Hi Ezinda + other moderators.
Why, why, why can't we have a proper chat room on this forum??
I know that this has been asked about before by several people, but for some reason we have never been given a proper answer.
Is there some genuine reason why we can't have this? I don't actually know how easy it would be to set this up, but it can't be too difficult, surely?
I really think that a chat room (possibly with a "private chat messaging" facility) is what this forum needs! And I know that I'm not alone in thinking this.
I await your comments.
Kathy
I believe the CE agreed this was a good idea, and said he'd look into it and get back to us (forum members). We haven't heard anything yet though.
There are a number of small forum websites (both PD and others) which are run on a shoestring, but which nonetheless contain pretty sophisticated interactive chat rooms, so such a facility can't be that difficult or expensive to set up.
There are a number of small forum websites (both PD and others) which are run on a shoestring, but which nonetheless contain pretty sophisticated interactive chat rooms, so such a facility can't be that difficult or expensive to set up.
I think both a chat room and private messaging is a good idea. I wouldnt use talk in the chat room however as i cant type quickly enough and as 1 of you pointed out my spelling leaves a lot to be disired ( eh ray 
). So what i would be replying to would have gone off screen lol
Mark
). So what i would be replying to would have gone off screen lolMark
My own typing is deadly slow too, Mark. You and I would take all night just to discuss the weather!
LOL
LOL
The way my typing is ray, 3 new conversations wouldve started by time i answereed the first on lol
Could we be trusted though, judging by our recent posts the moderator will be doing overtime if we added a chat room.
All the bitchin and fighting, can you imagine.
ECK: [CENSORED]
RAY: [CENSORED]
BIG M: [CENSORED]
WEE BETTY: [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] and another thing [CENSORED]
I don't think we would be trusted to hold a chat room conversation without upsetting everybody, or bullying someone every other sentence. We'd all end up on Jeremy Kyle. It would be carnage.
Should have one? There's only one way to find out. "FIGHT".
Well I set up a social club called Paekinson's Sugar Mountain. (The title is purposely mispelled so as to encourage Australian visitors to the forum. And to say a big "Hey! to all you mispellers and typo-ists, everyone is welcome to Paekinson's Sugar Mountain". It was intented to highlight positives. to date 39 people read it, 2 had something to say and its been plummeting down the charts ever since. Yip its going to be a bleak winter this year on Paekinson's Sugar Mountain. I'll still be there with my glo stick and whistle pure heavy jaggin to the beat of Neil Young with a heavy donk on it.
Still musn't gwumble.
Behind every great man there is a woman doing this
All the bitchin and fighting, can you imagine.
ECK: [CENSORED]
RAY: [CENSORED]
BIG M: [CENSORED]
WEE BETTY: [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] and another thing [CENSORED]
I don't think we would be trusted to hold a chat room conversation without upsetting everybody, or bullying someone every other sentence. We'd all end up on Jeremy Kyle. It would be carnage.
Should have one? There's only one way to find out. "FIGHT".
Well I set up a social club called Paekinson's Sugar Mountain. (The title is purposely mispelled so as to encourage Australian visitors to the forum. And to say a big "Hey! to all you mispellers and typo-ists, everyone is welcome to Paekinson's Sugar Mountain". It was intented to highlight positives. to date 39 people read it, 2 had something to say and its been plummeting down the charts ever since. Yip its going to be a bleak winter this year on Paekinson's Sugar Mountain. I'll still be there with my glo stick and whistle pure heavy jaggin to the beat of Neil Young with a heavy donk on it.
Still musn't gwumble.
Behind every great man there is a woman doing this
Of course there should be a chat room. PWP are not renowned for rudeness and I for one, would definitely use it. If you don't think it's appropriate, don't click onto it!
I think everyone will forgive bad spelling and slowness
Chris
I think everyone will forgive bad spelling and slowness
Chris
I also use another pd site where there is a chat room the problem is we cannot get anyone to use it. Myself and another member has done everything we can think off to get people to join but all to no avail.It is really good and you can have a laugh as well.
