What are Chat Rooms

A chat room is a website or an online service, included in other pages and sites, that offers online users a large venue to communicate and exchange opinions. The main advantage of chat rooms is that they offer users the chance to communicate in real time; boards and forums or discussion groups require message posting, without allowing or supporting interactive messages and interactive communication.

In most cases chat rooms are found in bigger websites; chat rooms also exist in large service sites, such as America Online, allowing people with the same interest to exchange a few -- or more -- words. Users do not need to download any software, while other services, such as IRC give users the chance to download it for free.

Participating in Chat Rooms

In order to participate in chat rooms, a user has to create an account and register to the room or website. After choosing a username and password and logging in, he can find a list of participants -- other users -- who are online at the same chat room, at the same time. Once a new user logs in, the other participants are notified that a new user enters the room and the conversation. Online users are not obliged to send messages though; there is a very common practice, called lurking and it refers to people who enter chat rooms and read the messages without participating actively to the discussions.

Although these rooms have many advantages and can be really entertaining or interesting, depending on the main topic or theme discussed, their open character has caused some problems as well; messages are instantly visible which allows people to abuse the rooms or even the other chatters. This abuse can be intentional and can cause serious problems, especially when minors or other sensitive categories of chatters are involved. Verbal or mental abuses, disruptive users and scrolling are just some of the main and most common problems that exist in the chat room world.

People, who are interested in chatting, can find chat rooms about everything; almost every aspect of human life, every habit or hobby has its own chat room. Communities of chatters can be really large, allowing online users from all over the world to interact in real time. They can be found easily, as the biggest search engines provide lists of chat rooms according to their category, interest and endeavor. Registering and participating in these rooms is easy and requires just a few minutes.