Thinking about the main page - e.g shoutbox

[Audball]

By "instant gratification" I guess I meant how there COULD be instant conversations going on. Unlike the forum posts you don't NEED to refresh to see replies and such. If a conversation happens at that moment its gonna happen before your eyes. They don't call that kinda communication INSTANT messaging for nothing!

I agree that it does have a lax vibe where no one's really expecting immediate responses all the time though.

As far as "stress" and "tension" goes, I know I'm not there 100% of the time so I obviously do not see everything that goes on, but I personally have not really seen or experienced any sort of tension or stress going on? Unless I'm just blissfully unaware.

[Melooon]

there were problems with the shoutbox before all of this, so I believe it could use a complete overhaul to improve readability overall

It was designed to look like an IRC client and I think it does that pretty well You can inspect it though and mess with it, if you come up with any good ideas I'd love to hear!

[jensen]

Yesterday the first thing I noticed about the forum was the lack of shoutbox. I originally figured there was some issue with the forum but then I noticed this thread. I was going to be the first reply but I thought I'd take time to see how my experience changed, and also to get to read other replies.

I can agree with the sentiment that removal of the shoutbox can make the chat feel more like a "mini-discord" than less like one. The current system works quite well for me, the shoutbox shows minimal messages by default so if I find myself trying to catch a conversation that seems interesting I will go to the chat page for that. The inclusion of the shoutbox definitely helps with making the community look more alive to someone who is maybe not accustomed to forums which I think is a big draw of its existence.

Someone mentioned moving it to the bottom of the page and have it on every page but I'm not overly keen on the idea myself. I tried putting my thoughts on it into words but nothing really sounded clear.

the entrance button not leading to the main page making it very hard to get back to it

The melonland forum logo takes you back to the forum's home page!

[bingus_baby]

My idea is that maybe there can be a shout-box on the main page, and then a full chatroom on a dedicated page. The main page in general I've worried pulls away from the forum topics. Having the art box and shout-box are great additions, but having them up top both bring focus away from the forum posts and add a cramped feel. I barely noticed, but I think psychologically it's made me less inclined to check forum posts! I'll peep into the chat, art showcase, and then leave.

I think, Melon, that shuffling things around could be a good experiment! Move some panels up, shift others down, idk! Go crazy! Alternatively, make the chatbox a toggle in profile preferences? I've never been super into it. But I'm also not super into public Discord servers either, so I'm incredibly biased. But then again... that's why I come to forums! I like the slower, longer-form discussions.