Chat is Here!

For a while, we’ve been using comments to chat on a Stormweight list. Since the site updates every couple of seconds, this worked pretty well — until we finished chatting and had a monstrously long string of comments that bloated the idea every time we wanted to expand it. Chat really highlights the collaborative nature of a list. We’ve imagined a number of ways it will change how people interact on a Stormweight list, and we’re excited to hear how chat changes the way you experience Stormweight.

Like everything else about Stormweight, chat works asynchronously or in real time. Each list has its own chat space. Every member of the list can see the chat and participate in it. You can have a back and forth, real time conversation, or you can post chats that other members will see when they next visit the list.

We think chat’s really cool, so we’ve put it live, though there are features we’ll be adding in the near future. Optional email notifications for chat are on the way. An adjunct to chat, the tab in which a list is open now flashes when a change occurs if your browser isn’t focused on that tab. Currently, the text lets you know how many updates have occured, but not what kind. The tab will blink if an idea, a chat, or a comment is added, but once you focus your browser on the list, you’ve got to search for the change. It works fine if you’re in the middle of a conversation, but it’s pretty frustrating otherwise. We’ll be adding visual indicators to make it obvious where the change occured very soon.

As new collaborative elements emerge, managing Stormweight email notifications becomes increasingly salient. The list preferences page is looking pretty baroque. Smarter, batched email notifications are on the horizon.

We’d love to hear how you’d like email notifications to function. How many notification preferences settings are too many? What’s the optimal frequency to receive batched notification emails? We’re trying to keep everyone up to date and engaged with their lists without swamping any inboxes. It’s a fine line to walk. Input on this subject either in the comments on on Stormweight Suggestions are much appreciated and will be duly considered.

We hope you like chat and find it useful. We’ve been having a lot of fun with it. Post a comment and let us know what you think.