Talkita is a Google Chrome extension

[WiFO215]

I'm surprised no one has posted a thread on this as yet. Talkita is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to talk to people who are on the same website as you. Check it out!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gffkbdneeepeccpbpoaciomdibieaiii

This way, I can chat with whoever is online on PF. :)

 

[JaredJames]

A lot of bug reports at the moment in the beta stage.

Seems like a rather unique idea and something that may work. However, given I use firefox exclusively I can't say it's of any use to me.

I'm slightly curious how it operates. Does it use the website resources or is it independent (running through some Google system)?

Of course, the only people you can talk to are others using Chrome along with this add on.

Personally, I don't see this as something that will take off in its current state. Every person on one domain is stuffed in one chat room. Now imagine if 1/10th of PF through traffic used Chrome and had this installed, that would give you around 150 users in one room. There won't be much in the way of a productive conversation occurring and if it uses PF resources it will only serve to severely hinder site performance.

 

[Evo]

A lot of bug reports at the moment in the beta stage.

Seems like a rather unique idea and something that may work. However, given I use firefox exclusively I can't say it's of any use to me.

I'm slightly curious how it operates. Does it use the website resources or is it independent (running through some Google system)?

Of course, the only people you can talk to are others using Chrome along with this add on.

Personally, I don't see this as something that will take off in its current state. Every person on one domain is stuffed in one chat room. Now imagine if 1/10th of PF through traffic used Chrome and had this installed, that would give you around 150 users in one room. There won't be much in the way of a productive conversation occurring and if it uses PF resources it will only serve to severely hinder site performance.

Yep, I used to be an addict of video conferencing. Voice ate up bandwidth, so we restricted people from using it. I find that voice in things like yahoo chat is realtime and landline quality, I'm sure voice degrades with the number of users. Your personal connection will definitely affect the quality.

 

[JaredJames]

Yep, I used to be an addict of video conferencing. Voice ate up bandwidth, so we restricted people from using it. I find that voice in things like yahoo chat is realtime and landline quality, I'm sure voice degrades with the number of users. Your personal connection will definitely affect the quality.

Well we've all seen what chat does to PF when there's only a handful of people in it. If this service does utilise PF resources (which I'd assume it would*, but would like verification) it could cause major issues.

* Given it's only an add on made by a private party, I don't see it as having it's own resources to handle the volume of traffic it could potentially generate. You would need something along the lines of Microsoft / Yahoo / Google to back this to be self supporting. As it stands it does appear to use the website resources you are currently visiting.

 

[WiFO215]

Perhaps we ought to suggest the possibility of being able to divide into "chat blocks" where different topics are going on in each block. I'm just wondering how much of an advantage it would have over the forum.

I'm guessing it would be really advantageous on sites like Amazon wherein I can talk to others before buying a product.

 

[JaredJames]

Perhaps we ought to suggest the possibility of being able to divide into "chat blocks" where different topics are going on in each block. I'm just wondering how much of an advantage it would have over the forum.

The 'division' has already been suggested - if you read the comments they mention allowing people to only chat with those on the same web page as them - so you'd only speak to people currently interested in your thread. This doesn't solve the number of user issue and currently they have indicated they aren't bothering with this.

Advantage wise, none. Given PF is a forum based site all it does is serve to speed up communication. Which might seem like a good thing at first but there are a number of drawbacks created with this, two major ones are:

a) Ability to moderate is lost.

b) Chat can become garbled and the track of conversation can easily be lost in the mass postings erupting onto the screen at once - a problem compounded if you have people discussing different topics all at once (join a big chat room somewhere to see what I mean, or go somewhere really busy and try and hold a conversation as people talk over you).

I'm guessing it would be really advantageous on sites like Amazon wherein I can talk to others before buying a product.

Again, unless self supporting it will hog resources. If this is the case and Amazon don't add more resources to cover for it then it could do some serious damage.

You already have product reviews from customers to help guide you.

 

[Evo]

Is this just a chat function (text)? It's not talking (audio)? If it's texting, that is so lame.

 

[JaredJames]

Is this just a chat function (text)? It's not talking (audio)? If it's texting, that is so lame.

Just text, no audio function. Blimey that could bring down websites.

 

[Evo]

Just text, no audio function. Blimey that could bring down websites.

Pfffft, when he said talk, I thought he meant *talk*. So he meant texting. PFFFFTT

 

[WiFO215]

The 'division' ... to help guide you.

Well I agree with what you said, especially about being able to moderate posts, so perhaps its isn't so great an idea on this forum. On places like Amazon however, there might be a large number of people with good opinions on electronics goods who might not post on the 'reviews' section. It would be nice talking to them. This has its own problems, but let's see how it evolves. :)

 

[JaredJames]

Pfffft, when he said talk, I thought he meant *talk*. So he meant texting. PFFFFTT

Well the concept does seem unique and something I could see being useful in some circumstances. However, I think there is a lot of work to be done and it definitely needs to be self supporting so far as the hosting goes.

 

[JaredJames]

On places like Amazon however, there might be a large number of people with good opinions on electronics goods who might not post on the 'reviews' section. It would be nice talking to them. This has its own problems, but let's see how it evolves. :)

Large numbers of people in one room? Yeah, you'll get useful conversation there. Don't forget there be trolls lurking too.

EDIT: Plus, wouldn't it make sense to have people trying to sell your product via this method as well? A free advertising solution for smaller businesses perhaps?

You get people to go there and deliberately direct people towards their own goods, whether truthfully or blatantly lying to them - who's to know?

 

[Evo]

However, I think there is a lot of work to be done and it definitely needs to be self supporting so far as the hosting goes.

No kidding.

 

[WiFO215]

Large numbers of people in one room? Yeah, you'll get useful conversation there. Don't forget there be trolls lurking too.

EDIT: Plus, wouldn't it make sense to have people trying to sell your product via this method as well? A free advertising solution for smaller businesses perhaps?

You get people to go there and deliberately direct people towards their own goods, whether truthfully or blatantly lying to them - who's to know?

Hmmm, yeah, this is what I meant when I said it came with its own problems. Still a pretty cool feature though, with OR without audio.

 

[WiFO215]

Yech. There it goes. I went to YouTube with Talkita switched on. YouTube comments. Ugh.