Why did the shoutbox get replaced?

[HK Fifty]

Title is very self-explanatory but I wanted to add this : I really don't want to download some app to be able to have something to do when I'm waiting for my RP partners to reply. And the shoutbox was great when I left RPN a while ago , so what caused it to have to go? Just inquiring , not sure if this has already been answered/Asked.

 

[Mordecai]

Actually, the app is no longer with us. There is no live chat option available to the entire site at this time. The staff have gone through a variety of different options, but none have really managed to fit the needs of the site. Whether or not a live chat option will be coming in the future, I don't know.


That said, the staff have been really great about adding all sorts of new discussion forums (like the current events and forum games sections) to expand general chat/discussion options on the forum itself. (: Give them a go!

 

[HK Fifty]

Actually, the app is no longer with us. There is no live chat option available to the entire site at this time. The staff have gone through a variety of different options, but none have really managed to fit the needs of the site. Whether or not a live chat option will be coming in the future, I don't know.
That said, the staff have been really great about adding all sorts of new discussion forums (like the current events and forum games sections) to expand general chat/discussion options on the forum itself. (: Give them a go!

Thank you for answering my questions with the amount of speed you did. Really means a lot to know we have mods an admins willing to answer questions posed as soon as they get posed.


Maybe one day we'll get another one. I personally don't see why the shoutbox would not be a good option , but I'm also not a mod/admin either.


I'll try them , but very few are about anything I want to talk about , and the shoutbox gave me the freedom to just bring up whatever I wanted without making a whole thread for it. I suppose I should make my own threads but I don't know if they'll get anyone to come on to them to talk. Too bad the current events seem rather truncated though ; three of those four are about things in far away countries I know very , very little about.

 

[Ozmic]

[QUOTE="HK 50 09]Maybe one day we'll get another one. I personally don't see why the shoutbox would not be a good option , but I'm also not a mod/admin either.

[/QUOTE]
From what I recall and some of the earlier posts on the subject, the shoutbox of olde (heh) wasn't ever really meant to hold the volume of users that used it on such a large site. It was a resource hog, it was laggy as heck, and overall just wasn't meant to be used as a constant 24/7 live chat.


Take that with a grain of salt as I may be misremembering, but I think those were just a few of the issues that plagued the old box - hence the ongoing trials to find replacements that are viable.


From personal experience - finding something suitable for a site with such a large userbase is maddening. And development of custom applications that work in the realm of XenForo isn't cheap either.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

[QUOTE="Mr. Grin]From what I recall and some of the earlier posts on the subject, the shoutbox of olde (heh) wasn't ever really meant to hold the volume of users that used it on such a large site. It was a resource hog, it was laggy as heck, and overall just wasn't meant to be used as a constant 24/7 live chat.
Take that with a grain of salt as I may be misremembering, but I think those were just a few of the issues that plagued the old box - hence the ongoing trials to find replacements that are viable.


From personal experience - finding something suitable for a site with such a large userbase is maddening. And development of custom applications that work in the realm of XenForo isn't cheap either.

[/QUOTE]
This.


Technically the first sb is still my fav feature wise because it's so simple to use but it just can't deal with say a thousand people online.


Everything after that has mostly been flops for one reason or another. It's my eternal quest.

 

[HK Fifty]

That's good to know , thank you very much for that information @Mr. Grin . I figured it was laggy because even before RPNhad as many users as RPN has now , it got laggy at peak times when there were the most people on.


I'm doubly glad to know @The Dark Wizard is looking for a replacement , and even happier to know that he liked the shoutbox a lot too. Hopefully one day we'll find a worthy successor that can handle as many people as we have.