Aw, I'm so sorry you went through that,
@CarriePie. I really hope you're feeling better. I'm glad you got home safely!
Whenever I give these reports, I hope it doesn't come across as, "Wow, people are really missing out!" No, not at all. The conversation waxes and wanes, and we have plenty of "slow" spots where people are grasping for things to talk about. But every now and then, something especially interesting comes up.
And more than anything, I want people to know they are thought of and missed during chat -- not that they're missing out on anything -- but that we are thinking of them!
Lynx asked one user (a non-forum participant we hadn't met before) about her username and that sparked a very interesting story about people's ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It's always interesting meeting non-forum users because someone also asked if I was new.
Maybe I should let people think that and I can try to use that as my excuse when I try to kick things up.
"But... but... I'm NEW, you see, and I didn't know any better..." Somehow, I don't think that will fly.
We also make these chat reports as a way to be informative because some people might read about our shenanigans and decide it's not for them -- which is good, because it means we're not wasting anyone's time. Lynx and I are also obviously very open about anything we see or observe happening, so we have nothing to hide.
I must admit that one of my personal goals is to try to make sure the group chats we start are not taken over by anyone with a personal agenda (such as to preach to the rest of the room the whole time, or get people arguing about politics.) I saw one person trying to do that in a previous chat (but I don't think they realized we were there for our own purpose,) and yes, I will purposely do my best to guide the conversation away from those things.
There are plenty of other rooms and forum threads for those debates -- one can even start their own live chat room if that's what they want to talk about. And there is almost always a Bible study going on at some point during our chat as well -- a moderator always kindly comes in to invite anyone interested to that chat. So if that's what people are interested in, they have lots of OTHER options.
Our chat is strictly meant to be a coffee-shop type vibe. Come on in, pour a cup and kick back your feet, then tell us about you, your day, and your life. And like life, the conversations will go any which way.
In fact, now that we've been talking about how much the feet conversation made people laugh, I'm almost getting a bout of "performance anxiety" -- I'm afraid people will come to the next chat expecting some kind of exciting show, and it'll turn out to be crickets chirping away in silence.
I'm picturing something like Michigan J. Frog when his owner wants him to perform on command.
Chat last night was like this:
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And now I'm afraid when people come to check it out to see a show, chat will be more like this:
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I mean, if anyone is expecting Lynx and I to entertain you for a couple of hours, I can guarantee you'll be sorely disappointed!
But when OTHER people show up and start talking, that's when the magic happens!
We've been having these chats every other Friday -- so we may have another one in about 2 weeks, but we'll see.
Hope to see you all next time!
So I went to whip up some breakfast for myself and left the chat in the background.
I'm just saying you can't blame it on the foot thing.