the photos, but I'm a mumsnet curmudgeon

the ethos has changed

It is finally starting to be something I don't feel is healthy anymore.

Although you'd never know with the amount of time I've spent on here this mornign

CountessDracula · 09/03/2005 10:12

Oh no

One of the nice things about Mumsnet is that it isn't a chatroom IMO. When people say "oh you mean a chatroom" when I tell them about mn I say "no it's not". Will NOT be recommending a chat room to my friends, that's for sure.

It totally goes against the ethos of mn which is to provide help and support to all, how can it do that if you can't search the information posted?

Anteater · 09/03/2005 10:11

The dumbing down of mumsnet in action, what a shame.

Probably wont effect anything now, but all these so called improvements do change the ethos of the site.

I also think there are issues about safety for a site aimed at women. Lots of strange people about and it doesnt take much more than a photo and a chat room...

flamesparrow · 09/03/2005 10:11

But are we talking about wiping out MN as it stands now, or just adding a chatroom option to it? If it is adding then all the normal posts asking advice etc would still be there, as would the normal convs for people who haven't got the time to sit in chat room

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