Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1526346-20170930150055/@comment-5811199-20171013134407

Hi Lady Aleena, thanks very much for your feedback and thoughts. We as administrators and moderators for Central do want to foster a good environment for both new users and legacy editors like you.

It's quite a bit of a hard-to-find balance between keeping the chat environment fun and engaging, as well as allowing users to have a frustration free experience in getting help. In terms of the guidelines, it's a balance between "be fun" and "be on-topic" - welcoming users by saying "hi" might be off topic, but they could be your next awesome editor, and might learn a whole lot more from the first interaction.

To address your concerns, most moderators do try to move the off topic conversations off the main chat, especially when someone asks a question (we do warn and kick users who disregard our instructions to move it to private messages, or wait till no help can be found). Again, if a group of users are having fun, it's really hard to stop them from talking, especially if it is an on-topic conversation about a game or show.

I don't believe small changes like removing emoticons or removing internet-speak will help, because it is more of a larger cultural shift that can achieve a noticeable change to a more helpful and constructive environment. There have been plans to change and improve the environment, but some of the plans we have explored are potentially damaging and could break more than improve the Central community.

I do, however, suggest joining the Dev or Community Discord servers. They are active and have a mix of both technical and community members who can help you out.