Hi all.
Thanks for your views re this. Hopefully after the weekend one of the moderators / administrators will reply. I'm guessing that they will just say that they are looking into this, and then we will hear no more about it.
Feel free to prove me wrong, Ezinda + co.!
Of course we would all forgive bad spelling, slow responses etc. We are all in the same boat, aren't we? And I'm sure we are all capable of being civil to each other in a "live chat" situation. Obviously there would have to be something in place to deal with anyone who oversteps the mark, as there is in all chat rooms, but I'm sure that would be easy enough to implement.
Lila - may I ask which is the other PD site that you referred to, which has a chat room that nobody wants to use?
Kathy
Thanks for your views re this. Hopefully after the weekend one of the moderators / administrators will reply. I'm guessing that they will just say that they are looking into this, and then we will hear no more about it.
Feel free to prove me wrong, Ezinda + co.!
Of course we would all forgive bad spelling, slow responses etc. We are all in the same boat, aren't we? And I'm sure we are all capable of being civil to each other in a "live chat" situation. Obviously there would have to be something in place to deal with anyone who oversteps the mark, as there is in all chat rooms, but I'm sure that would be easy enough to implement.
Lila - may I ask which is the other PD site that you referred to, which has a chat room that nobody wants to use?
Kathy
Hello all,
I apologise for the delay in getting back to you on this. Getting an answer to this issue actually required the input of the technical team so unfortunately, we could not get back to you on this immediately without telling you that…well, that we were looking into it.
While I understand that many users would like a chat feature on the forum, we just aren’t able to offer it to our users now. Technically, you are right in saying that this seems to be a standard feature on other forums which use off-the-shelf programmes.
Our forum however, is a bit different. It was built specifically for us. This has certain benefits and certain drawbacks. One benefit is that we do not get nearly as much spam as other forums. One drawback is that to add a feature such as chat would have a real financial cost. At present, that cost couldn’t be justified.
Many of you may already know that there are a range of options for chatting available on the web such as MSN messenger and others. We are very pleased that you’ve all chosen this forum but if you feel that this feature is vital, there are other Parkinson’s forums which offer it. Lila has suggested one and forum users are also aware of others.
In the meantime, the web survey closes tomorrow. The web team hopes to take the opinions of online members into account in setting the online priorities for the next 2-3 years. You can find the website here: http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/webusersurvey. This is a great opportunity for you to share your opinions on our online services.
Best regards,
Ezinda
I apologise for the delay in getting back to you on this. Getting an answer to this issue actually required the input of the technical team so unfortunately, we could not get back to you on this immediately without telling you that…well, that we were looking into it.
While I understand that many users would like a chat feature on the forum, we just aren’t able to offer it to our users now. Technically, you are right in saying that this seems to be a standard feature on other forums which use off-the-shelf programmes.
Our forum however, is a bit different. It was built specifically for us. This has certain benefits and certain drawbacks. One benefit is that we do not get nearly as much spam as other forums. One drawback is that to add a feature such as chat would have a real financial cost. At present, that cost couldn’t be justified.
Many of you may already know that there are a range of options for chatting available on the web such as MSN messenger and others. We are very pleased that you’ve all chosen this forum but if you feel that this feature is vital, there are other Parkinson’s forums which offer it. Lila has suggested one and forum users are also aware of others.
In the meantime, the web survey closes tomorrow. The web team hopes to take the opinions of online members into account in setting the online priorities for the next 2-3 years. You can find the website here: http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/webusersurvey. This is a great opportunity for you to share your opinions on our online services.
Best regards,
Ezinda
I am a member of 4 other forums, none related to PD, and they all have, at the very least, a private messaging facility.
The problem with this site is that if you want to mesage someone then your e mail address is made known to them. This is not acceptable until you have confidence in who you are sending a message to.
