Using chat vs forum during a race

[bdr529]

So, we need:

- Login by using the site useraccount
- See messages posted before the moment you joined

Does anybody feel it would be downside if that would mean we can no longer chat with IRC?
(I don't btw)

Just out of curiosity, what's wrong with using the forum though?

And yes i do like to catch up on a thread after when I can't follow it live eg due to watching the race

So you think that if we push all chat messages through in posts (probably more than 500), resulting in equally as many posts, you'd be able to follow in the forum format, where there's 20 messages per page?

Could it be possible to have a separate forum thread titled race chat, and then just whip it clean a few days after the race or before the next race?

[notsofast]

Although this forum is perhaps not as technical as it might have been in the past, there are still good nuggets here and there. I enjoy reading the race threads immediately after the race, to better understand some of the race incidents. The screen captures and slo-mo videos that some of the members post here are very helpful in that regard. But I wouldn't want to log on to an IRC chat for that. Anyway, there are other F1 chats where people can post their non-technical, emotional reactions in real time. No need for F1T to host one of those.

[Steven]

Based on the above suggestions, I think we could do the following:

- Create a seperate subforum for in-race chats
- A new topic for each race
- For the chat forum, we modify the style a bit, so we don't show user signatures, and a bit less user information, so it's more like a chat

Thoughts? Suggestions?
One particular problem for me is that posts are still paged. But, if nobody else considers this a problem, it's fine I guess.

[i70q7m7ghw]

No. I meant use the forum as is for race chats and drop the live chat.

I don't get the point of the live chat. If anything it takes people away from the forum albeit temporarily

Which is exactly the point, it gets all the fan boy ying yang out of the race threads. The race threads should be a discussion, not a "chat". The difference being a post on a thread would be a long format type post, well formatted with some analysis/opinion/questions etc. A chat message would simply be something like "vettel was at fault", "button is going quicker now", "verstappen is my driver of the day" etc.

Sometimes the race threads are being updated so quickly you can't even keep up with them, and I imagine the mods have a massive clean up on their hands after each race. IMO the race thread should be locked during the race and "race chat" should be done somewhere else. There's no reason why that chat can't be saved and stored somewhere, maybe something like http://rocket.chat is an option?

[Phil]

I dont see the problem. Its not as if the racr topic is cluttered excessively. Cant we just have both side by side? Not everything needs improvement. I honestly think forcing a chat type sub topic/forum is just complicating things. Even if some chat like posts are made during the race in the race topic... so what? Its still far more relevant and less annoying than the bickering that takes place 5 hours after the race in these topics.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I dont see the problem. Its not as if the racr topic is cluttered excessively. Cant we just have both side by side? Not everything needs improvement. I honestly think forcing a chat type sub topic/forum is just complicating things. Even if some chat like posts are made during the race in the race topic... so what? Its still far more relevant and less annoying than the bickering that takes place 5 hours after the race in these topics.

The race topics have become very cluttered in the past, what you are seeing is the hard work of the mods to keep them uncluttered.

Either way, it would be a shame if the instant chat was removed completely. Some of us use it and it is very good IMO, maybe moving to a more suitable platform will improve uptake.

[Shrieker]

Generally, I just don't like the rule of conversation that chat generates. A sea of people talking over one another, nobody stepping back or considering, just a sea of emotional reaction.

I know the race thread is hardly the pinnacle of in depth debate, but if still lends itself to discussion and debate rather than constant reactions.

I concur.

[Phil]

The race topics have become very cluttered in the past, what you are seeing is the hard work of the mods to keep them uncluttered.

Actually no. I know because i usually have the race topics open while the GP is on, so i have a very clear and accurate view of what is going in there before any mods go in and clean up. And no, i rarely see them cleaning out the short “chat messages” but the abusive bickering that goes on after the race.

[Just_a_fan]

I'm with Phil on this. The race topic, during the race, is a quiet and civilised place. Often there is no more than two pages of comments during the race. The free-for-all madness happens after the race and people start dissecting an incident. It's after the race that the ying-yang starts.

[SiLo]

As much as I prefer the discussion here. I hop over the Reddit for race chats. Forum style posts, but they have threads that you can collapse, and can see either upvoted posts or just new posts as they come in.

It means people can have a conversation in an in-dented thread that does not affect other people if they don't want it to. Here it's just one after the other and can become a bit cluttered. At the end of the day it's all personal preference though.

[cooken]

Biggest issue I have with chat currently is the mobile friendliness. Not usually an issue since I mostly watch at home where a laptop is accessible, but for example I watched Singapore from Heathrow on a stop over - mobile chat was too clunky to use so I checked forum and there was some activity, so I joined in.

Having said that, I do actually enjoy the chat on the rare times I can watch the race live. The immediate casual banter is nice in my opinion, so I think it should stay, maybe with a few tweaks, but ya know it ain't broke, so....

I would worry that a sub forum/thread for race chat would divert too much from the chat. Leaving the main thread open is probably fine, usually it's only a handful of posts as others have said, and by people who wouldn't be inclined to join chat anyway.

Maybe throw up a poll with a few options and see what that gives you?