Suggestions

No Support. I'm not sure this is really feasible, because even if there was a Clubs section of the forum you'd still need to have a subject, other wise how would people know what to talk about? Or they could flip through 20 pages of lol's and heart emojis I guess?

Forums(in my experience) are more for discussion in how they are designed, they aren't really designed in a way to function they way you're thinking here. Honestly wanting to chat with your friends I understand but you're better off with either an Instant Messaging chat room/box on a tumblr somewhere (if you can still custom code stuff on Tumblr) or doing a Discord Server.

The problem with doing it on other websites is that some people are either not comfortable with or not allowed to go on those platforms, as (from what I know, correct me if I’m wrong) the moderation isn’t as strict a lot of the time.

Support. I used to be part of a thread like this on another site, and it worked surprisingly well. The thread was about collecting a certain type of thing on the site, but we also showed off our collections, wrote stories with some relation to them, chatted about things similar but not directly related, etc.

The only thing is, these can't just be completely random chat threads. These should be threads for people who have a common interest in something, but want an area to chat where they can go slightly more off topic than in other threads. Basically, still focused generally around a subject but with a lot more leeway in terms of what is considered off topic.

I wasn't allowed to use discord for quite a long time, and to be honest I also understand people who just want to avoid it for other reasons. Especially because if someone breaks a rule of flight rising off-site in a way that harms you, flight rising can't moderate it and even if you leave the server you are in, that person might show up on another server. If you block them on discord, there is still a dropdown where you can just click once to see their messages if they send a message in a server you are in which somewhat defeats the purpose of blocking them.

If these threads werer 'common interest' threads where there is a common theme and topic, then sure, I wouldn't mind things like that.

But the idea i got from the OP was that these would be basically a chat where the current topic happens to be whatever the person posts, which a forum thread isn't really set up to handle.

A chat function tends to lose previous messages so that only the most current topic is 'shown' while a forum thread will hold all previous topics, and can be very confusing as people come in, reply to the original topics, and then others are trying to figure out what they are replying to because those topics might be on page two or three etc...

something liike 'A thread to talk about rock collecting' where the idea is to show off collections, talk about where you got your favorite rocks, talk about places to go and things like that? sure, that would be good, because all discussion would still be focused on a singular topic: rock collecting. someone coming in and reading only the first couple of pages would still be able to jump right in, and participate because the topic would still be the same at the end of the thread as it was at the first (albeit the focus might hav shifted a bit)

A thread like 'a place for me and my friends to chat' isn't, because there is no subject to pull everything back together and the subject might have meandered through many topics until it in no way resembles the first topic of the thread.

Reminds me of the guilds feature on Neopets. I really liked it, and I would definitely use it if something similar existed on FR. I know everyone is saying just use Discord, but I don't think it's quite the same. Not that Discord isn't great.

[quote name="Jemadar" date="2021-07-27 13:39:42" ] If these threads werer 'common interest' threads where there is a common theme and topic, then sure, I wouldn't mind things like that. But the idea i got from the OP was that these would be basically a chat where the current topic happens to be whatever the person posts, which a forum thread isn't really set up to handle. A chat function tends to lose previous messages so that only the most current topic is 'shown' while a forum thread will hold all previous topics, and can be very confusing as people come in, reply to the original topics, and then others are trying to figure out what they are replying to because those topics might be on page two or three etc... something liike 'A thread to talk about rock collecting' where the idea is to show off collections, talk about where you got your favorite rocks, talk about places to go and things like that? sure, that would be good, because all discussion would still be focused on a singular topic: rock collecting. someone coming in and reading only the first couple of pages would still be able to jump right in, and participate because the topic would still be the same at the end of the thread as it was at the first (albeit the focus might hav shifted a bit) A thread like 'a place for me and my friends to chat' isn't, because there is no subject to pull everything back together and the subject might have meandered through many topics until it in no way resembles the first topic of the thread. [/quote] can't you already post common interest threads(That don't have to do with FR/Dragons) in General Discussion? Every once in a while I see the thread for Loki the TV show pop up in general. [quote name="DriftingDreams" date="2021-07-27 12:50:45" ] The problem with doing it on other websites is that some people are either not comfortable with or not allowed to go on those platforms, as (from what I know, correct me if I’m wrong) the moderation isn’t as strict a lot of the time. [/quote] and honestly, as much as it sucks that some people might not be comfortable/not allowed on other sites I still don't see a way for random chatting threads as feasible on anything other than a player's private forum. Which I wouldn't support either.

People acting like you can't chat in a forum. When I was a kid I met all my best friends talking in a general chat thread in a pokemon forum. It's viable for folks who don't have other chatting options. Not denying that discord etc is better but also understanding that not everyone wants to go offsite for these things. That should be okay.

@SpookyPuptarts Not at all saying I disagree with you, but on Flight Rising, threads have to have a specific topic - otherwise they'll be considered spam and thus locked. For example, [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gend/3037279]here's[/url] a thread that served as a sort of "general chatting" thread, but recently got locked. [quote name=JCStitches] Hello! This thread has been locked as spam. In the future, threads posted in the forum need to have a single, specific topic. For example, you could make a thread focused on a favorite tv show or a hobby that you have. If you're looking for a chatroom type of experience, then there are many offsite instant messaging services! Thanks! [/quote]