New Chat or Wiki Rule?

[Kavpeny]

Seems I've arrive a bit late to this thread. If the primary concern is reducing chat spam, particularly huge blocks of text, I happen to know a script to resolve the issue.

Also, on a personal note, I agree with Matt. The chat is perhaps the only informal setting available to all users, and being excessively bureaucratic or restrictive seems counterproductive. That said, Antvasima's is valid as well.

However, in my personal experience, chat has never been a mess or been out-of-control, and is regulated by staff members most of the time. There have been no recent reports of problems by either staff members or users about the chat or the chat's discipline either. Additionally, the current chat moderators have also quite explicitly stated that they are easily managing the chat without any difficulty.

Taking actions to restrict chat without a valid reason for it strikes me as an irrational overreaction. Also, as I have stated, if the only concern is limiting spam text blocks, the script I linked to should solve that concern handily.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

Thank you for your input, Kav.

 

[Sera_EX]

Thank you so much Kav! This should surely handle the spam raids. With that being said, casually rude, profane, and other such users are easily dealt with on an everyday basis.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay then.

 

[Thebluedash]

Spams are quickly dealt with, I don't see the use for the script. The script would rather make normal conversations more annoying than anything.

 

[Ryukama]

I'm sorry but I honestly feel like some have overreacted to what is not that big of an issue.

Chats are almost always filled to the brim with moderators. More moderators than regular members at nearly all times actually.

The small instances of spamming that do occur are always dealt with in extremely quick time. And other users who continuously moderate the chat have gone on in length about how this isn't a difficulty.

Like Kav has said "Taking actions to restrict chat without a valid reason for it strikes me as an irrational overreaction."

With all due respect, this script seems to be just that. It's very jarring and generally slows down the ability to chat. When you want to type up additional things to someone, quickly correct typos, etc. it takes a very noticable and annoying toll on this in my opinion.

I feel that generally the quick and easy appeal of a live chat gets hinged by the constant wait over and over after each response.

Also this really does nothing. Staff can always just immediately ban these spammers. Or a spammer instead of constantly making new messages can make a super long message. Or simply just type some offensive word and slur.

All trolls want to do is get our goat. And by constantly going through so many unnecessary steps to deal with them. Including at the expense of our own enjoyability on chat, we've let them accomplish their goal.

TLDR: Yes it is important to take care of trolls. But staff was doing that just fine and there's no need to make chat more iritating/less enjoyable to use because of it. Especially when this will really do nothing significant to stop them.

 

[Thebluedash]

I completely agree, the script rigt now is slowing down all of the conversations and is extremely bothersome.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. Never mind about the script then.

 

[Antvasima]

Does anybody know how to remove it?

 

[Amelia_Lonelyheart]

I agree with Ryu completely. We have several active staff members who will ban trolls on sight, the chat almost always has at least 1 staff member online and is usually is mostly staff members. No need in sacrificing chat usability for this.

 

[Antvasima]

I have sent a PM to Kavpeny in any case.

 

[Antvasima]

Never mind. I figured out how to remove it:

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Chat.js&diff=943075&oldid=940462

 

[TISSG7Redgrave]

i agree with what Ryu is saying. In the chat from my experience normally there is at least one user that is a staff member there to keep things in control

 

[Thebluedash]

Weirdly, it is still in effect.

 

[Antvasima]

I think that Wikia's staff overview, and have to approve, the script-related mediawiki changes.

 

[Kavpeny]

@Blue: Pray tell, how exactly is chat being "slowed down"? I have tested the script personally, there is no noticeable delay in a practical scenario. There is a delay, but by the time you type the next sentence, the wait period is over. The delay is not a problem whatsoever, save for people who post single words instead of sentences.

 

[Omni-everything]

new chat or chat upgrades

 

[Sera_EX]

Upgrade

 

[Omni-everything]

yeah chat upgrade like if someone tries to spam they will have a 60secs to message again

 

[Hop_Hoppington-Hoppenhiemer]

I strongly agree with Ryukama.

 

[Ryukama]

The delay is annoying when you want to make a quick follow up response, fix a typo, structure what you're saying into multiple parts, etc. And many people type faster than the delay. Especially when the response is somewhat short.

But what happened to "chat has never been a mess or been out-of-control, and is regulated by staff members most of the time" and that we shouldn't be "taking actions to restrict chat without a valid reason."

Why is it now that unnecessary restrictions are getting made despite staff doing perfectly fine without them?

And once again, this really doesn't do anything. People can still spam by making their messages longer. Or simply post jibberish like "jfvnjfnv" or offensive things/slurs/links. All these trolls want to do is piss us off. They don't need to spam in one particular way to do that.

Plus banning a spammer isn't by any means difficult. Considering all it takes is 2-3 clicks, it can even be done faster than a delay period or at least at similar speed.

This option is more of a lag simulator than a spam deterent. Delaying what can normally be a regular, quick paced and smoothly transitioning chat. Which is the main appeal of these sorts of chats.

At best this is a useless feature that will not help staff in any notable manner. At worst it is that plus a big irritance and hinge on people who enjoy using chat. Which several other people whose jobs hugely consist of monitoring chat agree that it is.

I greatly appreciate the different ideas and methods made to help this site out. But with all do respect I do not agree with this script being implemented.

 

[Hop_Hoppington-Hoppenhiemer]

And many people type faster than the delay. Especially when the response is somewhat short.

Like myself. Which this is frustrating. The limit should be removed for staff at very least, and members that have proven many times they can be trusted. Again, I strongly agree with you.

 

[Antvasima]

I have sent a message to Kavpeny about this.

 

[Thebluedash]

It seems to be gone now for most people.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. That is good.

 

[Kavpeny]

Well, if the people actually moderating the chat find the script cumbersome, then it would be best to do away with it.

I have edited the site-wide chat script. It now includes the configuration for the script, so that the script can be re-enabled easily if need be. The script itself is disabled.

 

[Ryukama]

Alright. Thank you very much for your understanding and help, Kav.