Chat Systems Question

If you had installed a chat system on your forums would you remove it if the outcome resulted in the chats becoming more popular than your main content ie. your forums? Would you allow the chat to become more popular and dominant or would you remove the chat as its happening?

Just wanting to hear some thoughts on this.

 

I've always thought that chat rooms and shoutboxes on forums are counter productive 90% of the time.

You want the discussion taking part in your forums, where it can get indexed and viewed by members/guests.

However sometimes a chatroom is a nice add-on to a forum for other things. So its a double edged sword on this one and should be reviewed on a case by case basis IMO.

 

So if the chat was counter productive on your forum would you remove it based on decreased posting and interest in the forums, for example if it went from 1k posts a week to < 100 would you still keep it?

 

Heck no. If there was any visible decrease in activity, I'd remove it immediately.

I don't mind providing a chat system for members as a nice additional feature, but in no way do I want it to be the main medium of communication. The forums are the focal point, and that's where the discussion needs to remain. :

 

In my site the chatroom is obviously much more popular than the forum, but I wouldn't and I won't take it off. It's not installed, but we have had that chat for years, 3 years to be exact and it's the 'main' attraction of the forum. Roleplaying there (which many anime users do) is better there and it's more to socialize. We keep the serious discussions on the forum(yes anime people do provide serious and interesting discussions from time to time that are not "LOLNARUTO IZ AWESUM, BLEACH SUKS!"). Besides, there are people who like the chat and others who don't, those who don't could talk on the forum through threads, those who participate on the chat are also active on the forum. Then again, the convenience of the chat really depends on your niche, at least in mine it doesn't hurt me as much, but on a admin site, it would and so on.

 

We have decided to temporarily remove it for the time being, maybe bring it out as a treat for a few days around Christmas and other occassions too

 

If it was causing that much of a difference in activity, then yes I would remove it. As others said it totally depends on your niche. For my site users especially like the chat box for live updates about space shuttle launches etc. The forums should always remain the focal point of your site though.

 

I would schedule chat sessions instead of leaving the chat room open all the time.

 

We have removed it and seen a large burst in activity thankfully

 

Definately based on the forum purpose. I have a chat system on one board and it's only used for 'live' events and staff meetings.