Chat room update

[stevebennett]

I have received 100s of emails since we changed the Chat format and will try and explain my stance on this. Firstly, we have had over 1.9 million posts since it launched last year. Whilst there is no question that it is hugely popular, it also has become the largest problem area for the business, with John, Katherine and myself receiving dozens of complaint on a daily basis, about what happens in the chat.
The big problem with chat rooms is how messages are interpreted and what started off as a pleasant conversation can end up upsetting people.
Last week, we had a major fashion magazine just about to write a huge piece on the success of our business, Sarah had worked hard with them for two weeks, with several photo sessions and four trips to London. They logged onto the site and saw a whole conversation about verrucas and decided that as they had written an article about how beautiful our jewellery was and how the prices were much better than the high street, that the chat did not fit with the story they had written and pulled the article. This was a massive blow to the growth of the business. This is also not an isolated case.

The chat room is important from my point a view because:
• It welcomes new customers
• It allows customers to ask the Presenter questions (what length is that bracelet, please shows the clasp etc)
• Is keeps our business operating at peak performance as any errors or mistakes in our company can easily be broadcast.
• Its lots of fun
• Its unique
• It keeps people interacting with us as I fully understand that nobody will like every piece of jewellery (if everyone liked every piece we would actually not be pushing design concepts hard enough)
• It shows our openness
• It lets people share information about our jewellery and our service
However, let me point out that we are a jewellery business and have to aim to sell a certain amount of jewellery to stay in business. We have massive ambitions as a business, these are not financially driven (other than a commitment to have donated a certain amount to charity over a set period), but are about the quality of our jewellery and brands, about giving the VERY BEST prices in the industry, the very best service, about providing the very best gemstones and about educating the globe about coloured gemstones (the 2nd edition of our book is going to print in 4 weeks).
The chatroom is important as I said above, however:
• It has upset many people
• It is the cause of lost business
• It has intimidated potential customers
• It takes up so much of my management teams time
So what I promise is that we will not give up on it, but will continue to try and find a solution that retains many of the benefits, whilst limits the negatives. Ideas we are currently contemplating includes:

Keeping the two chatrooms, but being able to see them both at the same time. Regulars could do this and new customers would not need to open it. The Presenter would then be better equipped to see the messages in the one room.
Maybe asking a dozen or so regular customers to moderate the chat (we can’t do it as it would require 8 more full time staff across the different shifts and this is an expense that would have to be passed on and therefore I do not feel the right move).
Best wishes and happy Easter

Steve

 

[Jantaculum]

Thank you for explaining. Sorry to hear about the loss of the magazine article.

 

[Tabs]

Thanks for the update Steve, obviously "major sources of press coverage" are necessary to further promote your business and i can obviously understand the importance of them getting the best impression if they "call to visit" the site. I agree entirely about your points re the chat room, the abilty to ask the presenter questions re length of bracelet, setting of a ring could also influence a customers decision on if to buy or not,so it would be a great shame to lose that interaction.

Hopefully a suitable compromise can be made for all.

 

[mariek]

Agree Steve i know lately the chat has put me off a few times when ive logged in,so from a business point of view some of the topics etc have been bareknuckled so i can see as to why "businesses" wouldn't take to it.
Ater all you have to protect your buisness foremost.
I think alot of us have got used to the "family" way of things and change always puts a spanner in the works though my only point perhaps would be that before the changes were implemented a brief note of contact on here or rocks itself to explain might off saved alot or grief in the begining and not got so heated..just a thought as the shock would of been less...
Thanks again for the explanation and i sincerely hope that future business etc will not be offended and future customers not upset and things will settle down .

 

[saphire]

Thanks for the update Steve. I have to agree that the chat has got totally out of hand and needs some sort of a solution. I have a suggestion that the second room is made totally private and only accessible via another login for those who really want to chat about other things other then jewelery this would then stop anyone accidentally going into the wrong room and getting offended.

 

[Beady Belle]

Thank you for the explanation Steve. How awful that you've lost the press coverage and potential business because of a facility that has, in the past, encouraged people to buy. Hopefully, when things have settled down, the magazine could be persuaded to take another look and run the article.

