What's up with the new chat room?
Hey guys, I've been pretty busy on the back end of things and while I know you don't hear from me too often we have something exciting to share! The new chat room is ALMOST ready for prime time! It's been available to tinker with in Beta so to address some of the issues that users have brought up.
1. Why is the chat room being redone? The old one worked find (Bah humbug)The MAIN reason we needed to re-do the chat room, is that the current software is based on Adobe Flash, and fewer and fewer browsers are supporting this software.Plain and simple, re-doing the chat in HTML/JS allows more of our users to access the chat room.Reason #2. The software we've been using all these years is not our own, so we have not had the ability to add new features that have been requested. This has been very frustrating as users have requested very valid usable features.
2. I don't like the way it looks, it's annoying, I'm leaving etcWe understand that there is always a learning curve when new features are launched. There is nothing I can do to assist users who dislike the new chat, just because it is new and different.That said, we actively encourage feedback! If you have a specific feature that's not working, or the site looks horrible on your device, we want to know so we can fix it!
3. Can you leave the old chat room up?No, this isn't an option, paying for multiple servers and splitting the list of people in each room would make the chat room less enjoyable. With social media, it's not fun if there's nobody to be social with.
4. Where is private IM/Video chat?Private messaging is still available, and has a newer layout, to allow for easier management of your IM windows. Private video chat is on the roadmap, but not in this project. We arelooking to build a site-wide PM system, that will have that functionality built in.
5. Why are the # of camera lowered, and ads in the chat room.To put it simply, the chat room is really a loss for us, It is not cheap to provide the servers/bandwidth for chat and stream audio/video. I've spent 100s of hours developing this system, and it would be nice to see some sort of return. This isn't a large corporation, this is my sole income source, so being re-imbursed for my time is important. I hate ads as well, but our pricing plans are very affordable and we offer way more free services than any other site I've seen.
6. What are the new features?Alright! A Fun question!a. Ability to Add/Upload images and post them to chat, or copy paste to IMsb. Sort by distance/find users that are closest to you.c. An entire settings menu with themes and options to customize your chat experience the way you want itd. More control over who can talk to you, You can block annoying users, Ignore PMs from certain users or disable the PM system completely.e. Lots of new emojis!f. Settings and PMs that are saved, even if you leave the room and come backg. Higher quality/resolution webcam feeds.h. New moderator features to make the chat room more enjoyable and keep the trolls at bayi. A vote-ban/flagging system for kicking out spammers and abusive users EVEN IF NO MODERATOR IS PRESENT!
7. What features can we expect down the line?a. Integrated friends list, see which of your friends are in the chat room.b. More themes (and user submitted themes)c. Integration into the site-wide PM system we have planned.d. More options to share media, videos, links, animated gifs.
8. When is it going live?Well, I'm still testing and fixing it. It should be before December 1st, but as soon as it's working 100%, I'm shutting down the old chat room.I know that this will cause grief and be a painful process for some, but this new chat will allow many users who couldn't access it now be able to. That means that the room will be busier and a better social experience for all. While we may lose a few, this NEEDS to happen and in the end we're providing a BETTER chat with more features. Also keep in mind that if you have a fun feature that will make it even more enjoyable you can now suggest it, and if we agree we can add it. How awesome is that!!As always we thank you for making this site amazing, and we know that in the end you will love the new chat.
Enjoy!
