Over the next few days we’ll be making some important site updates.
Upgraded chat: The next iteration of chat is a completely overhauled system that loads much faster, reduces browser resource requirements, and is a much improved user interface. One of the nicest features is multiple-tabbed chatting within one single window. You can also control your webcam broadcasting on a per-person basis too, so you can show your cam to some and hide it from others. The webcam video also supports a much larger size with higher resolution. The one downside is that we will no longer have games integrated with this version of chat, but quite frankly the games weren’t that good and we will be looking to replace them with better games in the future. We will also make available a desktop chat client that you can install on your computer (if you choose) that will free up even more browser resources for you. This and a mobile version of chat are on the horizon.
Support desk integration: The old Help section of MFI is going away, and in it’s place is a much more tightly integrated support desk solution. The first phase of this integration will have the same FAQ questions (and more) that were found in the help section, but it will have much more. Look up any of your old support inquiries, quickly search the support desk knowledge base, create a new support ticket for any unanswered questions you may have. In future iterations we may also open up the ability for each of you to answer each others questions. And we will finally be able to bring back the suggestion board feature with voting to help us understand what features you all would like to see. All of this integrated into one unified help section completely integrated with MFI.
These changes are currently scheduled for an early Tuesday morning release, with another batch of patches scheduled for the following weekend.
27 COMMENTS
Leave A CommentWill we see a return of the feedback forum for our feature requests anytime soon?
At least I know not to try and log in tomorrow my usual time…
thanks for the heads up!
oh and i agree with Drone .. Feedback forum…oh and STEALTH!!
Terri
i’m with Terri…stealth would be awesome!!
I was just thinking about asking for the return of the feedback forum, so I could thereon request the return of the feedback forum…
But if you’re going to call it the ‘suggestion board’, I’m okay with that.
@ Drone & Terri: Re-read the latter part of ‘Support Desk Integration’ above — doesn’t that sound like the old ‘feedback forum’ to you (suggestions with voting)…???
Yes the “suggestion forum” is the same thing (more or less) as the feedback forum we used to have. It will all be integrated in one platform though and we won’t be using the old platform. IT will be rolled out over time, and won’t be part of this initial push just yet.
Oh…..how about an offline button for chat? Xx
Stealth!!!! We neeeeeeeeed this! When you only have a few mins to log on and check messages but get 178723 chat requests… makes me feel so bad turning them down, stealth would be epic xxx
Have any community members been testing the new chat? Having logged less than 5 hours chatting this year, I wouldn’t be the guy to test it nor would it matter to me if it failed, but I think it might be a good idea to have a few people test this new interface before it goes live – probably some heavy chatters.
If stealth returns then it needs to return as “Drone has chosen not to chat right now”. The old stealth made it look like people weren’t online which in turn make it look like the site isn’t really very busy. “Drone has chosen not to chat right now” make it clear that the site is buys and I’m choosing not to chat. It make it clear that the person using it is doing so.
I second that “Unavailable to take your call” type thingy that Drone is suggesting…
i third that! sounds like a good idea, that way i know they are on and can message them, just they cant chat right now.
also yes the feedback forum would be really nice to have back.
and i hope the new chat functions this time, did it get beta tested at all?
I think that a few people DO care a lot about the games, so I hope you restore that VERY soon if at possible.
And I concur: bring back stealth mode. I would prefer (for myself) not only “busy can’t chat”, but also a “true stealth” option, as in my logging on or being online would not be visible.
Early Tuesday Morning? ( ! ! ! )
Is implementing the upgrade on Valentine’s Day some kind of strategic decision? Looks like it has the potential to be a either a pleasant surprise or a “heartbreak” — depending on how things go.
And it appears that Anissa’s chess exploits are destined to be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
One thing that’s killing me what what to do when I’m on my iPhone. No way to chat, and constantly changing the status to reflect chat status is pretty awkward. Hope your upcoming solutions will address this somehow. The cool thing would be to have a second status light for “can chat” next to the current one for “on line.”
The games were good I had hours of fun on them and won quite a lot of my donations in a fair way. I am really gonna miss them, maybe you could make a games room. xx
Is this a brand new chat system, or is it the one you tried to implement last year when the site updated? If so at least now it won’t be so buggy!
Not sure if this is the best place to post but I just thought I would give some feed back on the new chat.
Things I like:
1. The mutli tab chating is nice, I dont need 4 or 5 chat windows now.
2. Looks alot cleaner then the old version, nice lay out and such.
3. I like that you can see when someone is typing to you.
Things I see as an issue:
1. Cam size- you go from a 2″-2″ ruff size to full screen, I think there should be a way to size the cam difrantly so that you could have a 6″ view or so on.