I don't wish to offend, and I totally understand that monitoring the chat room is very labour intensive, but if the 'undesirable' chat had been dealt with quicker, perhaps this situation would not have arisen? Water under the bridge now, and if you do go with 'regulars' as Mods. I would suggest that their identities be kept secret as I can see the potential for further problems if people know who they are.

You know the old saying "You can't please all of the people all of the time", certainly true in this case, but I do hope there is a way around this current problem that enables your business to go from strength to strength.

Good luck.

:doggie:

 

[ALWAYSSKINT]

It is sad Steve that you have lost advertisement because of this and i hope things will get sorted soon.Many others and i have been with you from day one and i feel your frustration as to what has happenend.I loved the chat in the early days and its a shame it has changed so much.That is why i tend to lurk around and not chat like i used to.

 

[sweetpea]

Thanks for taking the time to update us Steveand I echo what has been said previously by others.

It was a 'shock to the system' for many of the regulars but I know from my point of view that once the shock had worn off I found the 2 chatrooms to not be any problem really.I had a lovely afternoon yesterday on the site,Jamie was fun and my 2 requests were very efficiently dealt with by Haydn

The change did cause some technical issues for some so hopefully these will be ironed out in the course of time.The moderator idea is a good one too,as I said on the other thread,allowing all chatters the facility to arbitrarily moderate could lead to a great deal of confusion.

 

[Dingbat]

Chat Room

Hi Steve

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to reply to all those emails which must have almost drowned you.

Thanks for explaining the reasons behind splitting the chat rooms - and now
it has been properly explained I can totally understand your reasoning for it. I'm also really sad that you lost that article - particularly because it was related to something totally out of your control.

I agree with the comment about keeping the moderators names private too. A very pertinent point.

Nobody likes change - no matter what they say - and it always does take time for people to accept it - and some people may well never accept it, but that is their decision. You have to do whatever you feel is best for your business, and that is what it is all about. At least you have kept the chat room rather than just abolishing it.

Once again, thanks very much for explaining the situation, and keep up the great work.

 

[Mirabelle]

Thanks for the update Steve!..I'm so sorry to hear about the magazine article being pulled...that's a real shame...all Sarah's hard work down the drain.

But as someone else has already stated, if the issue of offenders and cyber bullies had been dealt with more efficiently, there would have been no need to re introduce the second room again...
I for one always helped to welcome new people into chat, I also helped to draw in new customers , I also asked for jewelery measurements and sizes anyway to type into the chat, especially to help those with no sound.(even helped you out a few times to Steve)
and also had friendly digs in the chat asking "was I on commission" for Rocks.

So feelings have rose high as it was felt customers may be could at least have had an email to warn of the change..(It could only have helped the matter)..if notification emails can be done for promotion, then why not to tell of a change taking place, especially on a bank holiday weekend when everyone is at home.
I feel that the drastic sudden change contributed to people no longer wanting to participate or purchase any more, apologies but that's... (myself included),
and last night although I was not logged and havn't been since the change....
I saw another customer in chat very angry at the childish way the chat was being monitored, and actually said in chat..to quote them...
"Rocks had just lost a good paying customer" and then said Bye!

I also personally feel that the introduction of the arrow to move people's chat should not be the resposibility of chatters, that in my opinion is asking for more hostility!.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the early days of Rocks and chat..
but it's turned out to be more like double the trouble for abusers and cyber bullies now..

If things were to improve in the near future, and for the greater good then I would love to return and participate again.

I know only too well that times change as a company grows...
So I wish you Steve, Sarah & John all the best and Good Luck!

Mirabelle.

 

[Meeshoo]

Steve

I haven't read all of the above comments but I did read your post. May I suggest the following that would eliminate desirables whilst still having the interaction with the presenters?

