Hi, I think

Chatterbox: Chirp at Cricket

Hi, I think

Hi, I think that Chatterbox should have a thing that you click to show all the things you've posted in!  My mom has a shop on Etsy, and she said the forums there have it, and it is soooooooo much easier to see if somebuggy have answered you!  You don't have to remember all the topics you've posted in, or dig through piles to find them!  What do you think?

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, S. R., Ca
(December 24, 2008 - 11:13 pm)

That sounds like a great idea, Laura. I don't know how to set that up, but maybe our Webmaster does.

submitted by Cricket, age Forever yo, At the computer
(December 25, 2008 - 11:54 pm)

That would help, but I've posted on almost every single one, so I'd get confused.... :)

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(December 30, 2008 - 1:06 pm)

No kidding.  :)  But for people like me, who can't remember anything, I need organization.  I can't remember half of the ones I've posted in, so I really need some direction.

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, CA
(December 30, 2008 - 5:36 pm)

That's a good idea, but I like the idea of a search engine better.  Sorry!

submitted by BellaTrix
(December 30, 2008 - 6:58 pm)

No, I want BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the search engine has to have a thing where you can type in the subject as well as/or in stead of the title, because I NEVER remember the titles!!!!!!!!! :)

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, Ca
(December 31, 2008 - 2:56 am)

Or there could be a search engine where you type in your name and it shows all the posts you've commented on or started, and another search engine for the actual posts and their subjects. :)

submitted by Maddy, age 14, OR
(December 31, 2008 - 2:19 pm)

Maybe, we could have like a sign in thing, and you put a code in the next mag so then we can put in our names and the code. Then we can see all our replies we got!

submitted by Maggie S., age 12, St. Paul, MN
(December 31, 2008 - 10:53 am)

But then only people who read the mag can go on.  Awesome idea, though! I suggested it awhile back in the suggestion box, and one thing I want to add is if the posts were organized by date, that would be even MORE wonderful!

submitted by Willa , age 12 6/4, here
(December 31, 2008 - 1:23 pm)

True, it's even fun to talk with the people who don't have Cricket!

submitted by Maggie S., age 12, St. Paul, MN
(January 1, 2009 - 7:43 pm)

Yah, but then I'd have to actually remember something. :D It's a good idea, but I don't generally do things that I have to join. I was VERY happy to see that you can just start typing in Chatterbox. No sign-ins every time you come here. Sorry, it's a good idea though... :D :D :D

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, Ca
(December 31, 2008 - 5:08 pm)

True. Although they could make it so that it "remembers you." Because, not that anyone would do this, but with the way it is now, you could impersonate someone else. But, Cricket, could you please add a title bar? Because then it'll be easier to find threads.

submitted by Grace, age SC, 13
(December 31, 2008 - 9:08 pm)

With the "finding threads," I think there should be a search engine OR they should be arranged in a certain way...  Like alphabetically or by the person who made them or...  Something!  I really like the search engine idea. :)  

submitted by BellaTrix
(January 1, 2009 - 7:53 am)

Well even with a search engine, you'd have to remember Hi, I think.... or whatever the name of the thread is right? Although even if it has a title it'll still be hard to find, so I guess both is the best solution.

submitted by Grace, age SC, 13
(January 1, 2009 - 5:46 pm)

Please!!  Just one more post!!!

No, you don't have to do that.  You could just punch in a keyword, like "hair" (heh heh, that was really really random...) and every post that has that word in it would pop up.

submitted by BellaTrix.
(January 4, 2009 - 6:26 pm)

[RANT] 

Personally I think it would have beena wise decision to actually design this forum while keeping in mind that people ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO USE IT.

For example: When we create posts, we should have had a way to title it, like this:

Thread Title: []

Name: [] 

Body: [] 

So that we don't have to remember, "oh, yeah, the icecream thread that I love posting on appears as "HI!!!!!I" when you see it in the menu bar.

And furthermore, the threads should be listed in a FIXED ORDER, preferably newest-last, because order changes just complicate the matter further.

The posting system is unwieldy and hard to use. Loading takes a long time even with a speedy Internet connection and short pages.

There is no search function, no list of recent comments, no list of recent threads, to be had anywhere. The forum itself is difficult to find from the homepage and there are several bad bugs running around rampant with no announcements of attempts to stop them.

Posts are so watered down that we can't even post links to harmless, clean sites (such as my site, for example), and yet you allow, even encourage, these people to readily give out their town names? You may have noticed I've never given more than the first letter of my town name. That's a habit from the MuseBlog, which caters to kids my age or even older and yet only allows you to give your state name, or city IF there are over a million people living in your city. This facade of protection is seriously, seriously vexing. I have to think carefully to make sure nothing I say will get zapped, and even then I am not sure if everything I said will make it through.

Moderation takes FOREVER. 'Nuff said.

Bold and Italics are buggy, and I've noticed that the administrators never respond to any questions they get asked unless said questions are in the main post (that is, what gets typed when the thread is originally created). I'll admit I'm spoiled by the GAPA on MuseBlog, who readily join in conversation and work incredibly hard at making the site better and more streamlined, and who really deserve more than a simple GAPA appreciation day once a year, but still, is it too much for me to ask for a little more effort on the part of whoever it is that moderates/monitors this forum?

I've said it before, I'll say it again. We need more variety in our different sections. Six is not enough. For example, Inkwell could be divided up into Novels, Short Stories, Character Help and ER, Title Help, Script Writing, Painting/Drawing, Poetry Writing, and perhaps even an area for RRRs (Round Robin 'Ritings, where one person writes a bit of a story, someone else continues, and we go from there). SIX CATEGORIES IS TOO BROAD. Oh, and a randomness category would be nice.

The smiley function is limited, and the window takes forever to load. A simple system like that used on basically every functional forum/blog/whatever in the world would have been nice. For example, typing :smile: creates the smiling smiley. It would also be nice if smileys didn't include a line break causing the text in front of them to be shifted to a new line.

And if you're going to insist on editing and zapping and snipping and whatnot, is it too much to ask that you at least tell people that you've done it? I mean, if you were to delete a vital sentence in an argument that falls flat without the sentence you deleted, it would be a courtesy to at least put, say, [snipped! -Admin] or something, so people know that something's missing from the post for whatever reason.

I realize that I won't get a lot of this, as certain things would probably require a total overhaul and you don't seem to want to extend that effort. I also realize that you probably will zap a lot of this post. I don't care, it felt good to say it, and you'll have to read it, or most of it, before zapping, so maybe something will be accomplished.

[/RANT] 

submitted by TNÖ, age 15, Deep Space
(January 5, 2009 - 1:09 am)