The "Instant Messenger" bar

The Latest GC update gave us IM ability, yet we know not all may want it.

So we have added the ability to not use it
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/account/preferences

Click on the Disable chatbar tickbox and hit save

you wont see the bar again while logged in (unless you chose to untick the box)

To add buddies to your list click "follow" on their profile and ask them to "follow" you back

that adds them to your friend list

There are also multiplayer games on the chatbar, so you can challenge your buddies to chess, battleship, checkers, poker etc!

 

Thanks Richard, I just asked about this in the Upgrade thread.

Not sure (yet) how useful or otherwise it will be for me, but it's definately an interesting feature

 

Can you please point me to the multi player games on the chat bar

 

once you add friends to your list, when you click their name the option to play the games is there (the icon is of 2 playing cards) click that and it brings up a list

 

Ive used this, done a little social experiment, set up a chat room called the Grand Social Nosebleed.. the general concensus is no one wants to use the chat rooms, but the instant messaging is quite handy (I presume), but it's early days yet!

 

I would say it is there for peeps straying from the thread and keep folks talking about the thread in the know.

 

Just noticed something with the "Who's Online".

It states the number of people who are online, but, that doesn't tally with the numbers shown on the forum main page; so, I'm assuming that is because the users not showing have disabled their bar?

However, I do know some users prefer not to be shown as online (which they select from their user preferences); yet, it would appear that if they have the instant message bar active, then the "Who's Online" shows a) user's who don't mind appearing as "online" and b) those who are online but not showing on the forum page (because they've checked the not to shown online option.
I've used the colour font for the dot that shows beside their names.

I may have misunderstood, but that is how it seems to me.

If so, not sure how many user's who choose to have their online status "hidden" from general view will appreciate this? If I'm correct, can it be altered?

 

there is the option to appear invisible on the chatbar

 

Yes, I saw the options, Richard.

It just seems that those who have elected to be "invisible" on the forums under their forum preferences will now need to be advised to select "invisible" as a status on the "who's online" bar if they decide to keep the Instant Messaging bar.

Hopefully, they will read this thread

 

The Instant Messengar Is good, i like it

The chatroom, some times i click to open and i see at the moment 1 chat, then when i leave and go back in there is no chat in the lobby

 

I've not been online during the day and now found several IMs saying "Please could you read my message" ... (no offence taken). I tend to get quite a few PMs asking the same thing (from people I don't know, people who know me presumably know that I am likely to see their message ). The PMs I always ignore, as I do if people (strangers) ask me something by PM that they could ask in a public forum (i.e. its not a private matter) ... by the by I've never understood why people (strangers) would do that? "This guy posts a lot I'll ask him direct" ... Doh! Ask in a public forum and get faster answers, plus if I answer [in public] AND someone disagrees they will say so - much more worthwhile I would think?

Can't see that the IM is for me, so I've disabled it.

Seeing a popup that someone is now Offline seems to be just an annoyance to me ... I can see it would be useful in a different environment, but the nature of these forums is that they are time-shifted, and not "Instant", surely?

The folk at Xeno obviously think that it is worthwhile, so fair-dos.

Just my opinions. Being an old-codger all this Social Media stuff is a bit left of field for me. But my experience with clients spending a fortune on integrating it into the eCommerce sites is that it actually generates very little traffic, and is mostly just [expensive!] fluff.

 

"Better" some derogatory shorthand for verbosely is it?

 

But your's should have been ten