Someone PLEASE explain to me....

DJFuji

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
3,643
1
76
...what the allure of chatrooms are?

I remember screwing around with chatrooms on AOL in like '94 or when the internet hadn't really taken off yet. They were pointless THEN.

Fast forward 10 years. I'm sitting here bored (though i should be working), and get this great idea that "maybe chatrooms have been revolutionized and are completely different now that everyone is on the internet!"

...So I fire up yahoo, jump into the nearest chatroom...

...and over the course of about 10 minutes i find that chatrooms are either a) filled with people who aren't saying a WORD, b) filled with 13 year olds talking about complete nonsense (even in chatrooms labeled "PROGRAMMING: 1"), or c) filled with bots that are sending out automated xxx "spam" in the form of instant messages by the boatloads. Or some combination of the above choices.

Is there some secret password I dont know that gets people to the underground rooms where there's all kinds of intellectually stimulating conversation? Or am i correct in thinking that they're just as much a waste of time and effort NOW as they were 10 years ago?

And if so, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FLAMIN' PEOPLE IN THERE? WTF ARE THEY DOING??
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Negative, ATOT is way better than a chat room. Chat rooms are crap. And I don't see how yahoo can't stop those bots... I like when I'm in a Gay Men's chat room, how the bots will come in and say, "My name's Missy. Want to see my hot body naked? Click here." And then Missy turns out to be a girl! What's up with that? I mean, girls named Missy?
 

bmacd

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
10,869
1
0
i remember a few years ago i got hooked on chat rooms...after that, i got hooked on message boards. I'm still stuck on them a few years later...it's like crack! ;)

-=bmacd=-
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
I've never liked them much. They are even harder to stay on topic than ATOT. it's just people randomly typing, basically.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've never liked them much. They are even harder to stay on topic than ATOT. it's just people randomly typing, basically.

And then Skoorb hit the scene....
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,855
355
136
Originally posted by: bmacd
i remember a few years ago i got hooked on chat rooms...after that, i got hooked on message boards. I'm still stuck on them a few years later...it's like crack! ;)

-=bmacd=-

Same here.

IRC --> ICQ --> Web Chat Rooms --> forums and Trillian

I even met my wife online
 

Maverick

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2000
5,900
0
71
chats only good for obtaining things...not for real useful conversation or anything. Unless you're an anti-social teenager (like I once was)
 

oniq

Banned
Feb 17, 2002
4,196
0
0
Originally posted by: Maverick
chats only good for obtaining things...not for real useful conversation or anything. Unless you're an anti-social teenager (like I once was)

Pirate!
 

imported_yovonbishop

Golden Member
Apr 19, 2004
1,091
0
0
chatrooms are useless. You either get hormone-crazed teenagers wanting to cyber or people talking about what they're doing, and asking what everyone else is doing. .. a/s/l? ... ugh.. :roll:
 

PanzerIV

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2002
6,875
1
0
Originally posted by: yovonbishop
chatrooms are useless. You either get hormone-crazed teenagers wanting to cyber or people talking about what they're doing, and asking what everyone else is doing. .. a/s/l? ... ugh.. :roll:

Yep. The bots have taken over Yahoo chatrooms anyway and destroyed what little dignity they had left. What really gets on my nerves that the OP pointed out is when you're in a computer chatroom or non general chatroom that is full of teens talking about anything but computers or the subject of the room. *sigh*
 

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
0
0
back in 95 it was fun to pretend to be a woman and try to pick up girls in the lesbian rooms on msn

i don't know what the attraction is today
 

minendo

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2001
35,558
20
81
AOL Chatrooms were never pointless. Well, unless you went into the wrong ones.

I miss the days of AOL Chat MP3x, where x is a number.
 

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
0
0
back in 95 it was fun to pretend to be a woman and try to pick up girls in the lesbian rooms on msn
then i figured out that everyone else in the room was also male

it wasn't fun after that. :eek:

i don't know what the attraction is today
 

jjones

Lifer
Oct 9, 2001
15,424
2
0
I used IRC a few years ago when I was a member of a 3D graphics forum and we had a channel for it. It was fun; kinda like just hanging out. I'd work and join in on conversations once in a while. We used to have some hilarious conversations but after a while, I just drifted away.
 

minendo

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2001
35,558
20
81
Originally posted by: jjones
I used IRC a few years ago when I was a member of a 3D graphics forum and we had a channel for it. It was fun; kinda like just hanging out. I'd work and join in on conversations once in a while. We used to have some hilarious conversations but after a while, I just drifted away.

Sort of how AT members use #neochat.
 

TitanDiddly

Guest
Dec 8, 2003
12,696
1
0
I do technical chatroom when I have a question or want to bounce ideas off of people. Other than that, I don't touch em much at all.
 

neutralizer

Lifer
Oct 4, 2001
11,552
1
0
faster responses, but im is still better. i only use irc for neochat, xdcc, or looking up alt-bin codes.
 

cronos

Diamond Member
Nov 7, 2001
9,380
26
101
it's like ATOT but (more) real-time

i used to hung out in irc (efnet) a lot some 3-4 years ago. it's really very similar to AT forums in terms of there are 'elite' and the 'lifer', although they don't necessarily have these title stamped on them. there are people who know each other by nicknames and some by real names, we just became good friends and chat all night. i still check out a few channels that i usually went to like once a week now, most of my good friends are not there anymore but some are still there.
 

DJFuji

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
3,643
1
76
Originally posted by: PanzerIV
Originally posted by: yovonbishop
chatrooms are useless. You either get hormone-crazed teenagers wanting to cyber or people talking about what they're doing, and asking what everyone else is doing. .. a/s/l? ... ugh.. :roll:

Yep. The bots have taken over Yahoo chatrooms anyway and destroyed what little dignity they had left. What really gets on my nerves that the OP pointed out is when you're in a computer chatroom or non general chatroom that is full of teens talking about anything but computers or the subject of the room. *sigh*

haha yeah i'm in a "programming" chatroom and i ask people what their preference is with C#/VB.NET using the .NET platform. I get a response that "we're not really programmers here..."

WTFO? It's like EVERY room is OT

Well, back to ATOT....

And yeah, i've seen that "parlor" video. It's freakin hilarious, though it took me a minute to figure out what the hell was going on.
 

DJFuji

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
3,643
1
76
Originally posted by: minendo
AOL Chatrooms were never pointless. Well, unless you went into the wrong ones.

I miss the days of AOL Chat MP3x, where x is a number.

eh...that's what bittorrent is for now.