Vote For Over 18's Chat.

Hello Administrators & Moderators,

This is a bit of an idea that some of the forums members have liked the sound of or agreed with, which is maybe having an Over 18's Chat which someone have suggested be called the "Water Shed" or I thought perhaps "Water Tank" lol.

We do think being able to talk on this 18's chat or have this as an option would be great as we could talk without having to worry about younger people, not for explicit reasons but just general mucking around and no childishness while trying to be serious or help someone.
It might be a benefit too have this chat. as over 18's would be able to have a joke/laugh without offending the younger generations (as this is a family friendly site after all) but also to be able to talk seriously about topics or problems without ridiculous comments spamming the chat room, which are ok in small amounts, but really annoying when you're trying to talk or ask something and get childish comments constantly.
We do have a bit of a laugh ourselves (I mean who doesn't sometimes) and come out with stupid comments while joking around, but thats normally when there's 2 or 3 of us on the chat that aren't away from keyboard and when no one is talking about anything serious and the chat room is dead.

Anyway, Hope you might consider this idea and hopefully we can see how many people would appreciate this idea!

Feel free to comment or vote on the poll!

Thank you for reading

TylototritonGuy said:

Hello Administrators & Moderators,

This is a bit of an idea that some of the forums members have liked the sound of or agreed with, which is maybe having an Over 18's Chat which someone have suggested be called the "Water Shed" or I thought perhaps "Water Tank" lol.

We do think being able to talk on this 18's chat or have this as an option would be great as we could talk without having to worry about younger people, not for explicit reasons but just general mucking around and no childishness while trying to be serious or help someone.
It might be a benefit too have this chat. as over 18's would be able to have a joke/laugh without offending the younger generations (as this is a family friendly site after all) but also to be able to talk seriously about topics or problems without ridiculous comments spamming the chat room, which are ok in small amounts, but really annoying when you're trying to talk or ask something and get childish comments constantly.
We do have a bit of a laugh ourselves (I mean who doesn't sometimes) and come out with stupid comments while joking around, but thats normally when there's 2 or 3 of us on the chat that aren't away from keyboard and when no one is talking about anything serious and the chat room is dead.

Anyway, Hope you might consider this idea and hopefully we can see how many people would appreciate this idea!

Feel free to comment or vote on the poll!

Thank you for reading

Click to expand...

I agree with the idea but it may be pointless. We already have the option to jump to different rooms and private chat. Chatters have been known to migrate and flock into different rooms when the situation gets a little too youthful. But it is kind of irritating moving to a different room then being followed by a flock.

The thing that bothers me is that we all know that kids will be kids and sometimes they'll overreact and adults have to look past things like this. But when an adult steps close to the edge of things everyone goes kind of crazy on him/her. Double standard for sure and a mature chat room would alleviate the double standard and the "having to look pass'' youthful actions/disturbance/annoyances/ect. Endurance can only go so far for some people.

Chatters now a days seem to be younger folk preteens and teens which is cool. Its great to have a place for younger people to come and socialize and share hobbies, wish I had that when I was younger. But if there was a Mature Chat Room with age restriction it may bring in more mature crowds and it may even bring back some of the "chat defectors" that used to be here religiously day and night. When I talk my old chat buddies they seriously imply that they were driven off by youthful chatters messing around or lack of topics that were interesting.

There are a lot of validating moments with a mixed chat, especially when a younger keeper asks me for some advice that may have just saved a sick/ill captive. A mixed general chat should always be available. Advanced keepers in chat should be within reach for new comers or youth that may need advice. But a refuge would be nice....

Neotenic_Jaymes said:

I agree with the idea but it may be pointless. We already have the option to jump to different rooms and private chat. Chatters have been known to migrate and flock into different rooms when the situation gets a little too youthful. But it is kind of irritating moving to a different room then being followed by a flock.

The thing that bothers me is that we all know that kids will be kids and sometimes they'll overreact and adults have to look past things like this. But when an adult steps close to the edge of things everyone goes kind of crazy on him/her. Double standard for sure and a mature chat room would alleviate the double standard and the "having to look pass'' youthful actions/disturbance/annoyances/ect. Endurance can only go so far for some people.

