To Whisper or Not To Whisper
It seems that many people want Whisper back in the Chatroom…not all but many. Im jumping in the deep end and asking why. What does it offer you that the Lobby, Private Chatroom (which you make yourself), Private Chat Box or messages dont offer you? I know it is already there for the Monitors and Admins (one of them will correct me if Im wrong on this) as they need to contact each other about a possible scammer, underager etc in the chatroom without being public about it but the general membership are there to have a conversation with others are they not. Why is there a need to have a conversation with someone in Whisper while the general chat is going on in the background? And I mean a conversation not just a quick few words but a full bodied long conversation as has happened in the past. Misunderstandings have happened due to someone being in Whisper and only seeing part of the conversation behind them mostly due to the speed the chatroom tends to get at times. I was taught as a youngster that it is rude to Whisper in the company of others yet there are some who insist it be there as part of the chatroom format. I don’t know why Rob removed it…maybe it was being abused in some way…but he will have had a reason for it. And no I don’t know what kind of abuse it may be used for. I myself have only used it on a few occasions and only then because it was important and related to something that had been, was or may be going on in the chatroom and it was kept to a minimum. I miss it for that reason only.
To get Whisper back you would have to have a really good reason for it…after all there are other ways to have private conversations.
Faye, I don’t use whisper for the reasons you just stated.However, I still think it is a handy device for those who do want to use it who want to follow a particular thread of a conversation. Some may want to discuss religion, politics or sex that may provoke others. We are adults, and if adults want to whisper to each other, why should they not be allowed to do so?
Hence the ability to make your own room…if there are say 2 who want to discuss those things there may well be more…so a room for such discussion can be made and it gives everyone the choice on joining it if they wish.
I had little need for whisper, and sometimes used to have to scold some for using it to me if they were newbies especially and they didnt speak to anyone . however was handy for quickly telling the chatters about a suspected crasher, faye … so I nguess neutral here.xx
I dont see any problem with the whisper….if anyone says something to you in there that you dont like….dont answer them!! easy…ignore them..its not the whisper that is the problem…its how people use it!
I guess that will work. It works for me soon as I learn how to make a room.
I think we have not been told WHY whisper was removed, if we were told; we could discuss the rationale. It would be nice to be told why our playhouse was rearranged.
The advantage of ‘Whisper’ is very clear and concise – if I wish to discus a personal matter or make a comment to another member I whispered as did they. Making a ‘public’ declaration of, ‘please go into the ‘Private Room’ is often not suitable. To say nothing should be private in the Chat Room ignores the realities of life. In addition friendships are developed with the odd solicitation over many months. People who abused Whisper were quickly identified, embarrassed and left.
Finally, surely of paramount importance should be the wishes of the members that actually use the Chat Room? 90% were in favour, the other night, of reinstating ‘Whisper’. I hope Rob will reconsider this issue.
Agree
Well said Charles!
90% in the room Charles? Right now at this point in time there are 9 people in the chatroom and 6 of them have raised objections to Whisper being gone. Most of the objections appear to come from much the same time zone and there are 18 of them. After this being up for 3 days it seems there arent as many objections to it being gone as I thought there would be. With so few Im not sure Rob would reconsider putting Whisper back…LOL
Faye, I am noticing that those who want it gone don’t even come into the lobby on a regular basis. Also, when this blog is mentioned, people say, “What blog? I don’t read blogs.” Seems that there are more and more finding out about your blog now and commenting in favor of it. We have to take into consideration that not everyone reads blogs.
I agree with you Lo. Faye you know that a lot of the chatters never look at blogs. We have had Blogs about this topic. Maybe if you wrote on the info page, asking chatters to read your blog and respond, you will get more chatters involved in your survey. JMHO….LOL
very strongly agree!!! its a tool…nothing more or less. it is a optional tool. I liked the multiple choices for private conversations or commentary. I don’t find it should be necessary to announce that you want to speak to someone privately. Greater chance of unintentional offense that way. I too, hope Rob will reconsider.
Well said, Charles.
To go in the private room you need to ask the person whom ones intended to, and need to whisper the person your intentions. Making your own room needs a password and had to whisper to give him/her the password.
I agree with Charles and Cinta. But it’s ok. I now go to Facebook and chat there if there’s something I need to say.
Add me Jutta.
Personally I enjoyed the whisper feature I could have another convo when the topic in room was not for me, and it saved singling someone out to go private which I think drew attention to the fact that I was uninterested and maybe would cause offence to some.I also think that not being “allowed” to whisper is treating us like children. Everyone will not always get on all the time and I think this will lead to more sniping in the room thus leading to more unrest. In my opinion removing the whisper feature was a mistake. I now await the wrath of “The world must all get on” gang.
