Worthy Chat Rooms and Message Boards

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hiya,

I think this is my big third post (I have lurked for awhile) here at SD and I thought I honk everybody off by trying to leach away stalwart Dopers. :slight_smile:

BTW, if this is the wrong place for this post, I apologize and y’all can roast me in the Pit until I am just pink in the middle. :smiley:

Guys, this is the most intelligent message board I have seen in some time (which, sadly, isn’t saying that much) so I ask you.

What other worthy chat rooms and message boards are out there?

I am trying to avoid the vapid flirting/insular babble out there. Here’s what I am looking for.

  1. A conversation seems to stick to a basic topic.
  2. Any newcomer is as roughly qualified to comment as anyone else. (the CR/MB is about universal themes, not the personal lives of the posters).

and, finally…

  1. The CR/MB is friendly and welcoming, even to opposing P.O.V.'s especially to opposing P.O.V.'s.

I want to socialize, but I like to get to know people by their opinions and arguements first. The personality and wit are usually a close second anyway.

Looking forward to your replies, but I have some virtual mesquite briquettes standing by (if I must cook, I will cook divinely :P)…

P.S. I’m not really trying to take users away from the SD, I’m trying to recruit new ones. (yeah, that’s it…)

2

Hi, kooka! You might try the official Darwin awards site and message board - http://official.darwinawards.com . They have a UBB also. I’ve only had time to glance around there so far, but the conversations look rather similar to the SDMB - they even have a religion debate forum! There are probably some SDMB members that hang out there!

You’ve got a point there, brother - and one of these days I’m going to figure out what it is. - Cecil Adams

3

I suspect this one will be better served in MPSIMS.

NYC IRL III
is on April 15th. Do you have what it takes?

4

<i>mea culpa</i>, Manhattan.

(opening up bag of briquettes).

I will move the topic to MPSIMS. coosa, thanx for the thoughts. :slight_smile:

5

Are there any subjects you are interested in. Or are you just looking for general conversation?

6

Actually, Biggirl, I was looking for something like “general conversation” in the sense that everyone can join in on the subject.

Issues of the day, Great Debates, tiny annoyances; Things of that nature, where a complete stranger is as qualified to comment as a board “veteran.”

BTW, I forgot to make a contribution to this thread I started.

Try the yforum, it’s a very structured MB on human diversity. No honest question, no matter how thoughtless, is ignored on that subject…

7

Kook it is good that you are spreading your wings on the net. When going to a message board the first and foremost thing is to remember respect for the board and the people that post there. Had a small problem over at Snopes when several SDers went over to check out the board. The regs there were kinda upset that there were so many newbies posting on their board, and without being familar with their style of posting. They were very nice, but understandably upset. I learned a lesson from it. Always lurk, get a good feel for the board, a few days is not enough. They are nice people, but they have a point.
Best of luck to you in your search. You might want to try www.station.sony.com/ for chatrooms. They have several.

** Sigh. So many men, so few who can afford me ** Original by Wally

I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.

8

If you like sports, the CNN/SI message boards are good. They have boards for each sport in general and a board for every team. So, for example, if you’re interested in baseball in general, you go to the baseball board, and if you’re a Yankees fan you go to the Yankees board. The quality of discussion is generally pretty high; they know their sports over there but they’re pretty cool toward newbies, at least in my experience. Don’t go into another team’s board dissing them, though–the flames you’ve seen here are weak compared to what they’ll do to you over there.

9

kookalouris, I think you have stumbled across the ‘bestest place on earth’ for what you’re looking for. It has its minor share of jerks and stuffy pontificators, but less so than most places.

There’s also the Snopes “Urban Legends” message board, where many Dopers moonlight. I have nothing against Snopes—but I find the range of topics much broader here.

10

Some general discussion places (some of which also have loads of mindless fun available - in their own categories):

http://brayforum.cjb.net
Ok, I admit, that’s our own, but it is a good general discussion place! (Prove me wrong, heh…) Ezboard

http://vocal.local.ie
Another Irish forum hosted by Local Ireland. It’s been sort of boring lately, cause the same people have been there for 2-3 years and nothing new is happening… UBB

http://www.cuplafocal.com
Yet another Irish board, though they fecked up by kicking all the Irish members (and me) out, and the rest of them were paranoid enough to want private forums, which they got, but the forum didn’t exactly survive… I don’t know if it’s happening again or not… UBB

Want more?