You could have 2 buttons on screen as follows

Ask the presenter: If you pressed this, you could ask questions such as "how long is that bracelet" "what grade are those diamonds" "tell me more about that gemstone" etc. This could be moderated by your staff and only genuine jewellery related questions could be put through. Once the moderator decides which question should be shown it could appear on a screen (where chat is at the moment perhaps) so that people can see the question and who's asked it and the presenter can reply.

The second button would be:

Request an Item: If somebody wanted to request a piece to be shown, they could press this button and put in the item number. If there is only one left in stock an automated answer could be emailed back to them that they need to buy it on the CR website and it won't be shown live. If more than one item is in stock then they could get a generated email that says, "this item is in stock and wherever possible we will try to show it in the next XX hours".

You could then eliminate the chat rooms altogether.

For what it's worth, as you say, you've had the biggest problem with the chat rooms and just reading some of the chat is excrutiatingly awful and doesn't reflect well on your business. I stopped visiting RocksTV for exactly this reason and I'm not the only one.

Having 2 chat rooms will only make this worse. It will be an unwelcome distraction and will become more of a forum. I, as a customer, want to see jewellery and ask questions and find out about it. I don't want to see people bitching and no matter how well moderated a chat room is, it's not possible to have the talk all about jewellery. Much as I love my bling, even I'd struggle to do that!!!!

I understand that this would, in essence, change the RocksTV format BUT the interaction with the presenters will still be there. Perhaps, if you felt that you needed the Chat room it could be limited to one hour per day between the hours of X and Y. That way, regulars who feel the need to chat could log on at that time. It would be less time to moderate and for the majority of the time you could remain jewellery focussed.

I hope these suggestions have helped. Keep up the good work.

Meesh xxx

p.s. Email me if you want to discuss the above!

 

[gemdreamer]

I agree with meeshoo, the ask the presenter thing is a good idea, and they could scrap the chat room. It does seem to cause trouble, and personally it has put me off rocks tv not encouraged me to stay watching or to buy.

It is a terrible thing that the chat has caused rocks tv to loose vital advertising, and it seems like some people have forgotten that rocks tv IS a business, a jewellery retail business and not a chat forum.
People have this great site for chatting etc, and it seems unfair to expect rocks tv to keep loosing business and suffering just so some customers can have a chat.

Meeshoo's sugessions would mean you could still interact with the presenter, requesting items and asking valid questions regarding the jewellery, but without the trouble currently being caused by the chat room.

 

[Sazza]

Steve, thank you for your reply, I am sorry to hear you lost the magazine article.

I like the idea of a request button, that could help stop people putting request in the chat.

I do see where Meeshoo is coming from with the "ask the presenter" idea but can't help feel it wouldn't work fast enough for people to get the answer in time to decide if they want to come in for the item.

 

[Meeshoo]

Steve, thank you for your reply, I am sorry to hear you lost the magazine article.

I like the idea of a request button, that could help stop people putting request in the chat.

I do see where Meeshoo is coming from with the "ask the presenter" idea but can't help feel it wouldn't work fast enough for people to get the answer in time to decide if they want to come in for the item.

Easily solved - instead of it going to a moderator, the question could go straight to the presenter who then decides if she/he wants to answer it or put it on screen. Good catch Sazza.

 

[Hollybee]

I can't say I agree with either of you, although I respect your views. It seems (to me) a bit like using a sledgehammer to smash a walnut to suggest that the chat rooms be done away with entirely in favour of a couple of buttons (I do think the request button is a good idea though), especially as Rocks have not established what contribution (if any) they are making to the success of their business. Yes, the chat room can put some customers off but equally, the chat room attracts customers too. It is not just about chat. People share knowledge in there too. I would be happier if more was done to explore a way forward that is workable before just doing away with the thing, though I will understand if Rocks decide to do away with the room if they decide it's not working.

I understand that you both find chat off-putting and you would be happier to see it gone but what suits you probably wouldn't suit everyone. The chat room was - and is - an attraction for me but I agree, when it is cliquey or troublesome, it can be annoying. Customers are still coming to Rocks, despite issues with the chat, so something is working (and this needs to be explored). Perhaps the way forward is more moderation, perhaps by regulars who behave sensibly in chat. Perhaps this should be supplemented by clear penalties if chat is not used properly. Who knows?

