# How do I find the Straight Dope Chat Room?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 26, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135 "2006-02-26T02:05:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/1 "2006-02-26T02:05:19Z")

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I’m sorry to be making a thread just for this, but my search was not fruitful, and I can’t remember where the heck that chatroom is and how to get to/on it.

If I ever find it again, I’ll bookmark it, I promise. :smack:

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/2 "2006-02-26T02:15:31Z")

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I thought the whole world (and then some) was a Straight Dope Chat Room.

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**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/3 "2006-02-26T02:18:23Z")

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> [@featherlou](#):
>
> I’m sorry to be making a thread just for this, but my search was not fruitful, and I can’t remember where the heck that chatroom is and how to get to/on it.
> 
> If I ever find it again, I’ll bookmark it, I promise. :smack:

A chat room for Straight Dope? Never heard of such a thing.

I tend to dislike chat rooms myself. Victory there goes to the fastest typist almost always----those fast on their feet----and in no way related to the best intellectual argument or those who like a little time to make a good response.

Chat rooms do have their place for those who like them. Not for me though.

I like to have a little time to think about things and compose a decent response.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/4 "2006-02-26T02:23:32Z")

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There is a chat room for the Straight Dope - I went there a couple times, way back when. I just can’t remember where it is.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/5 "2006-02-26T02:24:45Z")

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> [@featherlou](#):
>
> There is a chat room for the Straight Dope - I went there a couple times, way back when. I just can’t remember where it is.

And you were there for 20 minutes?

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/6 "2006-02-26T02:25:19Z")

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Oops, didn’t read thoroughly - I type upwards of 60 wpm - I have no problem keeping up in chat rooms. 😃

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/7 "2006-02-26T02:26:24Z")

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> [@panache45](#):
>
> And you were there for 20 minutes?

Yeah, that sounds about right. We got into some discussion about some weird sex toy thing, though, so I bailed.

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**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/8 "2006-02-26T02:32:57Z")

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You mean the IRC channel? It is located on the Newnet servers. The channel name is #straightdope.

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**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/9 "2006-02-26T03:50:45Z")

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Down the hall, 3rd door on the left.

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**Author:** ![Azadeh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Azadeh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azadeh)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/10 "2006-02-26T04:08:15Z")

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Using whatever irc client you use, connect to the newnet hub ([irc.newnet.net](http://irc.newnet.net)) and then join the channel #straightdope.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/11 "2006-02-26T18:06:05Z")

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Ah, that’s it. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/12 "2006-02-27T04:34:49Z")

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Since some people apparently felt ignored - not all of us in the channel are paying attention at every single minute. I like to hang in the channel while doing my homework or studying so it can take a bit to respond to greetings and comments. Some times of the day are busier than others, so you might have stumbled in at a dead time. Finally, the flavor of the channel varies from day to day and conversation to conversation. Feel free to leave your irc client open and “hang out” there and see what happens.

So yeah, we weren’t ignoring you on purpose. 🙂

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**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/13 "2006-02-27T04:38:03Z")

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I’m going to sound rather ignorant, but “irc?” What exactly is this?

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/14 "2006-02-27T05:42:50Z")

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> [@monica](#):
>
> I’m going to sound rather ignorant, but “irc?” What exactly is this?

IRC is [Internet Relay Chat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC). It’s basically a Internet chat system that people used to use more before IM clients and web-based chatrooms like Yahoo! Chat took over.

IRC is still around and well, though, and all you need to connect to a server is an IRC client like [mIRC](http://www.mirc.com/). There are separate IRC networks like there are separate IM networks; if you’re on a Newnet server, for example, you can’t talk to anyone on an Undernet server… so make sure you connect to the right IRC network (which would be [irc.newnet.net](http://irc.newnet.net) in this case) or you won’t find the right #straightdope chat channel.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/15 "2006-02-27T06:24:00Z")

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I found it! I’m chatting! Woohoo! I’m so high-tech!

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**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/16 "2006-02-27T14:59:45Z")

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Low Tech actually. IRC has been around since what, 1989? 😃 Still, it’s my preferred method of chatting.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/17 "2006-02-28T08:22:12Z")

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Ah, dammit. Here I thought I was getting all plugged-in and stuff. I even signed up for IM yesterday. I’m putting my Luddite ways behind me. I might even turn on my cell phone today.

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/18 "2006-02-28T10:22:50Z")

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And now that’ve you seen IRC, be sure to check out [bash.org](http://www.bash.org/) – the pinnacle of human communication!

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/19 "2006-03-01T07:57:02Z")

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Moved to ATMB.

- **xash**  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-the-straight-dope-chat-room/346135/20 "2006-03-01T13:18:41Z")

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> [@featherlou](#):
>
> Ah, dammit. Here I thought I was getting all plugged-in and stuff. I even signed up for IM yesterday…

Now you’ve got to put your IM contact info here so people can IM you. 😛

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