Good points there Sun
exactly!
again….I strongly agree with Sun. think the removal of whisper may engage more misunderstanding and offense.
I really dont know what the fuss is about,if people want to whisper and not chat in a public chat room forum then let them,they obviously dont want to talk to any other person present.But,I believe people have that option now in private room and private messaging,however if those wishing to whisper have gotten to know the other person in a chat room well enough then there should be no problem.If on the other hand its a nuisance to some then they have an option of not entering into whispering
Some interesting observations there leaving me to wonder how we all got on before the Whisper function was introduced. Did we use the Private Chat box more, did we write messages, did we use another room?? And why would any of us go into the chatroom if there was no-one there we wanted to chat to.
I chat in the room to everyone, and at the same time I could whisper to someone else about personal family thing etc that no one else wants to hear. Yes I could go to another room if I wanted. It was just a function I liked on occasion. I can live without it, just saying it was a handy option. I still talked flat out in the lobby at the same time lol Without the whisper option or with it makes no difference whatsoever to the chat flow. Sometimes there can be 15 people in the lobby and only 2 or 3 chatting. Jmo
Agree with everything you said Grams. Many times friendships develop outside the chatroom, where info is mutually shared in that friendship but not necessarily in the chatroom. Nothing wrong with that…it gives the opportunity to say a little something to your friend or encourage someone privately through a tough time or congratulate someone on a private achievement. We are not children…this is not adult kindergarten…shouldn’t we be able to make that decision? I hope so!
cor grandmaj, you dont need a whisper, you need a chat site all to yourself haha. The only problem i see with whisper is if someone enters the room and quite a few are whispering then its only common politeness to at least welcome that person into the room and explain your whispering instead of leaving the person with the feeling the members dont care.
Lol Cef, I very rarely whisper. But was just saying it was a handy option to have if I wanted to share something quickly to someone without having to do the whole leave the room thing or private chat. Whenever I’ve been chatting I have never seen anyone ignored. Some people choose to sit and watch and not chat. Doesn’t mean they are whispering. Doesn’t bother me it not being there. But Face asked the question lol
I agree with you totally!!..We are adults…and senior adults…if we want to have a little whisper…who cares? Seriously….is it such a big deal?
Very well said GJ!
Im sure it is a big deal for those who are vain enough to think they are being talked about. Or those who need to know every body else’s business. Its called paranoia.
Ozzie, I ever heard so much gaff about the whisper, give me a break, no wonder newbies don’t bother about joining the SC, sometimes I wonder is it worth the bother. I have been looking in lobby for the past 6 hrs on occasion and the place is dead than a graveyard.
Sorry Faye not Face
thought you wouldnt like it faye is that course mike dont like it to, me l think its just childish were adults here not children so treat us as like dont know anbout a private room do know if l want to talk to some omne private l have to come out of here and go to another page all becourse one or two didnt like it
Mike???? Who you talking about John?
ah well grandmaj seems you have put me in my place again lol Personally i dont care who whispers or not because i have done it myself many times and its very good if you want to send something privately to a person in the room. As i now rarely use the rooms it will bother me even less
Whisper is excellent to advise someone to be careful about a subject that might hurt another chatter.
Whisper is excellent to enquire about how a problem, medical or personal is being handled without making a public announcement.
Whisper is an excellent addition to chat and I would like it back. Maybe allow a person to block it if its not wanted.
Please bring back whisper.
Very well stated, BobE! Let’s hope Rob listened to you as well 🙂
Can I just ask, has the whisper box been causing problems for anyone, has someone complained about it……maybe there is a valid reason for it being removed……..I don’t know………if it hasn’t caused any problems for anyone then what is the reason it has been removed…….I’m no techy by any means, but by removing it does this mean it frees up more space for something else on the site…..just asking….
Well said Bob being back whisper for the ones who want it I never used it but now I will not have the chance !
The whisper function had a lot of good uses. Members could chat to each other about something that the entire room might not have an interest in and it wouldn’t break up the main topic of conversation (it can be difficult to follow chat if there are several topics at once). It also helped form friendships in the room. It would be good to see it back again!
sorry l meant rob my mistakes
I find that quite insulting really John and Im sure you dont mean it to sound that way. I do have a mind of my own…maybe dont always use it but i do have one…LOL
I’m agreeing with macathy on this one. There is the ‘chat’ feature to utilize now for ‘whispering’. The only negative thing about that is, MOST people keep it turned OFF! can’t communicate with anyone privately if they don’t turn it on… Perhaps ROB should eliminate the ability to turn the chat feature off and leave the chat feature permanently ON!
