Quote:
Originally posted by "James"
We don't, however, plan to add one.
Maybe I could be convinced otherwise, but I find chat rooms to be chaotic in nature and their function is already well covered by the various messenger services. Additionally, chat content is effectively lost. This site becomes more relevant as the searchable content increases. The forum content is searchable, by users as well as the search engines, like Google.
The forum allows users to make a new post every 15 seconds, so often a thread will develop a chat-like feel.
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I'm with James 100% on this one. I'm not a huge fan of chat rooms --- actually not a fan of them at all. As a useful tool for travelers, I think this site would lose much of it's effectiveness by adding a chat feature for exactly the reasons James has mentioned. Chat rooms are very intimidating to many people --- even more so than forums --- which leads to less participation and ultimately less content. They are also real time so you lose the convenience of participating on your time. So inevitably the same questions get asked and discussed over and over again. This already happens on the forum, so just imagine the frustration that would evolve in a chat room when people continue to ask the same questions over and over again --- i.e. weather, swim with the dolphins, etc. I can already hear Becky and Ally! :o
So IMHO, I really don't see the need or benefit to adding a chat feature. Especially, since those of us who do want to chat with each other, already do so using the various messenger services that are available.