Bring General Chat back!

[Duskfire]

This probably has been a hammered topic once, but I think it should be touched on again.

   General Chat was one of my most favorite things about FH, it allowed you to be decently social (no personal information exchanging of course) with the majority of people online. I really don't see the need for it's demise, as those who really are affected by it can simply opt out of seeing it. General chat really was a great thing, and if anything were to ever be changed again, I'd beg to bring that back.

Edit: I'd also encourage all of you who agree to spread awareness in some sort of way, whether it's bringing it to forums, emailing staff, creating characters, or telling others about it. I hope that if they see that our wishes are widespread, they'll maybe revive it.
 Thanks! (:

[Skullfrost]

To be honest, I agree. With General gone, it certainly hasn't been any easier to recruit for roleplays. When it was removed, you guys said to wait a few months at least with it gone and see how things go- I think it's been gone long enough and should be given a chance to come back.

I'd like to suggest, as many people did when the first announcement came, that we get a poll. It's been long enough, guys- 2 years, in fact.

[greenart6]

There has actually been a post on the Feralheart tumblr on General recently:

http://feralheart-official.tumblr.com/post/116108132680/are-you-guys-ever-gonna-bring-general-chat-back

I think General is going to be gone for a while more now.

[.Ghostly.]

I'm quite mutual about General Chat. I mean, I miss it but it was kind of annoying and.. was used in the wrong way at times. It brings back plenty of memories. I just don't know whether we should have it back or not. Maybe it will be put back in the future but I am not a part of the staff team so I don't know what to tell you. I mean, it was a much easier way to advertise for roleplays, groups, etc but when people spam general and talk to each other (like literal conversations), it was pretty annoying and users must'v constantly had general turned off because of this incident. So.. I mean if people use it correctly in the right use, who knows.

[Redlinelies]

The game cannot handle such a chat, users have issues handling the chat as well, staff cannot keep anyone happy with either "nothing done" or "too strict rules". A flawed design of a chat and users not willing to get along. The statements about general chats are many, the discussions are so too.

The key points are though that having such a chat, or bringing it back with so little support game wise to improve it or modify it, and many limitations lingering about there's no good reason right now to throw it out again. We'd need the game creators time and actual help to fix general chat in the game since we're extremely restricted in what we can do with the game, general chat being disabled is really the only option for now.

Months passed and general chat being gone improved the game greatly, as I've stated countless times in the past before I do feel for those advertising and using the chat properly, but not everyone did so. Putting the chat back would cause more ruckus if we took it away again and wouldn't help the game in any way.

[Jango_Fett]

.... Red, not to show disrespect but...
Improved....?
It's... Been basically the same.... Except with more movie spam...
Other than that there's really been no change.


Though I do remember that post-General, there were actual protests held in the game...
'Twas not... A good time to beo n FeralHeart.

Honestly, I would be rather glad to have it back.
Since as of late I've felt a bit hindered, whether chatting, recruiting and whatnot, because not everyone watches the movies, or watches my movies.
Plus the only places where there are a lot of people who'd like to chat are at SB and the Cape Portal.

Though I know I cannot convince anyone(Much less a Staffer) that it should be brought back.
I would not be against it being brought back.

As for players not using it right....
That goes for all chats, if you think about it.
But I haven't seen anyone take away Local or Party.
Plus, there was always the handy block button and turning General off if people weren't liking the conversation, and if it was breaking any rules, then the screenshot and report would come into play.

[Redlinelies]

Improvement there has been. Even though most has been from a more bigger standpoint of taking care of the game and how people use the game and behave in it. I cannot speak of the fun and derps that general chat held but it was not the main focus of why it got disabled.

This is not a matter of convincing, as a mod in the game you do more than just see what goes on, you also try to deal with it and do something about it, stretching far and wide in what you're capable of as a simple being. There is a block function, and there is a turning off chat option, but it clearly didn't help over the years general was there, and neither is there any sort of discussion of "screenshot and report, thanks staff for listening!" matter when general and it's problems, and horrid ability of sharing chats with everyone no matter if it's advertising for roleplays, casual talk or just help. As mentioned earlier the design is not the best.

I'd really wish to believe what has been said, but general chat truly was a strain on the game even if it was fun and handy for some. It's clear that people do not change how they portray or behave in certain chats, so putting it back in the game now would make no difference, and I hope people will understand this.

