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I think it would be a good idea to add a chat room to the site. There have been several times when I need to rapidly talk to a person, but was forced to post at 30 second intervals. It wouldn't be that hard to add either (I think?). Thanks.

Oh with video and sound.

I could go for that, how about a vote ??

well, something like Hubz is always an option, but I don't think that's really the feel this site is looking for if my instincts are correct - of course it would also be nigh on impossible to moderate.

If it were a simple chat room, then your problem would still not be solved on account of both parties having to be there at the same time - the only way to arrange that would be to send a PM in which you might as well offer the info you were going to anyway, or wait 30 secs to post in a thread.

Have you guys seen this topic?

It is a realtime chat where members hang out.

There IS a chat room designated for TechSpot members, so you could use any IRC client and connect to it. Another thing would be installing a web-based IRC client, but I'm not sure how IRC regulars would like that?

Well, I meant a button you could like on a member's user page, and chat with them. I don't know if that is possible. Thanks for responding by the way.

It's probably possible, but would lead to some members being subjected to chat requests a lot, which would make them less inclined to help, and most importantly, would defeat the point of the forum. With a chat, the help being given is for one person only, whereas a thread in the forum is saved and indexed, so that others with similar problems can search for it.

So in my not-at-all humble opinion, not something worth implementing.

I agree, if you have a problem that needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY, then you might get lucky and find someone in the IRC channel on starchat. Otherwise you'll have to stick it out and wait for a response in a thread.

I think a live chat room would be a great attraction to this site. People who are in need of help could get immediate, live, free help.

Huge draw for people.

But the thing that makes me agree with people who say "no", is what Mr.Garibaldi says above. It makes it so there is no records of what was wrong and how it was fixed. If it's all done in chat, it only helps ONE person. If it is a thread, it helps hundreds or even thousands....

I guess you could set certain rules where only urgent matters will be attended through the chat room, while other general tech support questions will only be attended if posted on the boards.

Hubz can do that, being merely a website instant messenger - I've seen it in operation. I don't know how well it integrates in VB though.

Of course, it would have to be integrated with the ignore list if it's not by default, or it could be easily abused

I don't like the idea. I also don't think it would be used. Everyone that is already in our existing IRC room won't switch over because we are established over there and I doubt anyone of us likes the idea of having a chat inside a browser.

If you are scared of our IRC chat because you think you need an IRC client, then I'd point you to www.starchat.net . It is Java based, and you can access our room through there.

The way I see it is that we already have a chat room that is established and people are in there, no need to try and make some new room that will likely have the sloppy look and feel to it.

How about the MSN/AOL/Yahoo/ICQ icons you see next to the names of some people? Click on that and voila!?