Think that may have been the trouble everyone was too busy whispering,no one chatting much in the room.Maybe why Rob removed it!
But mac, they now just go on to FB and whisper and don’t leave the lobby. Removing whisper doesn’t force people to chat and they shouldn’t be forced to chat anyway. Some people lurk and don’t contribute anything to the chat room. They just like to watch. We are adults, and I like BobE’s suggestion, maybe there is an option to turn off whisper if you don’t want to be whispered to.
True Lo but then why go into the Lobby if it isnt to chat. As for going to FB while in the Lobby…to me that sounds of someone being scared they are going to miss something so it becomes easier to switch from one to the other…..or maybe bored with one until something happens in the other.
I really have no idea why it was turned off.Would like to see more people chatting in the room.If they leave just because they can’t whisper,I then wonder why they came in chat room at all then?
whats all this about whispering on fb lo??? am i missing something lol If your referring to ppl chatting in fb then its part of the site and you have complete control over who you chat to and who you dont. Now why would anyone whisper in fb lol Perhaps we could have a whispering room on chatters lol Loads of names and no conversation sounds perfect to me lol Please dont allow JW in the room he will hog the convo lololol
What I mean Cef, is since they can no longer whisper in our lobby, they open up FB chat and whisper about what’s happening in our lobby! So the chat in our lobby will still cease, regardless.
Faye, why people come into the lobby and don’t join in and chat, will never be answered. I can name you several, but I won’t, that complain that they aren’t included but they NEVER offer anything to the conversation. The only time they speak is to whine and moan, that they aren’t included, yet, it’s like pulling teeth to get them engaged in the conversation. It has nothing to do with whisper. They blame everyone and everything. It will always be this way, unfortunately.
There are also times when people come in THINKING, they have time to chat, and as soon as they sit down, a dog wants out, the phone rings, a neighbor stops by, dinner starts to burn, the cat wants food and on and on. LOL It happens to us all. We multi-task and the conversation in the lobby ceases. Again, it’s not whisper that is the sole blame for lack of conversation. It’s being human. Life happens and that in my humble opinion is what does it.
I cant believe we are having this discussion ….!! Im going off to whisper to myself!!
I would like to whisper to you Ozzie59 …
Jetstar has specials airfares to Sunshine Coast ” return tickets for just about $200 ” sharing car hire at TCB about $20 a day ” are you coming ?? 🙂
hahahahahah ozzie!!
I think we should have the option to use whisper or not!!!. An on off switch for those who don’t want to use whisper… seems the best solution !..
Sorry, but i really did like having the whisper mode available… I agree that it can be abused by not greeting others when they come unto room,or contributing to ongoing conversation, but i have rarely seen this happen…please, may we have whisper back ?
you can’t end a convo when only 2 are in lobby and a new person enters, you can’t exactly say “hey, meet me in private so we can finish this” leaving the newcomer stranded.
faye a long time ago l was allmost kicked out you remember that dont you, some woman said bad things about me , ohh yes l remember, lm lucky she said bad things about a lot of people in here, l was insulted that l was never going to get a chance to say my piece remember.
to you faye l aplogies l,m sorry
Personally , I like the whisper feature. There have been times that someone or I wanted to ask someone something personal and didnt want to do it in the room.
I see no harm in it being there.
If there is discord in the room, it will still be there whether whisper is a feature or not.
I dont think whisper has been an issue.
Just bring “Whisper” back, and we can all get on with our lives. PLEASE !!!!!!
Not to offend anyone but I have had some really laughable moments over how anyone could place such importance over such an inanimate object as if it has become more important than actually making friends and getting to know people. Im left to wonder how we all managed without it in a time it wasnt available. I do remember a time it wasnt there and the chatroom was used to chat to everyone and other methods used to chat one on one. In those days the chatroom was a fairly busy place as was the PCB and the messages. As someone said many have the PCB turned off…..is that because they dont want to have one on one chatting. To that end I suggest those who are objecting to the Whisper being removed, turn on your PCB…..Im sure if you dont mind using it neither will your friends. And from an Admin/Monitor point of view many of us have had to cope with abusive members via the Whisper application…underagers objecting to us checking their ages with them, dirty old men and women who slip past the Home Page and into the chatroom, people who cant control their tempers especially when drinking,disgruntled members who will cuss and swear at us via the privacy of Whisper etc etc. Yes some of them get removed from the site while others removed from the chatroom but we also have to be diplomatic with some who are not normally inclined to be this way. We cannot unhear what we have already heard. It is my belief there are also some of the membership who have had to put up with this kind of behaviour via the Whisper. Is it worth having back? No I dont think it is especially when there are other alternatives to talk one on one to someone and use the chatroom as it should be used….to be socialable. You CAN live your lives without Whisper!!!
well Faye, you are hardly EVER in the lobby so i really don’t think you know what we’re talking about
Hi Faye ,
I know you wrote the blog , but you didn’t get rid of the whisper feature ,did you ?
