Sales chat and non-sales chat are two different things, and a
mixed chat room won't work as well as two separate rooms would. The two require different approach, different attitudes, different rules.
I.E.
- Non-sales chat = relax, unwind
- Sales chat = business, serious
It's not even ideal having a split in the same chat room, ie "Sales for X hours on Y days, non-sales all other times", as outlined below.
ONE CHAT ROOM
If this is kept to one chat room, whether Friday only or multiple days and times throughout the week:
- There are times where each chat room is closed to allow the other one to be open, chat should be available 24/7
- When the "sales" period begins, many will have been waiting all week/all day to post their names, which at one time could mean too many being posted in the small window to make it useful
- The two chat room types (sales/non-sales) are fighting for prime time slots, and yet it's ideal for both to have them
- It's not ideal chatting away about anything one minute and the next you're forced into a sales environment and your conversation cut short (which could be useful or important)
- It's not ideal if sales are being discussed and the "sales period/window" is over and chat returns to non-sales chat
SUGGEST TWO ROOMS
NON-SALES CHAT
- Relaxed discussions about any topic
- No need to worry about joking one minute then the next trying to sell a domain name and appear business like and serious
- No sales of any kind, or promotions, or links to threads or sales-chat room offers etc
- Chat and banter can take place all day everyday without interruptions, at a time/day convenient to each user
SALES CHAT
- Official and serious sales discussions, no place for "Hey did you see that video the other day - [youtube_link]"
- Discussions only to be about sales, prices, offers, which registrar, length of ownership, etc
- Heavily moderated with stricter rules to stop people over promoting their domains, etc
- Serious sales can take place all day everyday without interruptions, at a time/day convenient to each user
I'm sure both rooms would be busy enough to warrant it.
I don't see any real advantages to using only one chat room, other than costs/dev time etc. Seems everything points to it being a bad idea and two rooms being much more suitable.
I know two chat rooms is more work (dev, upkeep, moderating, etc) but I think two different chat rooms is the sane solution to make it manageable for differences in rules/moderation, and more structured and purposeful places to cater for different needs.