So...I've never been in the chat room (I don't think)...not really into that sort of thing.

Is the discussion lively, friendly, maybe a bit antagonistic? I'm just curious what everyones thoughts and experiences have been like...

Thanks!

I found it extremely boring.  Some people in there can be extremely rude and not much is done about it but that was only one time.  I've only been in it about 4 or 5 times and never stay for more than 20 minutes.  Maybe if more people used it it could be fun.

It seems to be very MtF dominated (not like that's a bad thing), but every time I go in there I feel uncomfortable and awkward.  From what I've seen, I can count the number of people who actively talk with less than five fingers.  I also find it rather boring.  I can't stay in there for more than two minutes (and one minute of that is used by going to a different chat room topic in there-which no one seems to participate in).  I just can't relate to anyone in there, but maybe the experience will be different for you.

Quote from: Malachite on September 13, 2013, 01:16:12 AM
every time I go in there I feel uncomfortable and awkward.

^This.

Boring? Depends on when you're in the chat room because activity ebbs and flows. It can be a lot of fun when a bunch of people are on and active.  We have more moderators now so it is kept a relatively safe space. I enjoy it more than the forums, since you have that real-time interaction with people. To me, it is less boring than the forums, which also seems to suffer from a limited number of people that regularly post.

We do have more FTM than we used to and also a few GQ people that hang out. Chat has it's own vibe; it's not for everyone.

I've made many friends there. Plus there is always the good feeling from being able to help others out, and have someone to talk to when you need it (rather than waiting on responses.) We currently have a couple of dozen people that are regular chatters, again it depends on the time of day as to when they're on. #chat is pretty much the only active channel, true, and we generally direct everyone into #chat that go into the side rooms.

Is there a specific time when it is most active?  I never paid attention to what time it was when I went in there?

It is pretty random. Just depends on when people get on, what they are saying, who else is in the room, and what the previous conversation was. Sometimes a person will get things going and people start getting active again instead of lurking. Sometimes a person will just kill off the chat or people will get exhausted. Generally in the early morning and in the evening US east coast time it's busy. One of the key things with chat is to be patient with it. I see a number of people come in and say hi, and if they don't get a response *immediately* they give up. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for people to respond. (Most chatters use a stand-alone program to chat and keep it running all the time, only paying it occasional attention.)

Thanks all...the reason why is because I do better one-on-one, or 2-on-1 (no smart remarks, please!  ), but in a really dynamic environment where many people are talking at once, to each other and to others, and the text scrolls up fast...I tend to get dizzy. IRL one doesn't have the text scrolling problem.

Then there's the difficult people, either rude or just contentious, that take away my enjoyment of a situation. Any tips on how to deal with with them in an online chat? (Other than reporting them?)

Thanks!

I went once, it was a tiny black screen with text, you can't see who you're talking to like here on the forums. There were two people there, I didn't recognize their names, and I don't think they recognized mine, because the talk turned to smoking weed. I got out of there.