Chat Room Ideas

[htownmmm]

Gents(and Ladies),

While in the chat room talking to Scorpio(Rafael), we came up with the idea of having a instructional chat for newbies, areas of concern could be types of razors,brushes, creams, what to use, how to use it, etc.

Different members could host according to their schedule and/or we can have special guests( our soap sues, lee from leesrazors for ex.). We figured this would work as most newbies respond to personal attention better( as do we all ).

Real time answers to their questions would benefit all who tuned in.

So will this work or is there not a need ofr this?


Marty

 

[NMMB]

I think that this type of idea has been discussed before... and, well, it hasn't happened. However, that may not mean that it is a bad idea (I don't think that it is necessarily a bad idea) - it may just mean that nobody has had the time to make this their personal project. I would suggest, however, that if there is sufficient demand then somebody here at B&B will make it happen (as often seems to be the case when things are demanded here)... so, if this is something that you would really like to see, let the world know...

Oh yeah, I thought that I should mention that getting "experts" to chat may be more difficult than getting "resident experts" to chat (though, some of our residents are truly experts) due to scheduling and other issues ( such as issues of comfort discussing things in such a forum, etc).

 

[Scorpio]

Our idea is based to getting newbies as well as seasoned shavers personalized attention. We believe this will develop a cohesive forum and bring the forum closer together as well as expand the reach to attract others who might be on the fence. We thought that there are members who have a higher level of expertise on specific areas of traditional wet shaving who can share their knowledge as well as experiences on a real time scenario. This exchange makes the sharing of information more effective and meaningful. We welcome ideas and suggestions.

Rafael

 

[Queen of Blades]

This is a great idea.

My only concern is chaos. The chatroom can get pretty hectic with more than 2 people in there, sometimes. Come up with a way to handle that, and I think you are golden.

 

[MasonM]

It seems like a good idea to me, but I suspect that with everyone having different schedules may be a logistical nightmare.

 

[Scorpio]

By offering sessions on different days and times you can try to give everyone a chance to participate. As always not every member is going to be able to visit every time. Then you have the specific days and times where a specific subject can be discussed.

Rafael

 

[Mama Bear]

Hey! I just tried to get into the chat room and guess what? I did! Woohoooo...! Good job guys!

 

[SSLStudio]

Gents(and Ladies),

While in the chat room talking to Scorpio(Rafael), we came up with the idea of having a instructional chat for newbies, areas of concern could be types of razors,brushes, creams, what to use, how to use it, etc.

Different members could host according to their schedule and/or we can have special guests( our soap sues, lee from leesrazors for ex.). We figured this would work as most newbies respond to personal attention better( as do we all ).

Real time answers to their questions would benefit all who tuned in.

So will this work or is there not a need ofr this?


Marty

I can see how this would work, it happened to me one day when a buddy of mine was in chat and he MSN'd me he was talking to someone about brushes.
As I know my buddy is a NEEEEEWBie himself I logged in and took over.
Was a complete Newbie. gave some advice and it seems newbies have a diff. time in finding new things on B&B or a certain thread.Anyways I hope I gave him some ideas where to start.
but the next questions is how many newbies would find the chat ?
so I think this thread is just going to bleed.....dry.

 

[Duggo]

You bring up a valid point. The location of the chat room is not self evident.

Could we not add it to the banner on the home page and have it appear on every page as the member travels thru the forum, so it's always there?

I was thinking somwhere between User CP and Log Out

To the extent that we could get it "staffed" I think it would provide an invaluable service to our members, who have questions about, well...everything, myself included.

Suggestions anyone? Let's hear from you!


Duggo

 

[htownmmm]

One of the nice things about the chat room is that you can go private-this would be used to provide 1-1 personalized instruction w/o the chaos of surrounding messages in the room.

Also newbies could be directed to the chat room if one of the more seasoned members was on @ the time of their question- in this way information could be imparted quickly.

With many different members and time zones, we believed that complete coverage could be feasible and would reach the newbies that are coming into the site.

Sometimes, all that is needed is hand holding- I have noticed that we gain many members, but how many of the newbies are we actually keeping? It apperas that once they reach a point of frustration( with their technique and possibly response to their querys) they fade away.

B&B to me is the best wetshaving site overall; we just felt with some tweaking it could be even better. Plus, the chat room (new and improved!) would receive much more usage than is currently happening.


Marty

 

[MBlatt]

Being a newbie, I would love to have a newbie chat.. however there's little you couldn't figure out on your own just by searching around these forums.

 

[htownmmm]

*bump*



Marty

 

[rebornshaver]

Sounds like a great idea. As far as the chaos goes two could schedule a time to meet on the chat when others would not be likely to be on. any one joining in be there as an observer only, or ask to schedule a time for themselves through PM.

 

[Queen of Blades]

Ah, There you go. Appointment chats.

 

[TimmyBoston]

This is a fantastic idea! There are many times I've had questions and wasn't able to ask the followup question that I needed. Great idea, I hope it's put into practice.

 

[SSLStudio]

Yes thats much better, you could for example schedule newbie chats.

lets say every monday and every friday or just the weekends. some of the veterans would be available for one hour or so ?
Lets say 10 newbies at one go... you could then answer them or point them to directions at B&B the usuall questions are most likely to re-appear each time.

therefore you could design a NEWBIE FAQ based on the questioning modelling.

1- what is a good beginners brush?
2- should I go Boar or Badger?
3- Is soap better or worse then shave cream?
4- Is it dangerous buying a used DE on ebay?
5- Is it better to buy a new safety razor and which model/Brand?
6- Are all DE blades equal in quality.
7- How much water should I use for creams?
8- Why do I need a toner ?

etc.etc. that would take alot of answering/searching off .

You could make this Newbie FAQ into a Sticky and within that Sticky you would have referalls to Threads at B&B already disgussing these matters.

A Newbie would simply go over the first 20 say questions with 2-3 referall threads that would make sense. you would almost dont need a chat now ?

 

[rebornshaver]

Good Idea.