Board Thread:Site Discussions/@comment-4533965-20160310200631/@comment-3416945-20160310203100

BlueSpeeder, you're absolutely correct in saying that the chatroom is dead--its activity has never been lower. It currently serves no purpose. Many users wish to break free of SNN itself but would also like to remain in touch with the community, hence why the Discord chat is booming with life. As a result, the chat has seen a massive decrease in those utilizing its services, which is unfortunate. Ultimately, we cannot force anyone to use the chat as the primary platform for socializing with other SNN users. If I was to support, this is the argument I would use.

Before we all support to remove the chat, I think it's important to keep in mind the chat's original function, its reason for existence. The chat was introduced to serve as the hub for social discussion on the wiki, most importantly non-Sonic discussion. The chat is the only place on the wiki in which non-Sonic discussion can be held. Remove the chat and no use who wants to use the wiki can discuss other topics. That's huge.

Removing the chat is a big deal. It affects the entire wiki and forces us to rethink our structure. On our About page and other pages on the wiki we boast about offering a social experience, but without the chat we don't really have much of one to brag about. The simple solution is to redirect traffic to the Discord chat, but it's unaffiliated with the wiki and it will remain that way in the future. I have no desire to affiliate Discord with the wiki.

So what do we do? If we remove the chat, we have to rethink our structure for non-Sonic discussion? Do we just remove the chat and keep our rules in place, effectively banning all non-Sonic discussion forever? All that is going to do is drive potential editors away...

SNN is in a depression. Do we give in to the inactivity? Is it really that big of a problem? Our wiki content is thriving with Ultrasonic9000 at the helm. It's never been better. But the social experience is fading. Most of the community who was active here have moved on. Killing off the chat is essentially the final nail in the coffin. I'm not letting new and unfamiliar users on Discord, and we can't force the community to migrate back on to chat. Like I said, the wiki is thriving, so we're really at a crossroads here.

If we remove the chat, we really need to rethink our plan here. We cannot just sit idly and encourage the wiki to become inactive by disallowing non-Sonic discussion permanently. How are we going to attract new users? Removing the chat won't help that, will it? It is inactive and it is taking up space, but is the chat really doing enough harm to the point where we have to remove it? We cannot just give in because the chat is inactive. What good will that do?

As time goes on, the Sonic series will see new releases. If those new releases are popular, new users will come. They will eventually inhabit the chat and the wiki will enter into a new generation. Just because we have not experienced inactivity before doesn't mean this place is dead for good. It's our job to make this place a friendly website for future users, and ultimately, removing the chat is not helping that cause.

Oppose.