what's up?

I won't keep you long

good!

Is there something going on here that i am not aware of?

I have not been on for a while and it has become very weird

@CodeX no idea, I'm not normally here.

Im used to the relaxed environment it was some time ago

It seems "hostile"

This "serious business" is that a joke?

"Hostile" I don't see. But tense? Yes. Folks are unsure of their footing

Chat rooms normally find a balance that works. However, as a community grows and chat traffic increases, the balance that works early on often fails to scale.

You can have a half-dozen people in a room, discussing a topic and whatever else pops into their heads.

They are just users that talk about their projects.. they are not employed here..

You can't have 30 people in a room doing that.

It was working when i first came here just fine

Orders from a higher place?

Somewhere along the line, incidental chatter becomes relegated to slow times, or... The regulars become so fond of their chatter that they squelch the original topic for discussion.

Sometimes, other rooms break off. Often, they do not.

So the concern is that real help gets drowned out in the chatter

What's critical here is that we encourage the first outcome over the latter in a room that is seen as "official": otherwise, folks who are active on the site but rarely enter chat will find themselves unwelcome when they do, which creates a weird dynamic.

Ah, yep i got that earlier

On some sites, you have the "old regulars" who were once active on the site and now dominate chat but don't actually care about the topic anymore and angrily put a stop to any attempts to discuss it. In these cases, chat has lost all utility for users of the site itself.

Joined, asked a question and got tumbleweed

In that case, take a look at rooms like PHP for example where you are verbally abused fro not knowing stuff

So, we appear to be in the throws of birthing pains here, a moment of transition for a growing site and chat community.

The community's reaction to it will determine the direction and tone going forward.

I would encourage you to write your thoughts and experiences here:

That question is irrelevant, you can't police idle chat

You either have idle chat or not

The people who are not here "officially" have no obligation to stop talking

To the contrary, I've seen it work very well - but only when the folks regularly in chat take it upon themselves to interrupt their own side conversations when something closer to on-topic is raised.

In other words, "self-police"

Then the room becomes a chore

They are here because they are Monking

Not really. It becomes a reflex

I understand what your saying but if you think about growth it wont work

You would have to explain that to everyone that enters

You lead by example first, and explain only when that isn't observed.

If you see idle chat you will chat idly thinking its ok, then bam, your kicked

So the users will police the chat room?

This was indeed a motivator for the kick-mute feature - give folks who don't observe the norms of the room a short time-out in which to do so before they can talk again.

@CodeX perhaps... We will see how this meta discussion goes.

That varies

If they feel they didnt do anything wrong

You can't assume people will know what is going on

some people become indignant, yes

indeed

the savvy ones figure it out sooner or later

I think as long as no-one is abusing anyone else then everything is fine

Some people here feel they are above others

it's no fun to drop into a room and be ignored either, especially if you're wanting to talk about the topic of the site and everyone else is talking about unicorns or something.

You tend to assume that the room is useless. And... You're not wrong.

But what if they are talking about a C# project and you want to talk about PHP?

that's when you have to wait... Or perhaps break off a different room.

The 2nd monitor room should be an invite only room for professionals in their field

scaling becomes an issue sooner or later no matter what

that's why there's a "create room" privilege

Its a huge pain in the backside

I do NOT envy you moderators

As you've seen, Stack Overflow has many rooms on many topics, often multiple rooms on the same topic.

This is necessary for it to scale.

@CodeX hey, there's an election going on... The foolish and the brave are signing up now ;-)

That was my first comment ;) i was told.. "its not that".. lol

anyway, I gotta run - chime in on that meta post, please

I appreciate your time

np

Thanks