Why then not be neutral ,and let the people who use the chat room have their say ,and Rob decide if he will bring whisper back or not ?
I don’t use the chat room , and the few times I did ,I never used it ,so it doesn’t bother me one way or another .
But I always read blogs 🙂 ,and it’s good to hear people’s opinions . And so far most people who commented want the feature back . I’m just saying .
Rob must have had his reason for getting rid of it , and perhaps he would make a statement soon enough !
Meanwhile relax ! ….by the way I couldn’t whisper this to you …there’s not whisper on blogs .
Come over to TCB ,Faye and have your Aussie Fix !!
Would love to make the rip to TCB Nmod. I also have family not far from there. Heaven help me…Aussie rellys!!!…haahaa!! Unfortunately not an option for me this time but never know what the future may bring….:-)
Having read all the comments I think it stands out a mile that the majority of lobby users liked the whisper feature, and as for encouraging more people to use the lobby I think it has had the opposite effect!! The room seems to have less chatters in it since this feature was removed. But has been stated it is up to Rob so I hope he reads this blog and reinstates the whisper feature as the people have spoke!!!
At the risk of repeating myself… I really feel the majority of the lobby users liked the whisper mode and would love to have it back. Someone made an excellent suggestion that a whisper block option could be put into use for those who wish it.. or they could just block the chatter they do not wish whispering to them. Why should the rest of us be punished by the actions of a very few? This just does not seem fair…. and since the majority of the lobby users would like it back….could we please have it back?
“Not to offend anyone but I have had some really laughable moments over how anyone could place such importance over such an inanimate object as if it has become more important than actually making friends and getting to know people”
Actually I find this very offensive, Faye. Laughable moments over chatters who are passionate about chatting and wanting more choices? Why is this so laughable?
Chatters coming together and voicing their opinions is laughable too? It appears you have already made up your mind Faye, so why write a blog on this?
I feel the chatters that have responded , have been very honest and forthcoming as to why they feel the whisper mode is a good thing.
I find nothing laughable about any of this.
Was thinking the same thing Passy. To be honest I could not give a rats behind if we have the whisper option or not. But the question was asked and lots answered. I don’t often reply on blogs. And after hearing our opinions are laughable, I reminded myself not to reply again.
Maybe I should have used the word amusement instead of laughable….and it was directed at the fact that the Whisper is an inanimate object that we all once lived without….key word being inanimate. I cant understand for the life of me why such importance is placed on its reappearance…. is everyone so desparate to be able to ignore people who Im sure they could have a great conversation with given a chance…in favour of a one on one conversation they could have in other parts of the site. My apoligies to Gran and Pass for the misuse of THAT word but it is only the opinion of someone who doesnt mind admitting to a weird sense of humour. It was not used with the intention of insulting anyone. My foot does have a habit of finding its way to my mouth on occasions.
Fair enough Faye. Apology accepted 🙂 I’m not desperate to ignore anyone. I just said it was handy. In all the years I’ve been a member, I’ve probably only used it a handful of times. And only to discuss personal things myself or the other person wanted to quickly discuss without having to leave the room. I can see your mind ticking over thinking why wouldn’t I open up my private chat box. Reason being, everyone’s name on my friends list comes up. I like to chat in the lobby, not in private chat box. Just a quick whisper if need be. Obviously it’s not coming back so no big deal.
Thank you Faye for clarifying your words, I think? Laughable to amusement? Maybe it is a cultural thing .
I happen to agree with what you said Gran. 🙂
All I can say is what a big deal is made of this….gawd!!! Lets chat about something else!! Pleeeeeeeez!!
lol Ozzie, obviously its the most important blog written in a while. As people are commenting. Maybe skip over it Ozzie then you don’t have to read it. Or start another blog on something else so people can comment lol 🙂
I once again agree with Gran….I better stop this now…hahahaha 😉 🙂
Sorry, admit Iskipped a lot, so forvive me if I repeat anything
I’m all for retaining whisper! You can offer personal comments on a 1 t 1 basis, I Know I,ve circumvented at least 3 arguements!
If it’s there use it or ignore it! Remove it and the option is gone!