PlanetCatfish.com

I see that the chatroom is hardly used nowadays. Seems that the novelty has worn off and a good time to question whether we really need one after all (I won't be that sorry to see it go).
Or it could be that we really have to fix times to meet in the chatroom.
I don't know. What do you think?

Jools wanted to start scheculing "meetings" once he has roots down at his new house. Dunno when that'll be exactly, but should be in the near future.

Rusty

That was the plan, I am approaching some form of normality now but I won't be getting broadband access back for a fortnight or so. Anyone can schedule a get together in the chatroom - it's just a thing to have so that the sites user can use it should they wish.

Jools

That sounds like a good idea. I had thought of catching people at the chat room discussing some interesting topic but unfortunately I haven't. I saw Rusty there one time and he was the only one there.

I have to fix time frame with the rest of the Western world. As of this writing, it is exactly 9 pm here. I wonder how far I am time-wise with whoever will be moderating or facilitating the discussion during that time.

Almost 5 months down the road and the situation doesn't seem to have improved.
Maybe it's time to shut it down, chalk it up as a failed experiment and move on.

IMO the only way to have a successfull chat is to schedual a chat time once a week, but that seems like it would be hard to do in such an international forum such as this.

You'd be surprised the hours us cats keep.

Jools

I do try to use the chat room but as people are pointing out not that many people are using it, so I and i'm sure many others have stopped going to have a look. I think this could be improved if we had a monitering section(like the one on the hope page) in the forum itself to tell members the activity of the chat room.

I don't think it would be too hard to put a link to the chatroom in the forum link cluster and put (at the bottom of the posts) whos in the chatroom. To be honest though, I'm not all that fussed about chatroom use.

Jools

Hi all,
A fixed meeting time will definetely rebuild the chat room. At another fish site...the chat room was empty for months at a time. A 13 year old boy kept posting in the forum to meet him in there. The web master finally posted scheduled times...and the chat took off. The record is 23 chatters at one time...and now...about a year later...there's usually a few people in there, most of the day. I know I haven't run into anybody in this chat since I've been looking.
Scheduling times can provide some issues. Please... just give it a try. I'd hate to see a good chat room...fade away. Especially when the topic is CATFISH!!!
Rich

It is also very convenient. Andrew, Dave Snell, Barbie and I were able to "meet" in there the other night and hash out some Catfish Convention issues. Set meetings is probably a good idea and worth a try. It is also a good place to set a time and meet with friends or a group of individuals inteterested in the same topic. Perhaps, if a topic is really hot, someone could post a general "Let's all meet in the Chat Room on such and such a date and time and we can discuss this issue in real time."
-Shane

Sounds like a good idea, it would be a great time to proclaim my love for hybrid species.

Perhaps we can hold a poll for a topic and then a day and try it out.

How about the 28th December at 2300 GMT? Topic - what you want from Planet in 2004 and likely to degenerate into anything you want to talk about regarding catfish?

Jools

yeah almost everytime I go there_____nobody is there!!!!!
Thats really sad