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| Do you want the Minichat to stay? |
| Yes |
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71% |
[ 10 ] |
| No |
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21% |
[ 3 ] |
| What's the Minichat? |
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7% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 14 |
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Meditating Guru
Groupie in Training
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 77
Location: Bendigo, Australia
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 Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:25 am Post subject: The imminent demise of the Minichat |
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Before I start, I must say that I have very much enjoyed the Minichat window that Kim has provided on Lemon64. Furthermore, I think the Lemon64 Minichat provides the Lemon64 site with a certain distinctiveness that places it above other, merely forum based sites, and it provides an alternative level of communication midway between a chat room and a forum for the members to communicate in. I think it is a wonderful tool, and for me, a fun attraction to the site.
Interestingly though, the LemonAmiga Minichat isn't as well populated. People are actually complaining by posting on the LemonAmiga Minichat that more people aren't posting on the Minichat.
This has led to Kim suggesting that he wishes to remove the Amiga Minichat altogether.
I garnered this information by reading between the lines of one of his posts on the Minichat, in response to someone else's post on the Minichat questioning why people weren't posting on the Minichat.
To wit:
| Quote: | Kim Lemon: good question. i might just as well remove the minichat.
01/11 @ 06:53 am
Lion-o: Why is there never anyone on here?
01/11 @ 06:27 am
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(As you can see, Sherlock Holmes has nothing on me when it comes to deductive reasoning).
The Lemon64 Minichat has been quite popular over the years, and has worked quite well at atracting 'nonsense postings' and diverting them away from the actual forum.
Of course people may be encouraged to make more nonsense postings on the Minichat than they would ever make on the forum, but that seems to only serve to make it a more fun environment.
On one famous occassion the Lemon64 Minichat even attracted a certain infamous 'hacker' who all the other Minichat users had a wonderful time poking fun at! (Hi ...errr, F04c3s_of_3vil... or was that Furzes_of_3vil?  ).
So, the big question remains: why hasn't the LemonAmiga Minichat been as popular as the Lemon64 Minichat?
I suspect the answer to this question is due to a couple of reasons:
Firstly, at the moment, we are still very much in the 'holiday mode', people are just starting to go back to work, still others are spending time with their families.
I know from experience that this time of year is genarally a relatively quiet time on many forums.
Another reason for the lack of participation in the Amiga Minichat as opposed to the Lemon64 Minichat may be due to the fact that users have to click on the Amiga Minichat link to make it appear.
Consider first impressions: when one first enters the Lemon64 site, then Minichat is clearly visible on the right of the screen. When one first enters the LemonAmiga site, the minichat is available only by clicking on the link.
On the Lemon64 site, where the Minichat is on the screen all the time and is regularly updated, if you are reading the Lemon64 forum, you can see if someone makes a smart alec response to your smart alec remark, and you can respond accordingly.
In comparison, however, when you are viewing the LemonAmiga forum, the open Minichat is obscured as a minimized window. ('Out of sight, out of mind', as the saying goes.)
I suspect that the main reason that Kim doesn't want to make the LemonAmiga Minichat exactly the same as the Lemon64 Minichat is that he does not wish to make the LemonAmiga site look exactly the same as the Lemon64 site: having a Minichat permanently on the right may interfere with the links he has placed there, and also upset the sense of balance and symetry provided by the blank space filled with bubbles (or whatever you choose) on the left.
Another possible drawback for having a LemonAmiga Minichat window permanently displayed is that people with lower screen display resolutions may not be able to view it. (As is the case currently with Lemon64 Minichat.)
I personally joined the Lemon64 site in 2002 with a screen display of 800x600 (or was it lower?), and I wondered for months what people were talking about when they referred to this mysterious "Minichat"!  )
Anyway, if you want the Amiga Minichat to be more successful Kim, I suggest that you make it a more permanent fixture on one side of the screen... (hey, the left is blank! ))
If you want it gone forever, then get rid of it. It's your site, and you should decide how you want it to look.
Personally, however, as a user, I would love to see the LemonAmiga Minichat stay, and have similar functionality as the Lemon64 Minichat.
Thank you for reading my post. 
_________________
I bought my Amiga from an Op-shop. I am ?SYNTAX ERROR on the Lemon64 forums. |
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LeeT
Lemon Amiga Team Member
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 566
Location: United Kingdom - Hartlepool * Amiga Owned - A600
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:33 am Post subject: |
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I thought the mini-chat had been removed - Is it because I'm using Mozilla Firefox hat it doesn't seem to be there?
EDIT - Nevermind, found it!
_________________
www.lemon64.com - For all C64 fans!
http://compilation64.5gigs.com -
Details of Compilations released for the C64. |
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Belgarath
Amiga Junkie
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 472
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:58 am Post subject: |
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I'm of the opinion it should stay but not in the form it's in now.
