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Sonic

New Shoutbox Added

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We have added a Shoutbox to our forums. I personally don't like them, but we decided its for the benefit of the members overall. The Shoutbox allows forum members to communicate with each other in an easy to use way. It is similar to a chat-room, but does not require Java, Flash or any other browser dependency! The Shoutbox is updated real-time, meaning any new Shouts someone makes will appear on everyone's page at once, you do not need to refresh!

General Features

  • Each member can have their own preferences such as "Hide Refresh Button" or "Disable Enter Key from sending the shout" (shouts can only be sent via the actual button instead, useful for large paragraph shouts!).
  • If a member hovers their mouse over the corner of the global 'shout area', a double arrow appears. If a member clicks and drags that double arrow, they can resize the Shoutbox to their liking!
  • Ability to use Smilies (Emoticons) and BBCode.

Quick Commands
Shoutbox has several Quick Commands that can be used to make certain actions perform in a faster way. View this help file http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?app=core&module=help&do=01&HID=27 for a list that explains how to use them properly.

 

Extra Notes

  • The Shoutbox is not designed for long, detailed and in-depth discussions, use the main forum that please.
  • It is subject to same global rules our the forums, and it will be moderated in the same way.
  • Guest may view it, but you must be a registered member and logged in to use it.
  • If you leave the main forum index open in your browser the shoutbox will switch it self off after 5 minutes of inactivity, just the click the "I'm Back" button to reactive it.
  • If you don't want to see the Shoutbox you can minimize it from the main forum index or adjust the Shoutbox preferences and hide it completely.
  • (CURRENT BUG) Clicking on the BBCode button is meant to display a list of BBCodes you can use, this is currently displaying a blank page. This will be fixed when I figure out what causing it.

If you have any suggestions, feedback or problems with the Shoutbox please reply to this thread.

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Frankly, I'm surprised. Looks neat.

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Guest Rabbit

Probably because you said you were against the idea of a shoutbox before.

 

Plokite_Wolf, to be frank, I did request that we give the shoutbox a try, but mainly under the conditions that I believe it will add to the forums. If it gains no attention, isn't used for what I hope it is used for, or is otherwise just a pain to have around, then I'm sure we'll remove it just as quickly as we added it. We all agreed that as long as it can be hidden for users that don't want to use it, then it is fine to try.

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Probably because you said you were against the idea of a shoutbox before.

 

I just think they are waste of time. I feel it will kill the actual forums. But you guys wanted it so there it is.

 

Now I see you guys were having problems with it already. Not sure why. If your posting a shout from the main page its indented for quick posting, Not long posts filled with alsorts of coding. Hence the small field to "shout" in. From my testing I don't think images are meant to display, Videos shouldn't either. Turning things off, attempting to modify forum system files will only screw things up.

 

Like the forums, the Shoutbox uses the same Post Editor, its a global forum wide thing.

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Zee maybe you should elaborate on the benefits and purposes of the shoutbox for the regular forum users...

Sonic has explained how to use it, but maybe as lead on this project, Zee you should explain why we use it (I think you had some good ideas).

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Guest Rabbit

Well, I figure it could be used for:

 

  • Instant communication, such as chatting about organizing a game or just plain chatting with anyone else who happens to be browsing the forums.
  • Things that would normally be treated as status updates. I notice that every status update is posted, and it receives comments for about a day, at which point it sits on the side of the forums with the same comments and message for at least a couple weeks until it finally gets bumped off.
  • It's a good place for off topic chatter that doesn't require an entire thread to do so, even if it is relevant to C&C. Someone might just post "Playing Mental Omega, anyone want to join me?" In an individual thread, by the time someone see's it, it could be hours later, and the first person might very well be asleep by then. If it's on a shoutbox, it will be easier to post a message to anyone who might be online in that exact moment.

For now, it's just being used by people who are like "oh, shoutbox." But I think it might garner some more use in the future. Unfortunately, we've set it up during the downhill time in our community, so it might not get much use for the time being.

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I think the Status Updates have become redundant now and are really unnecessary for as long as we have a Shoutbox.

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One of the neat ways to use Shoutbox would to be advertise for an online game availabilty.

Is there anyway we can promote/highlight that in the shoutbox?

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Not within the Shoutbox but such ideas could be promoted via the front page news and across our Twitter/Facebook/Google+ pages.

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I was thinking like a 'pinned' shout for official cncnz stuff - but I guess with only a small number of 'tweeets' listed - that space is too valuable.

Just thinking out loud...

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Based on feedback the Shoutbox will now display all shouts in order of Older -> Newer. Meaning the latest shouts appear at the bottom of the list. To see the past shouts you will need scroll the shoutbox up.

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I haven't look too closely into the preferences but is it possible to hide shouts that have already been read?

When I only visit daily, it takes a while for me to sync up...

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I was thinking like a 'pinned' shout for official cncnz stuff - but I guess with only a small number of 'tweeets' listed - that space is too valuable.

Just thinking out loud...

 

There is an option within the Admin settings to display an announcement above the shouts in the Shoutbox.

 

I haven't look too closely into the preferences but is it possible to hide shouts that have already been read?

 

I'm afraid not. Its just not that advanced.

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Guest Rabbit

There is an option within the Admin settings to display an announcement above the shouts in the Shoutbox.

 

Yeah, I tested that option, the announcement is really ugly looking. I don't think we'll ever really need to use it anyway.

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