I am not casting aspertions on any members,in fact, I am in contact with some lapsed members, via e mail, on this site but this happened after many online exchanges first.
OK, you say that security is one aspect of this site, specially designed for PDS. But, I do not receive any spam from the other forums I frequent and 3 of them use free sites. I do hope that PDS has not spent huge sums of money on a site that could have been obtained free and does not cater for the wants of its members.
I now await being shot down in flames from the usual quarter.
The problem with this site is that if you want to mesage someone then your e mail address is made known to them. This is not acceptable until you have confidence in who you are sending a message to.
I am not casting aspertions on any members,in fact, I am in contact with some lapsed members, via e mail, on this site but this happened after many online exchanges first.
OK, you say that security is one aspect of this site, specially designed for PDS. But, I do not receive any spam from the other forums I frequent and 3 of them use free sites. I do hope that PDS has not spent huge sums of money on a site that could have been obtained free and does not cater for the wants of its members.
I now await being shot down in flames from the usual quarter.
I accept what Ezinda is saying.
The Parkinson's UK website is a very large and complex site, and this forum is just one component of a multi-faceted IT system which must have taken hundreds - maybe thousands - of expensive man-hours to write, test and implement as a bespoke project. That would make it superbly fit-for-purpose, but probably very difficult to amend or enhance.
There's no way such a sophisticated system can or should be compared to some of the cheap off-the-peg forum packages available on the market, many of which - if you take a look - have amazingly similar headings, sub-headings and facility options.
After all, you can buy an off-the-peg copy of Microsoft Office for under £100, but if you wanted to write such a set of applications from scratch to specifically match your own exact requirements, it would cost you millions.
The Parkinson's UK website is a very large and complex site, and this forum is just one component of a multi-faceted IT system which must have taken hundreds - maybe thousands - of expensive man-hours to write, test and implement as a bespoke project. That would make it superbly fit-for-purpose, but probably very difficult to amend or enhance.
There's no way such a sophisticated system can or should be compared to some of the cheap off-the-peg forum packages available on the market, many of which - if you take a look - have amazingly similar headings, sub-headings and facility options.
After all, you can buy an off-the-peg copy of Microsoft Office for under £100, but if you wanted to write such a set of applications from scratch to specifically match your own exact requirements, it would cost you millions.
Hi all.
So.....the reason why we can't have a proper chat room is all down to money, is it? I guessed that would be the answer.
Like Benji, I too am a member of a few other (non PD related) sites, all of which have chat rooms and/or some sort of instant messaging facility.
The really annoying thing is that one of the other sites which I use has a proper chat room with the facility for private messaging, but nobody ever uses it! (And I mean literally nobody....the chat room is always empty, and the Customer Services team have confirmed to me that nobody uses it but they don''t understand why!) It's such a waste, especially as a site like this one is crying out for a chat room. Perhaps we could buy theirs from them, for a discounted price!!
Just a thought!
I'm guessing that when this site was set up, the people responsible for it were making the (obviously incorrect) assumption that the majority of PWPs are elderly and therefore, although they may just about be able to cope with a computer, they would be unlikely to use a chat room.
Well, I am only 47 and do not consider myself "past it" yet! And I know that there are a lot of people on here who are younger than me. There are also older people on here who are fully conversant with PC-related issues. So if that was the attitude of the people who set up this site, it was a very short-sighted one.
I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but as the annual subscription to Parkinson's UK is only £4, I would be happy to pay a bit more if it meant that we could have the facilities that we want on here.
Kathy
So.....the reason why we can't have a proper chat room is all down to money, is it? I guessed that would be the answer.
Like Benji, I too am a member of a few other (non PD related) sites, all of which have chat rooms and/or some sort of instant messaging facility.