As already mentioned it really needs to be part of the main window, not some poxy link that some people don't even notice which pops up in a tiny window that's easily forgotten, it also needs to be more like an irc chan, you should be able to see who's actually in the chat.
As for people using small res's, who cares about those losers?
Seriously though maybe chat preferences can be stored via cookies so that can have it in a small window if you use a low res or part of the main site if you use a bigger res? |
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KombatSanta
Über Groupie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 208
Location: Karlstad
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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I'm with Belgy on this one
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Mea navicula pendens anguillarum plena est |
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Predseda
Team Member & Donator
Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Age: 35
Posts: 4190
Location: Prague, heart of Europe
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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We discussed it with Guru for a long time, so Kim, this is our result. Please, attach the minichat to the main window by similar way, like the one on your C64 page.
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:01 pm Post subject: Re: The imminent demise of the Minichat |
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| Meditating Guru wrote: | | So, the big question remains: why hasn't the LemonAmiga Minichat been as popular as the Lemon64 Minichat? |
As some of you guys already mentioned here, the mini-chat is hidden behind an anonymous link, and not promoted straight into your face.
I did this for two reasons:
* Quite a few people (including me) found it distracting with a constantly refreshing chat in the right frame while browsing the game archive. For some reason I don't find it as annoying on L64, so maybe it's just something to get used to?
* Unlike L64, LA is centered on screen, and the general site alignment doesn't look symmetric when the mini-chat is there.
Second, LA has only been around for 1 month while L64 is 7 years old, though I guess that this might not be very relevant.
As Belgarath said, storing chat preferences in a cookie could be an alternative, but due to the problems I mentioned above, I'd rather replace the mini-chat with an IRC channel. We have a bot in #lemonamiga on IRCnet (same network as L64), and I'm thinking of announcing weekly chats on Sundays for a start, but I'm not sure if there are enough people around here yet to make it interesting.
This is difficult, and I'm more confused than ever. 
_________________
 A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
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Predseda
Team Member & Donator
Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Age: 35
Posts: 4190
Location: Prague, heart of Europe
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry Kim, but I am not interested in real chat, like that one on lemon64. I was present only once there and it was too fast for me. lemon64 minichat was a perfect for me, but I would rather be talking about Amiga relative things, so it is a reason why I am not present on lemon64 minichat more, and am present on amigaminichat here. I am still hoping that somebody will come to gossip with me.
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Jim
Über Groupie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 235
Location: The World
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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I think Mini-Chat should stay, but it needs some serious work to make it usable.
I for one don't understand why when I make the window really tall in Mozilla it's still restricted to about 5 lines of text. Also I'm not sure how to implement it as good web design is all about simplicity.;
Maybe removing some of the more cosmetic features (such as landscape selection) would allow for a bit of the mini-chat to appear on the right.
Landscape selection could be locked away in a menu/options screen somewhere else (USer CP?)
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It's not me it's me brain! |
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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The minichat has to be visible on 1024 and above, and I don't think it would be very nice if I squeezed it into the ~120 pixels on the right frame, but I will give it a try.
_________________
A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
Get some neat Amiga T-shirts |
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Kim Lemon wrote: | | if I squeezed it into the ~120 pixels on the right frame |
Just tried it.. gets way too narrow to be usable. 
_________________
A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
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thechap
Über Groupie
Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 253
Location: UK, Sheffield (Now)
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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| What if you made the left hand frame a little thinner, and as Jim said put the landscapes in a phrase list. |
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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| thechap wrote: | | What if you made the left hand frame a little thinner, and as Jim said put the landscapes in a phrase list. |
That's just how the mini-chat was implanted before I removed it... with the alignment issue where things don't look symmetric. I could ofcourse make the site left aligned like L64, but I perfer it centered.
_________________
A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
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Jim
Über Groupie
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 235
Location: The World
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Kill 2 birds with one stone.
Get rid of frames.
Align forum/main window to the left, have everything non-essential to the right (this way people browsing at crappy resolutions can scroll if they choose to do so).
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It's not me it's me brain! |
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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But the problem is that I don't want it left aligned. I figure there is no perfect solution, so it has to be something halfarsed for the mini chat.
Thinking about it... out of all visitors, how many would use the minichat? Probably less than 1%, but still I really want it cause I'm one of the few who would use it... but on the other hand I want to make the site symmetric for the majority. Hmm, priorities!
_________________
A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
Get some neat Amiga T-shirts |
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Kim Lemon
Founder of Lemon Amiga
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
Age: 34
Posts: 1110
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Ahhh... just figured out an ideal solution! 
_________________
A1200D / Blizzard 1260 / 64MB RAM / 40GB 2.5" internal HD / Subway USB / OS 3.9
Get some neat Amiga T-shirts |
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