The Chat Room

[ffemt8978]

The goal of EMTLife.com is to provide a family friendly atmosphere where EMS personnel can come together and discuss those issues that affect us all. In an effort to provide more avenues for our members to discuss these things, we have instituted several forum upgrades including the chat room.

Recently, it has come to the attention of the Community Leaders that several members have been abusing the system, so to speak. The majority of these issues have occurred in the chat room, which is why we recently instituted the 10 post minimum to access the chat room. The abuse of the chat room continues, and several conversations in there (both public and private) have violated the standards that we wish to maintain here.

Up to this point, we have tried to deal with the individual members involved, but the problem continues. Now we face a tough choice - either we can remove the chat room completely, or get even more strict on what we allow there. Some of the ideas that the CL's have been discussing is a 500 post minimum to access the chat room, automatic bans from the forum for ANY chat room violation, or removing the chat room.

Quite honestly, there is a large percentage of the CL's that wish to remove the chat room completely because it causes nothing but problems and takes up a large percentage of our time. However, we wanted your input on how to fix this problem. Please post what you would do to correct this problem, keeping in mind that we will never adopt a "anything goes" policy because this violates our forum goals.

 

[Bosco578]

500 post minimum? That's a little extreme. Pehaps based on a case by case as to whom will currently be allowed access until a standard for access is allowed?

Why are private chats being monitored? Should they be just that, Private? Why even have private then?

 

[MMiz]

Bosco,

Your private messages are private from other members, but not from our Community Leader team. This really isn't by choice, but because our chat software does not differentiate between the chat room and private messages when it logs conversations. Again, it's not up to us, but the way the software works. It logs everything that is typed into an input screen, and allows administrators to view the log. The log isn't pretty, or even easy to read, but it gives us a basic idea of what's going on in the chat.

 

[Bosco578]

Fair enough,however I think even though they may see this, It is still not intended for them to Moderate? I'm not endorsing bad conduct, just my thought.

Perhaps removing the private chat function if possible may help?

 

[karaya]

I guess the private chat concerns got me scratching my head. If it is private, at least in the sense other forum members can't see the conversation, then what's the concern over the content? I see your point on the open chat rooms, but you may be creating an unnecessary headache as to your worries over what goes on in the private.

I'd say forget monitoring the private conversations and stay focused on the public chats. Otherwise just dump the whole thing, which would be a shame.

 

[enjoynz]

It's a shame that a few people should spoil this asset, and the enjoyment (pardon the pun)
that it gives the percentage of people that use the chat.

The chat is a good tool for learning and understanding how other services work.
Plus it's a place to talk over cases and calls of interest and share with others.

Also those that have used it for some time have formed good friendships....just that, friendships!
Used correctly, it is a great tool. And I for one, as a Host, would be sorry to see it removed!:sad:

Enjoynz

 

[ffemt8978]

I guess the private chat concerns got me scratching my head. If it is private, at least in the sense other forum members can't see the conversation, then what's the concern over the content? I see your point on the open chat rooms, but you may be creating an unnecessary headache as to your worries over what goes on in the private.

I'd say forget monitoring the private conversations and stay focused on the public chats. Otherwise just dump the whole thing, which would be a shame.

The problem is that sometimes the private chats spill over into the main chat, or even to the forum. In addition, some of the private chats have included discussion of illegal activity which will not be tolerated anywhere on this site.

And it's not just the private chats that are a problem. There have been several incidents in the chat room in recent months, which have gotten progressively worse.

Our goal with this thread is twofold:
1) To solicit your inputs on how to correct this problem in a way that betters the forum as a whole
2) To serve notice that we are very serious about enforcing our forum rules and standards everywhere on this forum, be it in the chat room or the main forums.

 

[reaper]

I think it should be a 50 post minimum to get access. But, then the mods have to watch out for the stupid posts, that are there just to build up post counts!

 

[karaya]

I'll see reaper's 50 post minimum and raise it to 100. In addition to the 100 post minimum, access to the chat room is not automatic. It should require a submitted request to a CL. The CL would then review the member's postings to ascertain that blitzing threads was not the means for him or her to achieve 100 posts. The CL then could conference with the other CLs for final approval to the chat room. This would give joining the chats a certain credence and hopefully a better quality chat member.

 

[reaper]

Could we get a patch to go with it!!!!!

 

[KEVD18]

well i dont participate in the chat room, so i have no feeling on it whatsoever. you could have already removed it and not told me and i might never have known.

that being said, i do have an opinion on what i see as that heart of the matter: content. im a member of several forums regarding a vast array of topics and with an equally vast array of rules/policies running the gamut from ANYTHING goes to dang being censored. this forum is by far the strictest, most over moderated, sanitized online environment i have ever seen. now, maybe thats what the owner(s) is/are looking for. forced, fake, meaningless niceness instead of pure unadulterated discussion.

the plain truth of the matter is that some people dont get along. some people fight. that isnt a bad thing. you can learn a lot from a heated discussion. when people feel really passionate about something, they research the heck out of it. they know their position cold and can debate it like a pro. and that sirs, is when the real sharing of information takes place. sure things can get out of control and someone needs to step in. but maybe when things get to like 8/10, not 6/10 which is where things get cut off now.

in regards to the family atmosphere, nothing on earth makes me more violently ill than this never ending "think of the children" rhetoric that ive been hearing my whole life. this site is for public safety professionals. we see some messed up stuff. most of us have a messed up sense of humor. instead of being able to express our emotions or experiences in a pure manner, we have to autoclave them.

now, i full well know that my opinion doesnt matter. both because i hold no shares in the organization and because im one of the frequent offenders. this site is never going to allow "barracks humor" or the uncensored expression of thought(something i remember reading about in the very early part of us history) but you asked for my opinion and im happy to oblige.

 

[mikeylikesit]

i have yet to go to the chat rooms but whether or not the people chat here on the site or another chat room of their choice the same things will always be an issue. you could mark the posts up, but then, like others have stated it is only a minor obstacle for those who will abuse it, at the same time a major obstacle for those who need it. i think that either way you decide your integrity to keep your promise of keeping a family environment should be held to the up most standards as you have been doing thus far.