Chatters now a days seem to be younger folk preteens and teens which is cool. Its great to have a place for younger people to come and socialize and share hobbies, wish I had that when I was younger. But if there was a Mature Chat Room with age restriction it may bring in more mature crowds and it may even bring back some of the "chat defectors" that used to be here religiously day and night. When I talk my old chat buddies they seriously imply that they were driven off by youthful chatters messing around or lack of topics that were interesting.

There are a lot of validating moments with a mixed chat, especially when a younger keeper asks me for some advice that may have just saved a sick/ill captive. A mixed general chat should always be available. Advanced keepers in chat should be within reach for new comers or youth that may need advice. But a refuge would be nice....

Click to expand...

There are a lot of good points you bring to light, however what I propose is not to close the other chats but to have the 4th Chat Room for over 18s only, so when things do get a little bit too much or out of hand we can retreat to somewhere instead of having 20 odd message notifications and receiving more from youths writing "Chicken Butt" or typing a bunch of random letters constantly lol.

We do have the option of going to another chat, however you will just simply get followed by the youths which prevents you from being able to talk about topics which can be important or just interesting. We do have private chat, however if someone logs on and your not sitting there checking to see whose online, how will those people know your in a private chat or be able to join? Having a new chat that is there all the time like "Sliding Through The Mud" or "Under The Log" would be a good benefit and as you say, draw back the mature/adult crowed who probably just would like to talk about Caudata topics or whatever without having to see a younger person writing absolute nonsense. We were all kids once but I can say that when I did stuff like that, I look back and see I must of been annoying.

I'm not saying that we should just abandon the younger generation and expect people not to talk to them, because it's good to help people and there's nothing wrong with asking for help. But a majority of the time, I just look at whatever chat is being used the most and see Adults trying to have a conversation (multiple people) and having some kid spamming, writing absolute rubbish which is more annoying than funny. Fair Enough, kids are kids and yeah sometimes it can be funny, but all the time isnt a good thing. We all have a good laugh, but normally its while no one is actually talking and the chat is just unactive. lol I don't want to have to struggle to read multiple comments which are a topic I might be interested in or whatever and have to scroll through the comments that have no relevance to anything and are just attention seeking lol

To be honest, I avoid the chat rooms because I don't understand half of the references made by the "younger generation", the chat slang can be a daunting challenge for me. I would really appreciate a more mature place to converse.

Lots of good points about having an adults only chat room, however i sincerely believe it would be detrimental to the younger members of our forum, as it would probably lead to all the adults in one room and the kids another. Any child requiring help would be left to the often ropey advice of our younger members. Also it would be impossible to enforce as this forum would require children to admit they are kids which quite frankly will not happen. If somebody in chat is annoying , you can just block communication so you can not see their posts.

xxianxx said:

Lots of good points about having an adults only chat room, however i sincerely believe it would be detrimental to the younger members of our forum, as it would probably lead to all the adults in one room and the kids another. Any child requiring help would be left to the often ropey advice of our younger members. Also it would be impossible to enforce as this forum would require children to admit they are kids which quite frankly will not happen. If somebody in chat is annoying , you can just block communication so you can not see their posts.

Click to expand...

I dont actually see that being the case, there are quite a few people, including you that would still go on the other chat. However I have rarely seen any of the kids actually asking for help, a majority of the time they just spam the chat with rubbish when others are trying to chat. It has even happened to you, and quite a few of us. I think blocking someone is quite drastic, theres no need for that unless theres a huge reason for doing so, having the option of another chat would avoid that.but I do agree with a few of your points though.

Read all the post's!

Right, I think there might be a miss understanding because people are thinking That I only want a single Chat room for adults, which isnt what I'm saying at all. Please Read all the posts before you think this, I want a 4th Chat room for the adults only, with the other three still remaining. No I am Not wanting to kick kids off the site (That's utter rubbish) and personally telling kids that its being requested so they can be kicked off chat, I think, is wrong and out of order as that is not the case at all.

