# Notable Chat Rooms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431 "2008-09-27T02:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/1 "2008-09-27T02:56:10Z")
I am in the States and now can use these newfangled chat rooms. Do you have any favorites? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/2 "2008-09-27T03:33:33Z")
I could be wrong, but as far as I know “chat rooms” as a phenomenon have kind of died out, everyone just Instant Messages the people they actually want to talk to now. There are still IRC channels running, but they’re mainly populated by the geek crowd (and oftentimes fans of a specific site) and are generally characterized by long periods of silence with 3 minute bouts of actual chatting every few hours or days (depending). There just isn’t this whole “special interest AOL chat room” thing going on anymore (as far as I can tell). Myspace and Facebook still have them I think, but most people I know still just opt for private chats. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/3 "2008-09-27T03:36:35Z")
I believe that there’s a Straight Dope IRC channel. “IRC” being a three letter word, I don’t know that you can search for it though. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/4 "2008-09-27T03:41:25Z")
For whatever it’s worth, the top 5 IRC networks put together have over 300,000 users online at the moment. I don’t really use it anymore aside from the rare occaison when I check back in with the group I chatted with back in the mid-'90s. Amazingly, many of them are still there and still spending all day on IRC, nearly fifteen years later! :eek: ETA: > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I believe that there’s a Straight Dope IRC channel. “IRC” being a three letter word, I don’t know that you can search for it though. I searched for “dope chat” and, at least as of two years ago, it was located at #straightdope on [irc.newnet.net](http://irc.newnet.net). ETA again: There are just over 600,000 users currently on all of the known public IRC networks put together. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/5 "2008-09-27T03:49:11Z")
Ran out of edit time. According to [http://irc.netsplit.de](http://irc.netsplit.de) , the highest number of users on IRC in the past two weeks was 872,000. So apparently there are still quite a few people using it, although I wouldn’t be surprised if 100,000 or more of that number consisted of bots and people signed on with multiple usernames. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/6 "2008-09-27T03:58:58Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I searched for “dope chat” and, at least as of two years ago, it was located at #straightdope on [irc.newnet.net](http://irc.newnet.net). It’s still there, but it’s dead and moldering so far as I’m aware. The past few times I’ve popped in (which is admittedly sporadic), **Robin** ’s been the only person there. ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/7 "2008-09-27T04:17:43Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I searched for “dope chat” and, at least as of two years ago, it was located at #straightdope on [irc.newnet.net](http://irc.newnet.net). Just thought I’d mention that I’m sitting in the aforementioned chat room at the moment, if anyone decides to come join me. It’d probably be the closest thing to a Doperfest I’ll be seeing anytime soon.. hehe S^G ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/8 "2008-09-27T13:24:12Z")
Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-chat-rooms/465431/9 "2008-10-05T04:40:39Z")
I know MSN closed all their chat rooms about 2 years back.