The really annoying thing is that one of the other sites which I use has a proper chat room with the facility for private messaging, but nobody ever uses it! (And I mean literally nobody....the chat room is always empty, and the Customer Services team have confirmed to me that nobody uses it but they don''t understand why!) It's such a waste, especially as a site like this one is crying out for a chat room. Perhaps we could buy theirs from them, for a discounted price!!
Just a thought!
I'm guessing that when this site was set up, the people responsible for it were making the (obviously incorrect) assumption that the majority of PWPs are elderly and therefore, although they may just about be able to cope with a computer, they would be unlikely to use a chat room.
Well, I am only 47 and do not consider myself "past it" yet! And I know that there are a lot of people on here who are younger than me. There are also older people on here who are fully conversant with PC-related issues. So if that was the attitude of the people who set up this site, it was a very short-sighted one.
I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but as the annual subscription to Parkinson's UK is only £4, I would be happy to pay a bit more if it meant that we could have the facilities that we want on here.
Kathy
Hi Kathy.
I am not a spokesman for Parkinson's UK, and my post was merely my own opinion and assessment of the situation based on many decades of working in IT and involvement in major software projects.
It's not a case of being au fait with PCs. This system will undoubtedly be running on some pretty powerful servers, with very resilient networking and multiple links into the other Parkinson's UK services, and it runs very smoothly 7 x 24 x 365.
If the other forum you're talking about (the one with the unused chat room) is the one I think it is - run by one person on a shoestring - it was recently hacked into by persons unknown, and down for about a week. And when it returned to service everyone had to re-register, and ALL historical records had been wiped out.
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. I don't think that's what we want here.
Ray.
x
I am not a spokesman for Parkinson's UK, and my post was merely my own opinion and assessment of the situation based on many decades of working in IT and involvement in major software projects.
It's not a case of being au fait with PCs. This system will undoubtedly be running on some pretty powerful servers, with very resilient networking and multiple links into the other Parkinson's UK services, and it runs very smoothly 7 x 24 x 365.
If the other forum you're talking about (the one with the unused chat room) is the one I think it is - run by one person on a shoestring - it was recently hacked into by persons unknown, and down for about a week. And when it returned to service everyone had to re-register, and ALL historical records had been wiped out.
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. I don't think that's what we want here.
Ray.
x
Benji,As regards your privacy; could you not have an e mail address that you use only for the Forum,disclosing your main E mail address only to those you trust. The E mail address that I use on here is not my main e mail address and if anyone became a nuisance I could easily close it.It gives no hint of where I live.
Just to clarify.
The 3 sites that I said have free forums,I meant that the forums were free,no fees involved.
1. P&O cruises
2. cruise dot co uk
3. another cruise site that started by using a free forum and now pays for a more updated frorum, still no fees
4. tripadvisor.
5.oops another one... cruise critic
The first 3 ALL have a private messaging system that DOES NOT reveal you e mail address when you contact another member. Whoever thought that this would be a good idea on this site should be shot. It goes against ALL internet usage security advice.
The 3 sites that I said have free forums,I meant that the forums were free,no fees involved.
1. P&O cruises
2. cruise dot co uk
3. another cruise site that started by using a free forum and now pays for a more updated frorum, still no fees
4. tripadvisor.
5.oops another one... cruise critic
The first 3 ALL have a private messaging system that DOES NOT reveal you e mail address when you contact another member. Whoever thought that this would be a good idea on this site should be shot. It goes against ALL internet usage security advice.
Personally I've set up a discrete email address for use with this forum, and nothing else.
Any problems and a new address can be set up in a couple of minutes.
Simples!
Any problems and a new address can be set up in a couple of minutes.
Simples!
If you're after a website with a good chat room try PD Junction. It is free membership and your email will not be revealed. You can also share videos, pictures. Members profiles can be made private by editing profile setttings. If you enjoy facebook, you'll love PD Junction!
Try pduk.org - that's got chat rooms and is run by a very nice guy. It's a bit quiet at the moment, but a few more members would liven it up.
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