After receiving a handful of messages from our great users about the new Shoutbox, I thought it might be handy to just publish here how we're using the Shoutbox on XenFans to help answer those questions all at once.
First of all, let me thank you all for the positive feedback. It's great to hear that you guys like the shoutbox, the way it looks and how easy it is to now get in touch with us and your friends by dropping in a somewhat informal message for all to see.
We've set it up in a way that guests can't view it, we consider it a privilege to our registered members. Secondly we allow registered members to not just see it, but also participate it in. However, regular members can't delete their shoutbox entries. This way we can catch spammers early. Sorry! However, Premium members can delete their own shoutbox entries. And the team members can moderate all shoutbox entries.
There are a few options for the shoutbox, such as full featured bbcode toolbars, big image, and putting it on the top of the page. However, here at XenFans we believe that our focus is on the content in the community. The board itself. It has all those features, and at the ready. We believe it's more suitable to put our attention in great content there, and use the shoutbox for the less formal comments. We also already have profile comments and personal messages to get in touch with users properly. Not to mention a personal 'i am doing great' comment might better fit a status update.
Boy, XenForo do is packed with options to contribute and participate on a site. Shoutbox is added, but please remember it's content is like a live-chat, and unlike the features from XenForo itself its content isn't there the whole time. It's a rolling list of updates.
Ok, let's answer some questions now that I have explained how we use it on XenFans here
Can I get the same Shoutbox that XenFans has installed?
Yes! It's a great add-on by one of our valued members. You can download it here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/taigachat-ajax-shoutbox.7339/
Is it free?
You need to be a licensed XenForo customer, but yeah, it's completely free.
Don't you already have a live chat?
Indeed, we have a 24 hour dedicated chat network with a chat room where you're able to idle, ask questions (though they're usually better to be posted as full threads on the board) or just have offtopic chat with the team, premium members, or sometimes even Mike and Kier if they pop in to say hi on IRC. We're at irc.xenfans.com in #chat (or go to vbirc.com/chat in the browser)
Why did you turn off the bbcode editor?
I've answered this in the beginning of this post, I believe that shoutbox should just be spam free, but also clean and simple. Smilies are parsed though.
How did you get such a clean look?
I've turned off most of the features.
What if I ask something and you miss it?
Don't worry. We have a wide-spread team around the world, not to mention a great community to help answer questions. If you posted a question in the shoutbox someone will most likely see it and respond.
But still, what if ..
We archive the shoutbox once a day to detect spammers, if there's a question in there we noticed unanswered we will most likely follow up with a private msg, or leave a comment on your social profile about it.
Not to mention that the frontpage shows a handful of latest shoutbox entries, but the full shoutbox page (click the title) shows twice as many.
Can I see a screenshot of the shoutbox, and the admin.php settings as XenFans has it?
Yep.
(admin options, above the fold)
(admin options, below the fold)
(shoutbox in sidebar, simple & small, 12 entries)
(shoutbox/ section on its own page, bigger, 24 entries)
(private thread with archived entries - daily)
First of all, let me thank you all for the positive feedback. It's great to hear that you guys like the shoutbox, the way it looks and how easy it is to now get in touch with us and your friends by dropping in a somewhat informal message for all to see.
We've set it up in a way that guests can't view it, we consider it a privilege to our registered members. Secondly we allow registered members to not just see it, but also participate it in. However, regular members can't delete their shoutbox entries. This way we can catch spammers early. Sorry! However, Premium members can delete their own shoutbox entries. And the team members can moderate all shoutbox entries.
There are a few options for the shoutbox, such as full featured bbcode toolbars, big image, and putting it on the top of the page. However, here at XenFans we believe that our focus is on the content in the community. The board itself. It has all those features, and at the ready. We believe it's more suitable to put our attention in great content there, and use the shoutbox for the less formal comments. We also already have profile comments and personal messages to get in touch with users properly. Not to mention a personal 'i am doing great' comment might better fit a status update.
Boy, XenForo do is packed with options to contribute and participate on a site. Shoutbox is added, but please remember it's content is like a live-chat, and unlike the features from XenForo itself its content isn't there the whole time. It's a rolling list of updates.
Ok, let's answer some questions now that I have explained how we use it on XenFans here
Can I get the same Shoutbox that XenFans has installed?
Yes! It's a great add-on by one of our valued members. You can download it here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/taigachat-ajax-shoutbox.7339/
Is it free?
You need to be a licensed XenForo customer, but yeah, it's completely free.
Don't you already have a live chat?
Indeed, we have a 24 hour dedicated chat network with a chat room where you're able to idle, ask questions (though they're usually better to be posted as full threads on the board) or just have offtopic chat with the team, premium members, or sometimes even Mike and Kier if they pop in to say hi on IRC. We're at irc.xenfans.com in #chat (or go to vbirc.com/chat in the browser)
Why did you turn off the bbcode editor?
I've answered this in the beginning of this post, I believe that shoutbox should just be spam free, but also clean and simple. Smilies are parsed though.
How did you get such a clean look?
I've turned off most of the features.
What if I ask something and you miss it?
Don't worry. We have a wide-spread team around the world, not to mention a great community to help answer questions. If you posted a question in the shoutbox someone will most likely see it and respond.
But still, what if ..
We archive the shoutbox once a day to detect spammers, if there's a question in there we noticed unanswered we will most likely follow up with a private msg, or leave a comment on your social profile about it.
Not to mention that the frontpage shows a handful of latest shoutbox entries, but the full shoutbox page (click the title) shows twice as many.
Can I see a screenshot of the shoutbox, and the admin.php settings as XenFans has it?
Yep.
(admin options, above the fold)
(admin options, below the fold)
(shoutbox in sidebar, simple & small, 12 entries)
(shoutbox/ section on its own page, bigger, 24 entries)
(private thread with archived entries - daily)
