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Frequently Asked Questions

collapse | the above section is quoted for convenience from the full FAQ, below.

Chat is a real-time conversations space for the The Stack Exchange Network community. Think of Chat as a dynamic extension of The Stack Exchange Network that allows users to interact in a less formal way beyond the traditional question-and-answer format. This space offers an open environment where you can instantly connect with fellow members to forge new connections and engage in real-time.

To participate in Chat you must be a registered user of The Stack Exchange Network. After logging into your account, select the “Chat” button on the left side navigation toolbar from the Home page or click directly into this link to see the rooms list.

Users with any reputation can enter and read the conversation in any chat room.

The Stack Exchange Lobby is a chat room open to all users, regardless of reputation. It’s a friendly space to start the chat experience and begin connecting with users of the platform.

All other chat rooms on The Stack Exchange Network require at least 20 reputation to participate.

Some chat rooms, also known as Gallery Rooms, are designed for only specific users to talk in the room, as determined by the room owner, but the room is still visible to all users.

We value a welcoming and supportive community. While engaging in Chat, please remember to be kind, considerate, and respectful of your fellow members. Messages that are abusive or spam can be reported and deleted by a Moderator. Please review our Code of Conduct for more information.

You can flag a message as spam or offensive to notify moderators using one of three methods.

flag-dialog

1) Flag on lower right corner of message

flag-menu-opener

2) Drop down arrow on top left corner of message → flag as spam / offensive

flag-for-moderator

3) Drop down arrow on top left corner of message → flag for moderator

flag-for-moderator

We support a limited subset of Markdown styling in chat, similar to comment formatting on The Stack Exchange Network:

                *italic* or _italic_
                **bold** or __bold__
                `code`
                ---strikeout---
                [link text](https://example.com "optional title")

If you need to make an edit to a message you've sent, you have 60 seconds to add edits once you have sent your message. Press the down arrow 🔽 on the left side of your text box, and click then click edit. Edit your message in the text box and then click send.

edit-button

Chat messages initially appear in this color as they are being sent to the server. Once received by the server, they change to this color. Once final, the message will appear black.

Sound Notifications: Customize sound alerts at the top of each room. Choose to be notified only when mentioned (@username), for new messages in visible rooms, in any room you're in, or disable sounds entirely.

Mentioning Users: To get someone's attention, type @ followed by their name (e.g., @username). This highlights your message for them, even if they're in another room. You can only mention users who have previously been in the current room. To invite someone, use their chat profile or the user card that appears when you click their avatar.

Mute Users: Temporarily hide someone's posts by clicking their avatar and selecting "hide posts." To see them again, reload the page. To permanently stop seeing their messages, choose "ignore this user." Manage your ignored users in your profile preferences.

Star / Pinning Feature: Starring a post will add the message to the room's sidebar, ordered by the number of stars and recency, to provide a mini-timeline of interesting chat room summary to everyone joining the room. Anyone in the room can star messages you find useful or important, up to 20 per room, per day, but should be used to help highlight important topics being discussed in chat.

Star rooms and messages you want to easily find later by clicking the star icon. Your starred rooms will appear in the "Favorites" tab, giving you quick access to your preferred spaces.

favorite-room

Click the menu button on any message and you will see the "permalink" option. This gives you a link directly to that message, highlighting that message for clarity.

permalink

Oneboxing is enabled for users that have at least 20 reputation points. When possible, links will be automatically inlined if posted on a single line by themselves with a "oneboxing" format as shown below.

Example:
http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/1678/what-are-the-reasons-for-and-against-wearing-a-bicycle-helmet
will produce:

permalink

In site-specific rooms, you can also use the syntax [tag:yourtagname] to indicate (and link to) an existing tag of your choosing.

"Bookmarking" is the process of creating a link to a block of conversation to be saved in the conversations tab of the chat room. Bookmarks can only be created by users who have at least 100 reputation points.

To create a new bookmark:

  1. Go to the Room tab below the room description and click "create new bookmark."
  2. Select the first message you would like to use as the beginning of the conversation, and then select the last message you would like to be the end of the conversation.
  3. Give the conversation a title that relates to the conversation.
  4. Click Bookmark.

To find bookmarked conversations:

  1. Start at the chat room home page.
  2. Select the chat room you are looking for bookmarked conversations and click the “info” button on the bottom center of the chat rooms display card.

    info button

  3. On top bar, click on conversations.

    conversations

Active users in a room have brighter avatars that appear at the top of the active participants list. Quieter users' avatars become more transparent, indicating less recent activity.

active room users

Creating Chat Rooms: Creating a public chat room takes 100 reputation. Creating a chat room for only specific users that you assign can participate, also known as Gallery Rooms, takes 1000 reputation. For instructions to create a new room, start here.

Room Ownership: You can become a room owner by being granted ownership from an existing owner or by creating a new room.

Automatic Owner Appointment: If an active room lacks an owner or its owners are inactive, the system may automatically appoint the room's most active user as the new owner. This is announced via an automatic message. If you're auto-appointed and don't want the role, you can revoke your ownership in the room's settings by going to the access tab on the room info page and setting the status back to "no special access". Please consider granting ownership to another active user first to avoid being re-appointed.

Room Owner Permissions: Room owners have a few extra permissions, including adding/removing RSS feeds, changing the room's name and description, and similar administrative tasks. If you believe an owner is inappropriate or abusing their privileges, please notify a moderator, who can revoke ownership.

A dotted line in the chat marks the first unread message. Everything below it is new. The page title also shows the number of new messages and a * if you've been mentioned.

Rooms will exist indefinitely as long as there is at least one person actively talking in the room. A room is considered worth retaining if it has more than 15 messages by at least 2 users.