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The future of Under 16's Chat

TheMixTheMix Posts: 3,241 Boards Guru
edited June 2018 in Community Announcements
Hey folks,

This is an important update regarding Under 16's Chat. :)

As most of you will know, we run Under 16's Support Chats every other Saturday, from 6-7:30pm. The idea behind creating this sessions was to give our younger community a more focused space away from the hustle and bustle of the main chat sessions, which can get pretty busy at times.

We've been running these sessions for well over a year. Although they are used, they remain very quiet and the majority of group members tend to be older. So we've been doing some thinking about where we go with Under 16's Chat from here - do we continue with it? Are there things we can change or improve about it to make the space more useful? These are questions we've been pondering.

To give us time to think about these questions and decide where to go next, we're going to be hitting 'pause' on these sessions for now. This break will give us some breathing space to think about how we can best help our younger members integrate with our community and feel supported.

Part of this process will involve asking you guys what you think of the sessions - what you like about them, what you don't like, and any ideas you have for making them better. If you have some feedback or new ideas, great! Hold on to them and don't forget them - we'll be asking for your help soon.

Tl;dr: we won't be running Under 16's chats for a while, while we decide how best to more forward with them. We're expecting more concrete plans over the coming weeks and months and we'll be sure to update everyone with what we decide. :)

Any questions, just drop us a PM or reply to this thread. :+1:

Aife & Mike

Comments

  • DancerDancer Community Connector Posts: 8,143 Legendary Poster
    I like the chats as I have a shorter wait and I am sad when I have a 2 day gap between chats
    "There's a part of me I can't get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once. I'll never be the same." ~ Demi Lovato
    "The way that I have found the light in my life is through the expressive arts because I know that I will be accepted for the way I am." ~ Me
    "I'm going to get strong again and see you soon. " ~ Anonymous 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Fruit loop Posts: 2,762 Boards Guru
    I myself have never used under 16s chat personally but if it's seeming a little empty maybe you can get the younger board users opinions and advice on the matter,  ask the current users what they like about it and what could be Improved.

    If people find support chat difficult and find this one more quiet as Aidan said then maybe it would be better to tweak say the age gap a little to under 18s or 20s ect. 

    Or change the chat name to something else.

    It would be a good idea to get a poll going and contact the regular users so they have a say in the matter :)
  • TheMixTheMix Posts: 3,241 Boards Guru
    Thanks for your input, folks. This is awesome. We'll be collecting your feedback in a more structured way soon, so it's awesome to hear you have stuff to share. We'll definitely be taking this on board. :)

    Mike
  • independent_independent_ Community Connector Posts: 9,824 Supreme Poster
    I personally find these chats really helpful, as a 15 year old (almost 16 though so the age thing won’t apply for long). I find the early Saturday evening time a quieter one and therefore have been able to get support here (support chat is often really busy I find).

    I like the suggestion above about maybe raising the age slightly, maybe to 18 or even 19 (and leaving the lower age where it is at 11).

    If I could think of any promotion ideas, I would share - but my mind is blank lol!
    “Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”
  • TheMixTheMix Posts: 3,241 Boards Guru
    independent_ said:
    I personally find these chats really helpful, as a 15 year old (almost 16 though so the age thing won’t apply for long). I find the early Saturday evening time a quieter one and therefore have been able to get support here (support chat is often really busy I find).

    I like the suggestion above about maybe raising the age slightly, maybe to 18 or even 19 (and leaving the lower age where it is at 11).

    If I could think of any promotion ideas, I would share - but my mind is blank lol!
    Thanks @independent_. :) Apologies we didn't acknowledge this when you posted, but hopefully those thoughts were scooped up in the big chat review (and if not, we did see this at the time anyway!).

    UPDATE: We're still working through the feedback you all gave us to decide what we're going to do with these sessions. It's taking a bit longer than we'd like, but we're hoping to have something concrete soon. :) We'll post an update here with anything new.

    Mike & the team
  • TheMixTheMix Posts: 3,241 Boards Guru
    Final update: we have a rough plan of how we want to resurrect these sessions. It's still in development so we don't want to share it with anyone yet, so keep an eye out for a formal announcement over the coming months. :)

    Thanks again for the feedback, everyone!

    Mike & the team
  • Former MemberFormer Member Carer/musician Posts: 819 Part of The Mix Family
    The Mix said:
    Final update: we have a rough plan of how we want to resurrect these sessions. It's still in development so we don't want to share it with anyone yet, so keep an eye out for a formal announcement over the coming months. :)

    Thanks again for the feedback, everyone!

    Mike & the team
    Sounding promising, to getting back to annoy Jane :P Lol it will be benificialy for the younger lot. (Such a shame I am close to 18 then 16 now) 
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