Whatever the Rocks team decides to do, I am not going to suggest it should be put to any kind of vote or even that we should get any kind of say. Ultimately, the decision to retain or lose the rooms rests with Steve, Sarah and John and they will do whatever is best for the business.

From my own point of view the chat room, when used properly, does give Rocks an excellent - and unique - selling advantage. There is a real human element there that is missing from other jewellery outlets (and I have bought from all of them!) and it is about more than asking about jewellery dimensions! Without it I may as well be at one of the other soulless jewellery selling places, where such questions can be asked by email and all the emphasis is on pushing the jewellery. I am not saying it would be wrong to pursue the business but shopping in those circumstances would certainly become a much more boring experience!

 

[Hollybee]

I can't say I agree with either of you, although I respect your views. It seems (to me) a bit like using a sledgehammer to smash a walnut to suggest that the chat rooms be done away with entirely in favour of a couple of buttons (I do think the request button is a good idea though), especially as Rocks have not established what contribution (if any) they are making to the success of their business. Yes, the chat room can put some customers off but equally, the chat room attracts customers too. It is not just about chat. People share knowledge in there too. I would be happier if more was done to explore a way forward that is workable before just doing away with the thing, though I will understand if Rocks decide to do away with the room if they decide it's not working.

I understand that you both find chat off-putting and you would be happier to see it gone but what suits you probably wouldn't suit everyone. The chat room was - and is - an attraction for me but I agree, when it is cliquey or troublesome, it can be annoying. Customers are still coming to Rocks, despite issues with the chat, so something is working (and this needs to be explored). Perhaps the way forward is more moderation, perhaps by regulars who behave sensibly in chat. Perhaps this should be supplemented by clear penalties if chat is not used properly. Who knows?

Whatever the Rocks team decides to do, I am not going to suggest it should be put to any kind of vote or even that we should get any kind of say. Ultimately, the decision to retain or lose the rooms rests with Steve, Sarah and John and they will do whatever is best for the business.

From my own point of view the chat room, when used properly, does give Rocks an excellent - and unique - selling advantage. There is a real human element there that is missing from other jewellery outlets (and I have bought from all of them!) and it is about more than asking about jewellery dimensions! Without it I may as well be at one of the other soulless jewellery selling places, where such questions can be asked by email and all the emphasis is on pushing the jewellery. I am not saying it would be wrong to pursue the business but shopping in those circumstances would certainly become a much more boring experience!

By the way, this post was directed at Meeshoo and Gemdreamer!

 

[Meeshoo]

Hollybee - I am not against chat. I used to be on there every night when it started. It was fun until certain undesirable elements gatecrashed the party. It then became a place to snipe and be awful to each other. The enjoyment left and so did I. In order for it to work it needs to be moderated heavily unfortunately because it's a real time chat room. That takes money or volunteers. Even if customers (certain customers) moderate the chat, I'm still not sure that it'll work because there'll be complaints of "I've been moderated because ......... and so and so hasn't been but he/she said ........." I can just see the moaning! Chat is a double edged sword - it's a great way for people to interact BUT this is a jewellery business not a forum.

In terms of it being a learning place? I absolutely 100% disagree. I've very rarely seen anything on there in terms of learning. Most people just say "I've got this, it's lovely" or something like that. In fact, if anything, there's been a great deal of misinformation about gemstones in chat.

I wouldn't suggest for a moment that anything is put to the vote. Quite clearly this is Steve/John and Sarah's business and not ours. However, we were invited for make suggestions and that's what I've done. I appreciate that my views don't match yours and I don't think whatever the solution that it will make everybody happy all of the time (unless of course there was free jewellery for all)!

 

[Hollybee]

Hollybee - I am not against chat. I used to be on there every night when it started. It was fun until certain undesirable elements gatecrashed the party. It then became a place to snipe and be awful to each other. The enjoyment left and so did I. In order for it to work it needs to be moderated heavily unfortunately because it's a real time chat room. That takes money or volunteers. Even if customers (certain customers) moderate the chat, I'm still not sure that it'll work because there'll be complaints of "I've been moderated because ......... and so and so hasn't been but he/she said ........." I can just see the moaning! Chat is a double edged sword - it's a great way for people to interact BUT this is a jewellery business not a forum.

