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A chat room is a special part of a website, or even its own website, that allows people to communicate instantly. Usually, chat rooms have a theme that attracts people who are interested in that topic.
Visitors to the earliest chat rooms communicated by text only. Now, some chat rooms feature the ability to use voice to communicate and upload images almost instantly. Most chat rooms require registration and a password. Some chat rooms will limit who is allowed to register, such as those run by colleges (usually only current and former students are allowed to register). It all depends on who is running the chat room, and who is monitoring it, if anyone. Yahoo! has a long list of chat rooms by subject. Pogo.com is a popular website that allows people to chat while playing online games. -
To use a chat room, the user must first register and choose a user name, which will be displayed while he chats. The user name is usually not the person's legal name. Once the user enters the chat room (by typing his user name and password), he can see a list of the people who are already in the room.
To talk to these people, the user must type a message into a text box. Once the user hits the "Enter" key, everyone else can see his or her message. Then other people may respond, and a conversation develops. Sometimes, people enter chat rooms and just read the messages without participating in the conversation. This is called "lurking." - Each chat room may also have its own rules and acronyms, such as "DH" for "Dear Husband." Most chat rooms have an FAQ section that explains the rules and acronyms. Still, there are etiquette rules that are valid in all chat rooms. It is considered impolite in a chat room to type in all capital letters, which is like yelling at someone. Users should never try to monopolize a conversation, insult someone personally or interrupt another user. It is also considered impolite to stray off the topic.
