[Aneros]

Hello Aneros Forum Members,

Coming soon - The Aneros Chat Center! The ACC will host two type of events - real-time LIVE discussions in moderated chat rooms and Q&A style events hosted by experienced users.

First will be a LIVE event open to all community members, but tentatively limited to the first 20 members. Our IT staff has asked that the number of participants be limited as they try to make sure that our servers are up to the task. This is a work-in-progress, but as we work the kinks we are sure it will be a great additional way to discuss learn and share knowledge about our products.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know.

The Aneros Staff

[tnkyln]

Live chat room will be a great add on to a great site. Nothing like on time feedback to a current question. I just hope the room is closely monitored so no bashing goes on. Also to make sure the conversations being discussed are directly in line with this sites intent. No car selling, name calling, etc.
Looking forward to the chat room being started. It seems to me that 20 in the room should be absolute most. When there are too many, there are too many ideas on the screen at the same time. If one cannot type fast, he/she won't have the time to do any reading of thoughts already posted. Maybe 15 would be better to start out and see how that goes.. Just my 2 cents.

tom

[rumel]

support@aneros.com,

Here’s some feedback on the initial live chat session of February 7, 2008. I was a little disappointed about a few things and was pleased about a few things.
With that being said here are my thoughts about it.

Disappointments :

• I wish I could compose and type more quickly (obviously not anything you can do about that!)

• It is difficult to follow differing posters input when it is being interrupted by other posters input.

• The format limits the number of characters that one can type in any one sentence, forcing you to hit ENTER and then start a new line, by which time other posters have interjected their input. This makes for very disjointed reading and comprehension about who is responding to whom and on what topic. It is a little frustrating.

Pleasantries :

• It was nice to have immediate response from Support available to answer questions.

• It was nice of support to put forth an announcement of 'coming attractions' (namely the "Peridise" device)

• The built in filtering to limit profanity worked well (maybe too well - the intended word "homosexual" got censored to "***sexual" and the word "bitch" became "***") but that's better than allowing it to go through and 'flame' someone.

• Limiting the number of participants in the future will be absolutely essential if one is to make any sense of the conversations. So in that sense I was glad there were only (5) of us participating.

Suggestions :

• Have the software allow the poster to type a complete sentence, regardless of length, so that complete thoughts can be transmitted to the chat room screen.

• Provide some form of structure so one topic at a time is being discussed, rather than jumping about haphazardly, perhaps a chat session could have a predetermined theme to begin with.

• Obtain some form of consensus about ending discussion on a particular topic before moving on to a new topic.

• Write up a brief tutorial about how to function in the chat room and what all the symbols, buttons etc. mean and do.

[Aneros]

Hi Rumel,

Thanks for the great feedback. As far as the disappointments go, I'm glad those are the only ones. I agree it is difficult to follow multiple threads of discussion at once. That's the nature of chat rooms. I think the chatters will just need to be more aware of trying to focus on one topic at a time, and as the moderator I can help with that. The limit of the number of characters is purely a technical limitation for the text to display properly.

As far the suggestions go, we will post a tutorial about the chat room. Good idea. Eventually, our goal is indeed to have themes for each chat session. We definitely would like to hear some suggestions for future themed events as the chat room feature gets more use. For the chat session, we'll post a loose "agenda" of topics for the next event to lend some more structure.

thanks,
Aneros Support

[hlaser99]

Support,

One remedy for Rumel's "Disappointment Post"

• It is difficult to follow differing posters input when it is being interrupted by other posters input.

Remedy: Is for the Moderator to offer the "Talking Stick" to one of the chat members and he can then either take it or pass it along, in which case the Moderator offers it to another chat member.

This method is used quite successfully in KSMO chats!

A little History:

The talking stick has been used for centuries by many American Indian tribes as a means of just and impartial hearing. The talking stick was commonly used in council circles to designate who had the right to speak. When matters of great concern came before the council, the leading elder would hold the talking stick and begin the discussion. When he finished what he had to say he would hold out the talking stick, and whoever wished to speak after him would take it. In this manner the stick was passed from one individual to another until all who wished to speak had done so. The stick was then passed back to the leading elder for safe keeping.

Try it . . . it works well!

Hlaser99

[paulsp@trains.zzn.com]

Is it possible to chat one to one, or only group? Is is necessary to use web cam, or can they be used?

[twlltin]

There is the "whisper" feature which allows you to talk to someone else. There is a private message facility, but many have said it's not working at the moment. It's text-only, so no webcams.