In terms of it being a learning place? I absolutely 100% disagree. I've very rarely seen anything on there in terms of learning. Most people just say "I've got this, it's lovely" or something like that. In fact, if anything, there's been a great deal of misinformation about gemstones in chat.

I wouldn't suggest for a moment that anything is put to the vote. Quite clearly this is Steve/John and Sarah's business and not ours. However, we were invited for make suggestions and that's what I've done. I appreciate that my views don't match yours and I don't think whatever the solution that it will make everybody happy all of the time (unless of course there was free jewellery for all)!

I don't think it will monitoring will be as problematic as you might think, particularly now that Rocks has a room for gossiping in. Off topic postings in Rocks chat should start to dwindle sharply and moderators will take care of the rest so long as there are clear posting guidelines for both rooms. I don't think there will be a huge issue about unfair deletions (and I take the view we should see if issues emerge rather than not do something "in case" it does). But that is my view. Regardless, they have now set up the separate rooms so we will have to suck it and see for a period of time, to see if it works.

I don't know if you can be so emphatic about the lack of knowledge being shared in chat (unless you are there all the time, of course - you have said you are not!). Some of the presenters know more about gemstones than others - I am sure you know that. Some of the customers know more about gemstones than the presenters! I have seen people research info using Wiki (and other sources) and come back and share it with presenters and other chat users. This info includes what certain gems are (as in the case of petrified wood), why certain pearls are so named (as in the case of Biwa pearls), amongst other things. I have been an avid gem collector for more than a decade and know a lot about how to store and clean more fragile gemstones and I have shared this knowledge in chat from time to time. Yes, people also talk about the bling in general terms too (i.e. I have that, this looks like this in real life) but there is nothing wrong with that. If nothing else, it reassures customers that the bling is real and it's quality because the prices can be unbelievable! We have all seen posts here from people questioning whether it's all a con because the prices are so good! I think it is nice that buyers offer that reassurance in chat.

My personal view is yes, you are right, you are absolutely entitled to offer suggestions and express a view (we all can) but my concern is you were recommending doing away with chat without considering whether the business might suffer due to its abolition. My post sought to encourage the Rocks team to explore whether there is a business benefit that is being overlooked before taking any action. They do not want to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, after all!

 

[gemdreamer]

just had a read of the chat on rocks tv, only for 5 mins, but i noticed that one of the people who it seemed to me was casuing probs yesterday when i read for 10 mins is doing it again, moaning about st.com! it is so childish, and not at all helpful IMHO, i really thought they would have given up moaning about now. its easter, chocolate ahoy! not a day for moaning

 

[argeybargey]

Hollybee - I am not against chat. I used to be on there every night when it started. It was fun until certain undesirable elements gatecrashed the party. It then became a place to snipe and be awful to each other. The enjoyment left and so did I. In order for it to work it needs to be moderated heavily unfortunately because it's a real time chat room. That takes money or volunteers. Even if customers (certain customers) moderate the chat, I'm still not sure that it'll work because there'll be complaints of "I've been moderated because ......... and so and so hasn't been but he/she said ........." I can just see the moaning! Chat is a double edged sword - it's a great way for people to interact BUT this is a jewellery business not a forum.

In terms of it being a learning place? I absolutely 100% disagree. I've very rarely seen anything on there in terms of learning. Most people just say "I've got this, it's lovely" or something like that. In fact, if anything, there's been a great deal of misinformation about gemstones in chat.

I wouldn't suggest for a moment that anything is put to the vote. Quite clearly this is Steve/John and Sarah's business and not ours. However, we were invited for make suggestions and that's what I've done. I appreciate that my views don't match yours and I don't think whatever the solution that it will make everybody happy all of the time (unless of course there was free jewellery for all)![/QUOTE]

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