As I Said, read all the posts, this is not being harsh to kids.

Re: Read all the post's!

TylototritonGuy said:

Right, I think there might be a miss understanding because people are thinking That I only want a single Chat room for adults, which isnt what I'm saying at all. Please Read all the posts before you think this, I want a 4th Chat room for the adults only, with the other three still remaining. No I am Not wanting to kick kids off the site (That's utter rubbish) and personally telling kids that its being requested so they can be kicked off chat, I think, is wrong and out of order as that is not the case at all.

As I Said, read all the posts, this is not being harsh to kids.

Click to expand...

I think you should take your own advice and read ALL the posts, nobody in this thread has suggested that you were calling for adult ONLY chat. Also blocking people in chat is temporary as soon as you leave chat then rejoin they are unblocked, i do it all the time to people who are messing about or just boring me to tears.

hahaha i was the one who said chicken butt but anyways if u want an actual chat for u and whoever u wana talk to it takes like 3 secs to make a private chat. and alot of the times people do come into chat asking for help some adult some not. but if all the old people are in one chat.... they might not get the help they need. I vote no to many flaws and things that would make it pointless...

Traxolotl said:

hahaha .

Click to expand...

I don't think the request is silly. Some people actually don't consider the chat room because it's mixed with youth.

Traxolotl said:

hahaha i was the one who said chicken butt but anyways if u want an actual chat for u and whoever u wana talk to it takes like 3 secs to make a private chat. and alot of the times people do come into chat asking for help some adult some not. but if all the old people are in one chat.... they might not get the help they need. I vote no to many flaws and things that would make it pointless...

Click to expand...

Actually you didnt at all, that was infact another user that time who said that... And Travis, Read my post about the private chat because thats flawed too. And yet again read my post, that would not be the case, their are a lot of adults that would still go on the other chats, it wouldnt be like the other chats would be gone either, but there are hardly no kids that even use chat apart from you and 2 others... The people that do actually ask for help are Adults, the youths I havent seen often asking for help..

My gut feeling is that we shouldn't be excluding people from any of the forum features based on age. If the conversation is not suitable for kids it's not suitable for a newt forum. I'm not a regular user of the chat program but the few times I have there hasn't been a problem, in fact sometimes the younger chatters are the ones that spark interesting conversation. The new room feature allows you to move away from people you'd rather not chat with. I understand that moderators are not always around to police the chat rooms but you're welcome to report anyone that abuses the chat and spoils it for others. I'd rather see an annoying kid banned from chat rather than restrict an intelligent, eloquent, sub 18 year old from joining in a conversation with adults about caudata.

That aside, John is the only one who would know if what you are suggesting is even possible with the current chat program. I'd be surprised if we could restrict members from certain rooms based on the age in their profile. Also remember that we have no way of proving someone's age. There are probably quite a few kids who lie on their profile to avoid the COPPA restrictions we have in place.

Mark said:

That aside, John is the only one who would know if what you are suggesting is even possible with the current chat program. I'd be surprised if we could restrict members from certain rooms based on the age in their profile. Also remember that we have no way of proving someone's age. There are probably quite a few kids who lie on their profile to avoid the COPPA restrictions we have in place.

Click to expand...

As you say, it might not even be possible to sort out, money wise or software wise. However as I said though its just an idea, nothing more even if it can't be done in the long run it's still good to see peoples opinions

TylototritonGuy said:

but there are hardly no kids that even use chat apart from you and 2 others... The people that do actually ask for help are Adults, the youths I havent seen often asking for help..

Click to expand...

If "hardly no kids" use chat why are you calling for an adult only chat room ? if you have problems listening to children just block them. Kids do ask questions in chat, they are also exposed to the conversation of more experienced keepers, which can only be a good thing as it will improve their knowledge base and the care of their animals. Quite often kids do not realize that they are doing things wrong, this has been picked up in chat a number of times, i will give you an example

kid :"My tadpoles are dying"
me:"What are you feeding them?"
kid:"Nothing they fend for themselves"
me:"They fend for themselves in the wild , in a tank you need to feed them"
kid:"Ok, what do i feed them?"
me:temporarily too busy smashing my head on my console to answer...

