Direct communication with forum members through Gabbly!
Communicating through a forum has its limitations. There's no direct interactive communications like in a telephone call and this restrictions can make it more difficult to pinpoint the problem because the person with the problem didn't supply the information you'd need to either fully understand the problem or you miss information that would eliminate certain possible causes. A more direct 'real-time' interaction would give the possibility to ask questions and immediately get an answer.
There's a solution for that.
In a chat session you would have that option as long as both people are on-line at the same time. In a group chat more people could chip in. Two heads know more than one.
Would that be possible on this forum. Well... I don't know whether a vBulletin forum (which this is if you didn't know - look at the bottom of each page) has some option or add-on that would allow such a feature but.... We don't need that. Because there is Gabbly!
At www.gabbly.com you can read all about it but there's really only one thing you need to know. When you are on whatever page in your browser. If you add
www.gabbly.com/
in front of the URL you're on then you get a chat window in front of that webpage in your browser. And everyone who does the same WITH THE SAME URL will join you in that chat box.
So if for instance you'd take the forum's start page
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/index.php and add www.gabbly.com/ (don't forget the forward slash) in front of it so you'll get
http://www.gabbly.com/http://discuss....com/index.php
that, and now this link, will take you to that forum start page where you will be joined by everyone who would have done the same (or now clicks on that link too).
So if you'd do this when you are in a specific thread you'll create a new chat box in front of that page and only people who put www.gabbly.com/ in front of that page's URL would join you.
If the Original Poster would be on-line he/she could post a message in his(/her) thread with such a link to a chat window about the problem in that thread. If he() went off-line again he could edit his posting and remove the link again to indicate he can not be reached. It would be nice to leave some info about what the (hopefully positive) results were of the chat.
The Gabbly chat on the forum start page I placed above could be used as a general meeting place for members/visitors of this forum who want to chat about... whatever (computer related?) subject they like but not about a particular thread. If you want to chat about a subforum topic you could start a Gabbly chat on the start page of that subforum. If two or more people would want to discuss a specific problem discussed in a thread on this forum they could open a new Gabbly chat window on that thread and see whether they can solve the specific problem there. And if you want to chat about the weather, your cat or dog or .....whatever. That's what the 'Lounge' is for so you could do that on this thread. Just use the link I'll have created at the bottom of this posting. The possibilities are endless.
Just remember. When a few people really want to discuss a specific topic it's best to create a new Gabbly chat. Otherwise things could get very chaotic rather quickly in a group chat with too many people talking about different things in the same chat window. You could even place the URL/link to the new chat in the chat you're leaving.
And of course.... Keep it civil all the time. Good manners can't go overboard just because you are on the web.
Whaddya think? Worth a try? It's not compulsory so everyone is free to join in or leave as they please or not use it at all.
Just a few tips. I have used Gabbly before but not a whole lot and the last time was quite a while ago so I don't know how much has changed. From the experience I have I know that you shouldn't try to 'do' anything else on the page that has that Gabbly/URL combination with the chat window in front of it. As soon as you click a link on that page or press the 'Back' button in your browser for instance you'll disappear from or perhaps even lose contact with the chat. It's best to keep the Gabbly chat on one of the tabs in your browser (if you're not using tabbed browsing by now you're ...... well .... let's just say you should start using it NOW. You'll hit yourself wondering why you didn't start using it earlier).
All the navigating on the Interweb you may want to do while in the Gabbly chat you should do in other tabs, or even in another browser. If you want to read the thread or quote text from the thread you're Gabbling on then just open a second tab with that same particular thread and use that for that purpose. There you can go to another page in the thread (if it is that long) without the risk of losing the chat. But if you do lose contact every time you go back to the Gabbly/URL you were on you'll re-join the chat. You may have to re-enter your chosen name. Because you can type a username that will be shown in the chat. The logical thing to do is to use your Virtual Dr. forum name. You can also resize and drag the window like you are used to.
That’s about it. We'll see whether this 'feature' can contribute to solving more computer problems.
More.... Better..... Faster!!!! ;)
Happy Gabbling.
Once I have created this new thread I will edit it and place a Gabbly link here that will open a Gabbly chat in front of this page. I can't do it yet as I am writing this because the URL of this thread does not yet exist.
But now it does and here is the link that will get you Gabbling on this page. :D
Pour yourself a drink, lean back and join the 'Lounge' Gabbly. :cool:
