An Update about the SpanishDict Chat
We are sorry to say that the SpanishDict chat has been disabled. Unfortunately, we have not had the tools needed to properly moderate the chat and abuse of the chat room had become too frequent. For help with your questions, please feel free to post a message here or in the feedback tab on the right of the screen.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
The SpanishDict Team.
34 Answers
Hola Martha, I feel sad that the SpanishDict chat has been disabled. I am from Taiwan, and SpanishDict is my only choice to learn Spanish. I have been learning Spanish a lot in this website. I have also been practicing my pronunciation in the chat room. I met many friends in the chat room, and we help each other to practice Spanish and improve our Spanish a lot. This chat room is very important for us to learn and to practice our Spanish. So, please don't let the chat room be disabled. You can't imagine how it is meaningful and important for me. I have been learning Spanish for ten months in this website, and I have been improving my Spanish a lot. Thank you very much Martha and all the people who work in SpanishDict. We appreciate very much all of you for providing such a good website to learn Spanish and English.
The problem was that the people abusing it came back every time they were banned and they abused it again and again.
Why can't you ban the ones who have caused this permanently? There is no problem in the chat room and no need for a moderator when the people who were causing the problem in the first place are GONE. People generally act well and decent. But when someone comes in and starts insulting everyone, who is going to just shut up and take it? Not me. So, that's my suggestion. Ban the ones you get the most reports about permanently.
I agree completely with what DonCiro said. It does seem like that. The moderators are taking more control than they should. What happened to the relaxed atmosphere? What happened to it being FUN? I have noticed that the forum lately has been absolutely dead. Who wants to step past the line if they are just going to be flagged and PM'd a warning? If you moderators are trying to get this to work better, I think you are doing it the wrong way. Don't take me wrong though, I do appreciate the work all of you do, but I think you are putting too many rules across the table. You are punishing everyone for something that only SOME people caused. That sounds very unfair.
It's like this: A group of people are talking decently and playing a game. Someone comes over and starts cussing everyone out and messing up the game. The people who were playing get angry, rightfully so. Someone in authority comes over and takes the game, thus punishing everyone together, and tells them they won't get it back. They tell the fight causer to go away for a day. And the problem recycles....
That is how it is around here right now.
It is indeed a shame that it has been disabled. I hope there will be a solution to this. I have met many, many friends on there too and it would be a big disappointment not to practice with them.
Thanks,
Kat
That Chat room has been one of the best places about this web site. I have met so many nice people, many Spanish native speakers and Spanish learners as well. I hope that you can find a solution because it was a great place to learn Spanish and meet people. It worked very much like Skype. If any one wants to PM me, we can set up Skype chats with each other.
Esa sala de chat ha sido uno de los mejores lugares de este sitio web. He conocido a mucho gente agradable, muchos hablantes nativos de español y estudiantes de español también. Espero que pueden encontrar una solución porque era un gran lugar para aprender español y conocer gente. Funcionaba de forma muy a Skype. Si alguien quiere enviarme un PM, podemos empezar a conversar en Skype con juntos.
I have read all of the comments made by other users and agree with everyone. It is a sad day for me because once again i see that the actions of a few have curtailed the enjoyment of many. ! would like to thank all the team for working so hard in the backroom and i sincerely hope you will be able to come up with a solution. For me the chat was a great place to learn and practice and i have made so many good friends, I will miss it terribly.
Gracias amigos
so for the first time in months i have learned nothing tonight
I notice people who really wanted to use chat were users setting up accounts frequently, and gaining the minimum required points to be able to access the chat room.
Is it possible to re-open the chatroom if you allow users with a higher number of points in it? That way you know you are getting "real" users and serious learners as opposed to spammy, "green" users with ulterior motives...
Qué pena.
Awesome. I love how the users never get a say in what happens. We just give "feedback" that apparently, in the end, falls on deaf ears.
A few people ruined it for all of us. And those people know who they are. You let them win today Martha.
This site is not truly oriented toward helping us learn, for if it were, this wouldn't be done like this. This site is more about making the moderators feel like they are in charge.
We were learning in there. I was, Grace was, Sanlee was, Tonterias was, Kat was, Cheska was, Ross was, Diego was, Lagarto was, Deputydawg was and many, MANY others were. And we were going to learn some more today.
Whatever, nothing I say matters. It seems as if the post-Heidita era isn't all too different. They've simply been replaced by a new group of elites.
Edit: After seeing the course this thread has taken I regret my tone in this post. I have appreciation for the site and I don't want to be offensive. For those of you who enjoyed talking/practicing with me my skype is "Kiyan00" (let me know who you are if you add me). One love SD! 