[WhiteLightHeart]

There is a block function, and there is a turning off chat option, but it clearly didn't help over the years general was there.

Stepping in a little bit, here. By all technicalities, discussions of General chat are prohibited on our public forums, due to the nature of the discussion having a tendency to go hostile (this one hasn't as of yet, and I'm pleased to see this--but the answer still hasn't changed).
[It is due to note that the original post prohibiting this has since been removed, so we certainly will not hold that one against you].

While General chat was fun for socialization, the staff would not have removed General chat if we didn't know that it was best for the game. Keep in mind that while users may miss the advantages of socialization and roleplay advertising in it, the staff themselves are the ones who have had to moderate, maintain, and deal with every single issue that has occurred throughout the game's 4.5 year history with and without General chat.
While you may think that the game hasn't improved since its removal, those who run the show (staff, themselves) have seen the improvements.
Mind you, there will always be trolls,
there will always be rule-breaking,
they will always be some fool screaming his head off and swearing in public chats somewhere (like local).
And there will always be staff to bring it back to a level of civility.

However, while people do this in Local to affect users (which usually affects no more than 20 users at a time, with exceptions like Bonfire, which can reach up to 60-70 users in one go), General chat allowed people to reach over 300 people at once, meaning that all of those people could see someone yelling swears, or worse in that chat. It's not even an exaggeration.
You can indeed turn off the chat, but those users are still abusing our chats to hurt other users.

As mentioned earlier the design is not the best.

FH currently has 9 staff members. We seek out more all the time, but it takes time to train and select new staff, who must be of utmost trustworthiness, maturity, and many more qualities before being selected.
Each day, the number of users who log into FH reach the thousands.
FH has no chat lexicons (which can be used to prevent certain words, like swears, from being entered into your chatbox).
FH has no restrictions on words than can be typed.
We have only a list of rules, and 9 staff members to enforce this. As well as a strong userbase who is (usually) willing to screenshot and report abridgements of these rules.
But even this is not completely fool-proof, and there will always be rule-breakers who manage to slip through the cracks, despite our best efforts.
Along with this, General chat was originally designed from the game's predecessor, Impressive Title, and made to handle around 20-30 users in one map at a time. Not over 300 per map.

Put all of this together, and the design for General becomes blown out of proportion and a breeding ground for horrid behavior with horrid consequences. By removing General, we limit the damage done by those who will abuse it, and it makes them less effective.

But we do understand the downside of users having a less effective way to advertise their groups, as well. Especially considering that FH is devoted to roleplay. This consideration hasn't gone untouched, believe me, and it hurts the staff to have done this, as well.

However, movie spam is nowhere near as bad as seeing someone scream cuss words and threats into a chat that can reach up to 300 users at a time, day and night. Just as well, roleplays are still thriving and finding new ways to do so, and we still bump up to nearly 800 users online during our active hours during the school year, and we reach over 900 each night during the summers. The game itself has not lost many users since it's initial release, over 4 years ago. Rule-breakers, while still present and inevitable, cannot reach as many users at once, and can still be just as easily spotted or reported as they have in the past. Coming from a staff member who has been in the team for nearly two years, and who has been through the era of General and the era without, we can see this distinction.

Again, we wouldn't have removed the General chat function from public maps if it were not for the best--even with its disadvantages. And we do sincerely apologize for this. If we had the ability to create an advertisement-only chat in the game that prevented spam or cussing, perhaps even a game-wide global chat, we would, but we are unable to do so without the game's source code (for those who do not know, the game's creator, KovuLKD, has left the game and not given it to staff for us to continue updating, which has created more comfortless dilemmas for this game than anything else).

As unfortunate as it is, these are the cards we have been dealt, and removing General was one of the results of this. The entire staff team regrets this, but we must often do things we do not like to do for the better of those we care about, and those would be you, our users.

This said, the discussion of General will likely always be a "No." The discussion has long been dead, and I see no use in continuing to make this discussion public, due to the fact that we've had literal uprisings on our boards due to this very topic. I will be locking this thread, as the question has been answered several times by staff, now.
This doesn't mean we don't want to hear you guys, out, though. Please message me with your concerns, if you have them beyond this post. We want to alleviate and hear out your concerns, even if we cannot give you the answer you want to hear.