Live Chat Help Seekers Information
Live Chat Help Seeker Connection Status
This functionality was enhanced in April 2019.
In Messaging 1.0 and 2.0 Live Chat conversations, a 'Connection Status' message appears within the iCarol vols-staff conversation window, indicating if the Live Chat Help Seeker is still connected to the conversation, or not. Your organizations may find this functionality useful in the following ways:
- make Vols-Staff aware if the visitor has disconnected from the conversation
- if your organization has processes for vols-staff handling Live Chat Help Seekers who are unresponsive
Vols-Staff will see the following related to the Live Chat Help Seeker Connection Status:
- A new 'Help Seeker Connected' status followed by the date and time of the last connection, updated about every 3 minutes to ensure that the Live Chat Help Seeker is still connected, or still has the chat window open on their end
- It may take up to 3 minutes after the conversation has begun before the 'Help Seeker Connected' status initially appears
- Moussing over the last successful connection message will display a helpful tip that provides some background on the status for the Vols-Staff handling the conversation
- If the chat is disconnected you will see a 'Help Seeker Not Connected' message to alert the vols-staff that the Live Chat Help Seeker may have closed the window or lost internet connection
- If the Live Chat Help Seeker regains internet connection, or reopens the conversation window, the Help Seeker Connection Status will update to show they're connected
- If the Live Chat Help Seeker is accessing your Live Chat service from their cellphone then it is likely they will not have a stable internet connection and messages may not appear in the conversation until the connection has stabilized; if possible, encourage Live Chat Help Seekers to reach out to your SMS/Text Portal, or access your Live Chat Portal from a stable internet connection, preferably a computer
- If your organization has processes for vols-staff handling Live Chat Help Seekers who are unresponsive, you may want to look to this information to decide after x amount of minutes since the last successful connection, end the conversation with the help seeker."
Note, this feature is not available for SMS/Text conversations because way Live Chat Help Seekers connect to iCarol Messaging conversation is different from the way SMS/Text Help Seekers connect. Live Chat Help Seekers always use some type of internet connection, where as SMS/Text Help Seekers use their phone number and the service from their phone provider.
Tracking Help Seeker Location by IP Address
When you subscribe to the iCarol Live Chat feature, a setting can be configured that retrieves the visitors IP address, and depending on your organizations policies, it can sometimes be useful in tracking the location of a help seeker for emergency rescue.
Within the Live Chat conversation window, there is a service that looks up the Internet Service Provider (ISP) from the IP address retrieved for the visitor. There is another service withing the conversation window that provide geographical information based on an IP address. The locations aren't 100% accurate, but it gives a general idea of the location of the help seeker, narrowed down to the service provider, country and city.
If your organization has policies in place where you sometimes initiate emergency rescue for help seekers, you can use the ISP and location information from the IP address to work with local law enforcement to try and locate the individual. While it can sometimes be difficult to use this information to locate a help seeker, it certainly isn't impossible and there have been countless times when this information has been used to locate a help seeker and send emergency rescue.
Watch our industry webinar and download the related slides for more information about existing online technologies used to mask someone’s identity, and the unique ways that those technologies can act as a barrier between the help seeker and the agency they’re contacting, found here: https://go.icarol.com/The-Changing-Face-of-Initiating-Active-Interventions-in-the-Online-Space_SignUpLP.html
The emphasis will be on crisis intervention but many other types of agencies may find this useful as well. We’ll then transition into a discussion about what the future might look like, as well as how crisis centers can fall back on their existing core competencies to work around these barriers.
This webinar will answer the following questions:
- What are VPNs? What is TOR?
- How do people use VPNs and TOR, and what could their usage rates look like in a few years?
- What resources do crisis centers and other agencies have now to deal with these technologies?
The webinar is presented by Beau Pinkham, Director of Crisis Intervention Services at The Crisis Center of Johnson County.
Beau has been part of the crisis intervention/suicide prevention field since 2002, when he started volunteering at his local crisis line. He is a current board member for Contact USA, an accrediting body for crisis centers across the United States, and is part of the American Association of Suicidology’s Strategic Media Response Task Force. He has been involved in panel discussions on the intersection of video games and suicide at SXSW and other conferences, and has presented on how tech trends have affected and will continue to affect crisis intervention services.
Blocking Chat Visitors
On the counselor's screen when conducting a chat, there is a button to block the visitor. Counselors may use this button to block the visitor from conducting chat conversations for 24 hours. If this button is clicked, the following occurs:
- in the current conversation, a message appears in the chat transcript of both the visitor and the counselor that says "The counselor has blocked the conversation"
- if the visitor tries to send another message, it does not actually get sent to the counselor
- if the visitor tries to start another chat within 24 hours, when they click the "enter the chat room" button at the bottom of the registration page, the registration page reloads with a message at the bottom that says "You have been blocked previously."
Note: Unfortunately, it is impossible to block an Instant Messaging a user permanently. This is because Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, used to identify users, can change, or be intentionally changed by using a proxy server. In addition, the user may be using a public computer (such as at a library) where blocking the IP address would block all potential visitors.
Reverse 'blocking' of a Chat client
When a client is blocked from a chat, they need to wait until they are unblocked before they can initiate another chat.
By default, iCarol lifts the "block" automatically after 24 hours.
Related Articles
Live Chat Messaging General Information (Updated)
What is Live Chat/Instant Messaging (IM)? Live Chat or Instant Messaging is a way for a help-seeker to talk with a volunteer-staff user by typing or using other input methods to enter and send text over the internet. Help-seekers may access Live Chat ...Live Chat - Help-seeker Experience Configuration
What is the Live Chat Help-seeker Experience? When Help-seekers or visitors to your Live Chat or SMS Messaging service they experience a workflow of starting a conversation, answering pre-survey or registration questions, engaging in the conversation ...General Messaging Settings Live Chat and SMS/Text
General Messaging Settings Each Live Chat and SMS/Text Portal in your system has associated 'General Settings', as follows: From the main Messaging page, click the ‘IM and SMS Settings’ link in the top right corner of the page Select the named portal ...Messaging Pre-Chat Survey
What is the Pre-Chat Survey (Registration)? Every Live Chat Portal must have a registration page (pre-chat survey) with at least the following visible: a link to your Terms and Conditions, and a captcha for the help seeker to complete to prevent bots ...SMS/Text Messaging General Information
What is SMS/Text? SMS/Texting allows you to communicate with help seekers using text messaging available on their mobile devices. When the SMS/Texting feature is enabled in your system, a portal will be created that is unique to each SMS/Texting ...