[fishy]

well i hope i didnt get everyone upset about chatrooms,, that wasnt my purpose,,i think there are alot of ppl here that would a great help to those in trouble with pcs,,and in general nice to chat too also,, i do apologize if i step on someone toes & or got on there bad side,,, sorry:(

[phillypa800]

no sweat fishy. everyone is entitled to their own opinion. that's what makes this world sooooo wonderful...:rolleyes::lol: in all seriousness though, i think what PC WORLD has going now, with the forums, is perfect. if there's anything that would turn me away from pc world it would be a menacing chatroom. this is if the forums is replaced with chatrooms only. ok, nuff said! thanks for the topic! :)

[KellieCM]

oh no fishy, please don't feel bad. I think we both have the same goals -- to use the huge amount of knowledge in the community effectively, and also to give people the tools they need to do what they want to do here at PC World, whether that is to find a solution to a particular problem or just to make cool new friends. :)I will tell you that there are some changes in the works for the forum this year, but nothing too drastic and it won't be for another few months. I don't want to spill all the beans (or promise something that won't be delivered, since we are still nailing down the details) but it does involve a platform switch and additional features and a new rewards system. But I really am open if you want more. Ultimately, my job as community manager is to keep the community happy -- through features, through a friendly culture, and helping you gain access to our writers and editors. Of course, I also have to work on the business side to balance what you want/need with what we can give/afford. One of the things that I am really working on now is getting the editors to contribute more here, and I'm also working on getting links to some of our upcoming website changes so that I can have you all beta test and give your feedback. You and your opinions are really important to us.So let's generate some ideas if you want more community features beyond forums. Each will have its pros and cons, and that's ok. Not everything will be doable, and that's ok too.Chatrooms work, and work well. IRC back-end with a java front end is doable. In fact, I used to work for a company that did this, so I know a possible resource. But I see the value in this as casual group conversation, not really 1-1 help or tech support. Moderation is a problem but not a huge one -- I did chatroom moderation for many years in very busy rooms. The problem is not the skill of moderation, it's the time it takes. A knowledge base is good for organizing information so it's easy to find later. This is not a tool for relationship building, but its perfect when you are looking for the solution to a problem.A Second Life space is like a chatroom on steroids. Yes, you need a fairly sophisticated computer to get there. But it's also free to register, free to use. It's all the interaction of an IRC room, with the added benefit of face to face contact (or at least, simulated face to face contact). It is a more immersive experience, where we can build a cool lounge and chill on the couch together while we talk.What else might we do?

[AuroraDizon]

The Palace has a pretty interesting chat system too. Its a graphical avatar chat with backgrounds and avatars as people you talked in comic bubbles (with a log on the side) its pretty cool. You can program it so you can play games, or link to sites and basically script what you want to happen in each room. You can even play music and stuff. It also has an option to save the chat logs so the moderators can go through what happened even if one wasn't on at the time. www.thepalace.com(Its a downloaded program, but you can allow people to enter via java if you install instantpalace)

[Cosmo]

Say we set up a room on a server with the palace. Would it be an official PC World graphical chat room, or an unofficial hangout for users?The palace looks neat, and I'll check it out in more detail.-------------------EditI'm still getting the hang of it, but the Win95 graphics kick a$$. It's pretty cool, but I haven't gone through everything yet...

[KellieCM]

I'll check it out. I'd like it to be an official PC World place, so we can get more traffic to it and more support for it from other parts of the organization. If we do add features, it should be free, accessible from our site, and easy for people to use. These are some, but certainly not all of, the requirements.I have also used chat from http://www.userplane.com which allows for webcams, so you can see some of the people that you are talking to. It also has a somewhat traditional text interface.

[fishy]

well thankyou a bunch for your replys Kellie,Cosmo,Aurora,TheNameless,phillypa800,and all the ppl i missed (for give me ) all i meant these ppl have alot that they give freely help wise i think thats important,, pc world has done alot for me,,, and by the look of these forums WOW what a bunch of nice ppl,,, world needs more folks like that ppl helping friends in trouble,,anyways have 1 thing to say YOUR GREAT:wink: plz keep up great work your doing ok :D

[KellieCM]

dear boss:are you listening to this? no pressure, kellie(heh)Thank you -- I am so glad you like it here. Hope to see you around more!

[KellieCM]

So I got an email today from the people that do Macwelt (that would be Macworld, in Germany). They just set up a little booth in Second Life. It's not really meant for community hanging out, it's more of a tradeshow-like display booth. But still, it's pretty cool to see.Let me know if you want the coordinates to check it out! (Or we can just meet in SL sometime and go have a look)