Cyrus
As a regular...
I agree, closing the chat, is very disappointing.
In general I would say people were learning and helping each other more often than the trolling took place.
Hopefully the SD team can figure out a better way to rectify the problem by finding a different chat client. I don't remember having these problems before with the previous chat client from almost two years ago.
Hi, I don't know what happened but is this permanent?
I've met great people in the chatroom who help me with my Spanish and I would be saddened if you remove SD chat completely.
Also, about those repeat offenders, can you ask the moderators (hopefully those with good judgment) to ban their IP address permanently? Every public chatroom on the internet is bound to have weirdos, perverts and trolls. But they can be driven away if the chatroom is moderated properly. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not trying to put the blame on anyone. I am just stating a fact.
I am also wondering if it is possible to enable the chat when there is a moderator online who would be able to do his/her job while people are chatting. Then maybe you can just disable it again if there's no one trustworthy enough to moderate.
I'm not sure if that's feasible and it's also extra work for you guys (if you decide to do that), but I hope that you don't remove the chat feature permanently. The SD community is wounded as it is, with the recent arguments about posting protocols and guidelines. Disabling the chatroom would be akin to delivering the final blow to those who have remained steadfast and active despite all the tension and member disappointment in the forum.
For what it's worth, I thank you for all your efforts to maintain this website. It is not easy dealing with different people from different backgrounds and your decisions will either gratify or displease just about anyone.
I am disappointed but I hope I did not sound too demanding or harsh. This is just my own sentiment. Please reconsider opening SD chat. It's one of the things that makes SpanishDict a unique and fun place to learn Spanish.
I understand how important the chat room is for learning because I learn a lot from
having skype chats , I was wondering could the chat room be run on the same basis
as skype chats , that is by invitation only , in that way if someone is abusive they can be blocked .
Oh man. It's hard to believe when you were just on there last night enjoying a good conversation with Sanlee and imperative command lessons from Caefuego =(
I agree with Sanlee. And to testify to one of Nikki's comments, the chat is actually the only thing I really use here. I liked that it was available 24/7. Unlike other sites where I had to work to find people each time I wanted to talk, I could always simply enter the chat room whenever I felt like practicing. Sure it was hit or miss with the topics of conversation and levels of ability and number of people in there, but most of the time it was a hit (and I could always try to send a private message in the chat if I wasn't interested in the group conversation).
I will miss it, but in the meantime I hope I will be able to befriend enough of you on Skpe to create my own quasi-chat room 
Please PM me if you'd like to share skype info, particularly if you are a native English speaker at an intermediate level Spanish.
I have been studying Español on spanishdict.com for 9 months. I love the video lessons, flashcards and the chat.
I visit the chat several times per week. The chat room has many nice people from all over the world who are willing to help others improve their Spanish. I enjoy meeting people there. I was really looking forward to using it for years to come.
Please reconsider disabling the chat. It's absolutely critical to my learning process. I have never found a better site on which to chat in Spanish.
We all are familiar with our good friend Ross and I believe we all respect him. Well, Ross has been in the hospital for a while now and every so often he sends me a message. I would like to share those messages:
"Hola ciro. Just wanted to say hi. I've been away for a while and I miss your wit. Estoy enfermo en el hospital. Les extraño mucho a mis amigos de la sala. Para mi es muy divertido charlar y aprender en SD. no puedo acceder SD De mi iPhone. No puedo conseguir mi laptop en el hospital. Abrazos!" - 3/24/12
I sent Ross a message a few days ago asking him how he was doing. He responded:
"Thx. Doing ok. But the thing I miss most is SD chat room! Hopefully will go home in a week." 4/21/12
I posted these messages to illustrate that the decision made today hurts more people than it helps.
Hola! No podemos aprender suficiente espanol sin chat. Necesitamos abrir chat, es divertido escuchar la gente que habla en espanol.
I think the chatroom was a place where many people liked to come and where we learnt a lot.
This chatroom was different from the chatrooms on other learning sites, as it was possible to chat and talk to more people at the same time. That is why so many people liked the SD chatroom. Also the private chat option was a fantastic idea! And listening to native Spanish speakers?? What a perfect way of improving the listening skills!!! People were really helpful in the chatroom.
Because of this all, I will really miss the SpanishDict chatroom.
I met many good people in the chatroom. I learnt a lot there. They were really helpful and I really ejoyed Spanish lessons in the chatroom, or just chatting for fun - joking, spending a good time with nice people.
I will miss you all, people!! And I will miss learning in the chatroom too!
