TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Shout Box
(aka: Tagboard)

Go To

Like a simple chat room, or a forum reduced to a single thread. Commonly placed on the main page of a website.

Many Webcomics don't have a large enough community to support a full-size, separate Message Board. A Shout Box is one way to provide easy, highly visible interactivity.

The rise of chat group fics has seen this trope being used In-Universe quite frequently; there will always be a chat room or thread in which all the characters are allowed to interact in.

Compare Fourth-Wall Mail Slot (when fictional characters communicate with their real-life fans). Contrast The Rant (text underneath a webcomic page/strip that the author can use to give the readers updates).

Bound to appear in any Interactive Comic (comics in which Audience Participation decides how the story goes). Might contain an About the Author blurb.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Fan Works 
Crossovers
  • Friendship is Dragons has one, that has become something of a friendly community for discussing Role Playing Games rather than the comic itself. The author cites it as his inspiration for continuing the strip.

    Roleplays 
  • Archipelago Exodus: There's a shoutbox at the bottom of the page in addition to there being a forum thread for readers to post their comments. The difference is that the former is for announcements from the roleplayers and, occasionally, the characters.
  • Olympian RPG: The forum has a shout-box in which the roleplayers can hang out. It's a place where they can interact with each other and talk about quests and plots, have simple chit-chat about school and fanfics, and sometimes it can range to epic pillow fights and "poke" wars.

    Video Games 
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Homeowners can setup a message book for any player to leave a message in.
  • Papa Louie Arcade: There's a shout box with official announcements in the game's menu.
  • Suikoden IV: There's a comments box to aid the player keep track of notes to solve the puzzles.

    Webcomics 

    Websites 
  • Bear And Kitten (read here) has a very avid fanbase that actively posted in their shoutbox. Oddly enough, even though the webcomic hasn't been updated in almost a year now, the fans still post in the shoutbox because they actually became a close-knit group of friends. Seemingly forgetting that they even came to the website for the comic. Currently, the site is down, but the shoutbox is still accessible via the internet archive.
  • DeviantArt: Users who subscribe have the option to put a shoutbox with any journal they post.
  • Last Point FM: Each artist and band's page has a shoutbox for their fans to interact and post their ratings.
  • Meme Italia: There's one at the top of the wiki.
  • Rate Your Music: While each song, album, or soundtrack has its own comment threads box, there's also a shout box on the site's main page. It was brought down due to controversy over Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell.
  • YouTube: Content creators can mark one comment (theirs or made by one of their viewers) as a sticky post on each video. Regardless of what you pick, said comment will always show up on top. Since other people can respond to it, it becomes a shout box of sorts for that particular video.

Alternative Title(s): Tagboard

Top