This child did not ask a specific question about his tadpoles, they were part of a general conversation about my ACFs not laying. This is not a one off experience and is relatively common. I am sure you agree that it is one of the many positive aspects of this site is the fact that people can pick up information freely and quickly in chat. I enjoy talking in chat with mixed age and yes i agree that some of the younger members may be tiresome at times but i find it is generally adults i block for being offensive or just boring. This site is about inclusion and not exclusion, an adult only chat room could potentially reduce the exposure of children to good information that they didn't realize they needed to know.

xxianxx said:

If "hardly no kids" use chat why are you calling for an adult only chat room ? if you have problems listening to children just block them. Kids do ask questions in chat, they are also exposed to the conversation of more experienced keepers, which can only be a good thing as it will improve their knowledge base and the care of their animals. Quite often kids do not realize that they are doing things wrong, this has been picked up in chat a number of times, i will give you an example

kid :"My tadpoles are dying"
me:"What are you feeding them?"
kid:"Nothing they fend for themselves"
me:"They fend for themselves in the wild , in a tank you need to feed them"
kid:"Ok, what do i feed them?"
me:temporarily too busy smashing my head on my console to answer...

This child did not ask a specific question about his tadpoles, they were part of a general conversation about my ACFs not laying. This is not a one off experience and is relatively common and i am sure you agree that it is one of the many positive aspects of this site. I enjoy talking in chat with mixed age and yes i agree that some of the younger members may be tiresome at times but i find it is generally adults i block for being offensive or just boring. This site is about inclusion and not exclusion, an adult only chat room could potentially reduce the exposure of children to good information that they didn't realize they needed to know.

Click to expand...

Would having a 4th chat room prevent you from talking to Younger Aged users then? As I said, it's an idea nothing more, fair enough that your voicing your opinion but I don't see how having a 4th chat room would stop you (who has made it clear you would still talk to kids) from helping them, also being a forum there is also making threads which you can ask for help too, so it's not exactly cutting them off from anyone else.

I dont specifically talk to younger users, i talk to chat users no matter what their age. The potential problem of a fourth adult only chat room could be that the adults would all end up in there leaving the kids to their own devices. It would only take a couple of child averse adults to move themselves into the adult chat for this to happen.

I agree with Ian, i think...I can see how an adult´s only chat would cause them to flock there and leave the kids without access to reliable help. It´s rich coming from me, as i never use the chat, but i think a few annoying comments from some kids are worth the benefits of the free exchange of advice.

Instead of trying to sort people by age, maybe we could rename one of the chatrooms something like "On-topic ONLY" and make it clear that certain kinds of behavior (text-speak, off-topic discussions, etc) don't happen there. Or maybe we could call it "The Old Fuddy-duddy Room". If it works, maybe I'll actually be there once in a while!

Jennewt said:

Instead of trying to sort people by age, maybe we could rename one of the chatrooms something like "On-topic ONLY" and make it clear that certain kinds of behavior (text-speak, off-topic discussions, etc) don't happen there. Or maybe we could call it "The Old Fuddy-duddy Room". If it works, maybe I'll actually be there once in a while!

Click to expand...

Could John actually do that? If that could be done are even considered it would be perhaps better than the certain age chat, because rarely more than one chat room gets used and the others just sit there collecting dust (as it were). I have noticed a few comments about people not coming onto the chat because they simply dont understand what the Younger Generations are going on about, which is far enough really in my opinion!

It's not like the chatroom is the only source of information on this site! Doesn't anyone else find that alot of people (no matter what age) don't bother to search the forum for answers before they post a thread asking a question that someone else posted just 15 minutes earlier? I know that there are many varying scenarios involved, but this forum has been active for years and most of the questions have been answered several times only. Most are more computer saavy than I am and I know to look at back threads for information before I create another thread.

Sorry, please pass the cheese and crackers...