Maybe it would bring more people to the site if we pushed the chat a little more.
Right now, the only mention I can see that there is a chat is the link in the footer.
So, I'm pooling you all for some ideas. What could be done to bring more users to the chat?
There's another chat button in the drop-down menu in the upper right corner, and larger but usually less obvious links at the center of the right side bar on the Meta page, with the most recent activity in both the main chat rooms.
So, maybe we can add that last function to the main page? The code just needs to be copied, methinks.
But I do wonder: why? Why do the rooms need more users? Can you make a case for using the chat rooms? I feel that whenever I enter the chat I see inside jokes and specific users talking to other specific users about very specific things. Which is fine (heh), but I rarely feel the need or desire to interact, or that my interaction as a user is ever invited. Maybe that needs to be addressed beforehand? Unless bringing in more users would actually take care of that by leveling the playing field (oh, that sounds like a great motto for something Arqade related..)?
(Apologies - this was initially a comment, hence the colloquiality.)
The Chat is something I have tried using in the 10 years I have been a member here and my experience was similar to Joachim's and Kaizerwolf's experience.
I am going to try and address your goal of bringing more people to the site.
Arqade seems to have a problem with active users participation. Look at the voter turnout. It was very low for this election. I personally am asking and answering less these days.
We are definitely in the right direction with the Photo contests but a few more ideas couldn't hurt.
One idea IMO of building traction and user engagement is doing what any of the SE sites do best. Quality Q&A content is what attracted me to the site in the first place.
I came in when we had run contests if I remember correctly around ME3 and Skyrim. And it brought a lot of content to the site also and new users like myself. People asking and answering competitively, as gamers are wont to do. So much so that those two game tags have pretty exhaustive question pools.
So we could target up-coming releases and run contests. Open a Meta page where you can track upcoming game releases so people know to set their calendars week to week.
The current contest with Sci Fi is good and all, but to me personally it feels like the games targeted have already exhausted question pools on the site already. What more could you add to that, that hasn't already been asked before and therefore closed as dupe.
There is one more thing that can be done and that is actively marketing the site and content. But that would merit another discussion since there are potentially many ways to do so with varying budgets.
