Forum:The State of Chat

Nowadays, it feels like users can get away with absolutely anything in the chat room. Users have brought their feuds from other wikis on here in the past, have flooded the chat and broken Wikia's Terms of Use and it's now becoming what feels like an hourly occurance. Chat is now at the stage where there is absolutely no moderation, so users are free to cause as much damage as possible and potentially scare away new users who want to contribute to the chat community and beyond.

Obviously there's a few ways to do this - implementation of more chat moderators who frequent chat would be one option because then things can be dealt with - there are of course the likes of Sam and Phillycj who are outstanding chat moderators however they are most likely AFK and cannot be pinged. This means that despite the high volume of users with chat moderator rights, nobody is present to help out on chat. I swear, if I have to get Sactage or RansomTime once more, I'm going to have a mental breakdown.

Another method is to simply make the rules stricter. There is no doubt that chat is too soft, I have seen as many as six warnings handed out before a simple kick is administered. This, frankly, is pathetic. If a user has been given a command to stop what they are doing which is disrupting the chat, then why are the chat moderators letting it slide another four or five times as the chat discussion completely derails? If the rules are made stricter (maximum of 2 warnings before a 3 day ban) the chat will certainly improve.

Moreover, we could try to encourage users to join the chat. If more users join, then there is the possibility of more chat moderators joining the chat rather than lurking or just staying around Mainspace. This is a much harder option to pull off, however chat has dry spells and even with the new games being announced, it's still not as active as it should be.

So, the discussion points. How do we make chat tougher to avoid all the drama we've been having lately, and how do we improve chat overall? 21:04, May 16, 2016 (UTC)