The Shoutbox's New Location
 

Well, since zongzeng's decision to move the shoutbox up to the top of the page has garnered a little dissention, I'm making a poll to see how the members feel about the decision, as we'll all find out soon enough (obviously). ;) This poll was suggested many times, and now I'm giving it a try.

Comment further if needs be. :)

Voted yes, now people will actually think about posting there since they can see it.

I voted for Not sure/Don't Care. I'm fine with it on the top or the bottom. Niether bother me.

Why was it moved though? Just wondering.

Thats is, who voted 'no'...
*cracks nuckles*

jk

I think zongzeng felt it'd help it get more shouts that way (and it has). The way I figure it, the shoutbox is an extra feature on ToS that uses extra server space, and there's no point in keeping it if hardly anyone uses it. So, I assume zongzeng wanted to eliminate that problem. :)

I never go to the home page XD hahaha

It's much easier to use at the top. It's been neglected for the last few months down at the bottom.

On some other forums that I use the box is not only at the top, it is on nearly every page and gets a ton of use.

What I dislike most is not the actual change (which I don't like but it's by no means terrible) but how it was changed - there was no discussion on this, nobody even suggested it. We weren't even told it had been done, just saw it this morning.

We do have IRC, it is actually a nice place, giving this chatbox undue prominence simply harms the IRC channel.
Yes, I barely use the chatbox and have no real reason to, but I don't have a problem with it being there... I just dislike not only it being located on top of the actual forum, but the nature of HOW the change was made.

Ah... like a beautiful steak dinner being brought out on a trashcan lid; I see what you're saying. It's not the actual steak dinner, it's the presentation, like you've pointed out. I agree, if I'd just found something out out of the blue, I'd probably feel the same.

...But the dinner's been re-cooked, and being brought out on a nice, white dinner plate (with this poll). So now we can all vote on it. :)

Well no one was really using it so why is it that big of a deal that it was changed? Seriously? Why must it always be a huge fight with you.

Several people suggested moving it, so saying no one suggested it is not accurate. It is a minor design change, and a test to see if activity would increase, which clearly it has, in a huge way. And the poll is predictable, the whole IRC crew will vote no, and it will lose.

It's a valid question. IRC is far better, yet there's no reason to have that on top of the entire forum.

I bet activity will drop again when the novelty wears off. Making a comparison on user numbers on the first day of anything is completely inaccurate.

A little note, you can collapse the shoutbox by pressing the cross. It will stay collapsed for whenever you open the website (if you are on the same computer)

Well I got banned for some reason from IRC back when I was on AF and it never got resolved...

Every other forum I frequent has the shoutbox (if they have one) at the top.

Viva the new shoutbox!

I kinda like it up there. Always nice to see people chatting more.