Shoutbox for Flarum

Spez

Flarum has been around for 10 years, but I realize that there is still no extension similar to the Shoutbox in Xenforo or other platforms. I think a Shoutbox or a general chat room for all forum members, like Neon Chat or FlaChat, is essential for a forum. Unfortunately, both NeonChat and FlaChat have been abandoned and are not compatible with the latest version of Flarum. I really hope someone will create an extension like that.

14569

Spez Discord + WidgetBot

Justoverclock

actually i was working on a new shoutbox for flarum

not sure if i will continue with the development, i do not see users interested to this extension

Spez

Justoverclock Expect from your project. I believe shoutbox is very suitable for small forums. All Xenforo forums in Vietnam use Shoutbox. Extensions Flarum NeonChat received a lot of attention before it was abandoned. Hope to experience your demo soon.

ronk

Justoverclock it is very good actually

Justoverclock

I've developed this shoutbox for Flarum 2.0, i will improve it in my spare time, or if sponsored (i need to decide about it)

Capybara

Justoverclock I think this extension will interest larger communities because smaller ones usually find Telegram or Discord sufficient. However, the main challenge is deciding where to place the extension. At the top is the welcome banner, then it makes sense to display discussions, with widgets on the sides — so maybe at the bottom?

Spez

Capybara Normally for other forum source codes, the Shoutbox is placed at the top

tolgaaaltas

As a UI/UX designer, I don’t quite understand why communities are so obsessed with shoutboxes. It reduces engagement with posts and discussions, making it harder to find valuable content that users might share in shoutboxes. Additionally, it doesn't effect to SEO, and while it might help lower bounce rates, that’s about all it did. Perhaps I’m missing something, but to me, they feel completely unnecessary.

You can place anywhere If developer make it compatible with forum widgets extension.

Spez

tolgaaaltas Obviously shoutbox forums are not intended for discussion. It's just a place for members to interact and chat with each other. Sometimes it's just saying good morning, good evening, how are you...
For example, my forum is about technology, the discussions are all related to technology. So shoutbox will be a side chat between members, where everyone can interact with each other about all sorts of things in life.

dragsugur

tolgaaaltas 100% agreed. also that's why i dont like group private chats and private discussions. that's why im looking new private messaging system in 2.0.

tolgaaaltas

Spez I would prefer to create a tag called off-topic, so that even if they post just to say "hello", if there is 1‰ valuable content shared, search engines will index it. Thank you for sharing your opinion.

luceos

I understand both sides and just because one scenario feels less valuable or likely to someone doesn't mean it shouldn't be pursued.

Whether we need to look at the requirements, before we allow pledges, depends on what @Justoverclock will do..

Justoverclock

luceos

For now i have:

shoutbox on indexpage only for registered users
no websocket integration (long polling instead, because not all users have a websocket)
database history
command for flush db through the terminal (that can be executive automatically with Flarum schedule)

So if these requirements satisfy all users then bounty can be enabled. Otherwise I do not plan to publish and mantain this ext

Spez

Justoverclock I'm not sure what you mean. But if it's about maintenance costs, what do you think about releasing it in paid form?

Justoverclock

Spez of course i can, but all must be sure that the above requirements satisfy your needs.

i forgot to say that this is available only for flarum 2.0. (no need to rewrite for an older version that will become old in a few)

Spez

Justoverclock I think it needs a few more basic features like: - ban chat with certain users for any period of time. - delete or edit any chat (for administrators)