2. When you in full screen mode on cam view, you cant see the chat at all. Is there a way to over lay chat on cam view or do a small chat box at bottom to read the chat?
3. I also have talked to a few of my fiends and it seems the new chat just initiates as soon as someone request to chat to a girl. Next thing they know is someone is watching them. I dont know if that is a user issue or if its a glitch but just wanted to have you all awear of it.
4. Does mic work if you flip form chat to chat? If I have my mic on talking to one girl and go to another chat does the mic still transment to the girl i am talking to?
Thats just a few things observations I have made for the new chat.
Thank you for your time,
Jagger
The new chat is awful. No improvements that I can discern and most of the functional parts of the old chat are gone. I can’t believe they tested this with anyone who said it was ready. They seem determined to drive away anyone left from the disastrous reboot. They’re pretty close to succeeding with me.
Just tried the new chat. Not an enhancement. More suited to a young persons’ social networking site! Can we have a simple, easy-to-use system that encourages people to actually say something? One girl tried to chat with me and fled after one sentence she was so confused! I’m putting that down to the rather intimidating appearance of the chat box rather than anything I said!!
chat barely works! if at all! i gotta say it doesnt appear that chat was ever tested before getting approved for use to everyone. it takes SOOOOO long to load! no way does it take up less resources then the old chat. and for some girls it just will not load at all or theres a 10 minute delay for there box to open up! also it keeps kciking me off! or kicking the girl off! whats up with that?
and now in the online section it always says i have 700 to 800 girls online and ready to chat. how is that possible? it used to always be like 60 or 70 on at one time. so i know its not showing who is really online anymore.
hope u can fix this cause right now the site sucks with really no chatting available!
quite like the outlook of the new chat i must say if we can get it bug free soon will be really good i feel like the tabbed chats thats a great feature aslong as it can be bug free soon i will be happy
although webcams dont work currently but if this is somethin we have t endure to be able to make it go apple device wide ill take that
iphone and ipad chat yes please
Dave
Hey, we know you guys are working hard to improve the site with a new chat system. Thanks for your efforts. We’re all hoping they will pay off soon!
I would be very helpful if you could post screen caps that illustrate what the new chat system looks like when it’s operating normally. What does a chat request from someone else look like and where do we find it? How do we know when someone has received our request? After the loading bar hits 100%, how much longer is the “loading” message supposed to say on? How do tabs affect the operation of the system. And so on.
Also, for those us with a little browser savvy — should we change our settings for pop-ups? What version of the flash plug-in should we be running? Are there other things we could try or test? I’m sure there are folks here who might be able to help you troubleshoot — but we’re kind of in the dark if we don’t know what we’re looking for.
Also, how about setting up a small “beta” test site where selected users could log on to simulate “real world” use of various browsers and operating systems? Might be a little more work and expense at the front end, but prolly better than trying to work out the config of a third party product in real time.
Keeping fingers crossed…
CMonster
Hmm, found myself chatting with a handful of men, not one of which I agreed to chat with! I dislike not being in control of when I want to chat, I hope this changes fast.
well, not sure about the chat issue. no chat requests. but i am having issues…
i can only read the first page of blogs.. when i hit next the same page reloads.
it took me almost one and half minutes to even get logged in..
With upgrades, comes a bit of trouble else where…
Well, my previous suggestion didn’t make it past the moderator, so I won’t repeat that one again. However I did find a setting in the Flash Windows control panel that seemed to make a difference. I’ll email it to you.
Also, is it possible to adjust the size of the cam image?
I guess my foirst comment is still being moderated. I like some stuff with the new chat abut not all. I like not haveing 4 windows for chat now but the issues I see are a problem. A few I dont care for are the cam size, its one of 2 sizes, small and full screen. You cant see any chat in the full screen mode. It also seems the girls have no way to actully block request for chat so they seem to just have tons of random chats poping in and opening.
Jagger
Thank you Jason for the updates and for keeping us in the know about what is going on. Some of us realize that there will be issues to be worked out with anything new that is added, regardless of how many times it’s been tested.
We do still have a section for reporting site bugs, right? Perhaps that would be the best place to actually report them, rather than complaining in the news section.
And for what it’s worth, I agree with the need for an “upgraded” stealth mode from what we had before. Perhaps one like what others have suggested above that states someone is simply unavailable.
As has been suggested by a previous poster, it’s another example of an application not being fully tested before going live. What is there to be said other than it takes too long to load and logs you off mid-chat without warning! There appears to be little user control and that must be very disconcerting for some of the ladies on here. Chat is an integral part of the service provided in return for the monthly subscriptions we all pay. So a deeply frustrating time for everyone!
Site is not much fun without the games.