It is well known (I don't mean to offend anyone), but often good programmers are often anti-social, some Autistic.

It is also well known that many programmers drive cars, enjoy playing video games, and own pets. Recent studies have also revealed that nearly all programmers eat food, and at least one in three programmers have experienced significant economic difficulties at some point during their lives.

Should we have chat rooms for all of these topics?

Stack Exchange's purpose is not to provide a general chat platform. There are already plenty of those available on the Internet. We offer chat facilities as "a third place", somewhere you can go for lighter and more free-form discussions that would not necessarily be on-topic for the main site. You still need to talk about things that are related to the site's topic (or at least pretend to do so some of the time). In this case, that would be programming.

"Lifestyles of Computer Programmers" is not only bad reality TV, it also makes for a bad chat room topic. As you say in the question, creating a room with a topic definition that is explicitly off-topic is a good sign that the room is not appropriate here.

If you want to chat about mental disorders and other societal issues (whether afflicting programmers or others in different professions), you might be able to do so in a chat room associated with a more appropriate site, like Cognitive Science. According to the about page, psychology- and psychiatry-related issues are on-topic there. And although personal "self-help" questions are not allowed on the main site, I can't see why it would be a problem to discuss these in the chat rooms.

It is well known (I don't mean to offend anyone), but often good programmers are often anti-social, some Autistic.

It is also well known that many programmers drive cars, enjoy playing video games, and own pets. Recent studies have also revealed that nearly all programmers eat food, and at least one in three programmers have experienced significant economic difficulties at some point during their lives.

Should we have chat rooms for all of these topics?

Stack Exchange's purpose is not to provide a general chat platform. There are already plenty of those available on the Internet. We offer chat facilities as "a third place", somewhere you can go for lighter and more free-form discussions that would not necessarily be on-topic for the main site. You still need to talk about things that are related to the site's topic (or at least pretend to do so some of the time). In this case, that would be programming.

"Lifestyles of Computer Programmers" is not only bad reality TV, it also makes for a bad chat room topic. As you say in the question, creating a room with a topic definition that is explicitly off-topic is a good sign that the room is not appropriate here.

If you want to chat about mental disorders and other societal issues (whether afflicting programmers or others in different professions), you might be able to do so in a chat room associated with a more appropriate site, like Cognitive Science. According to the about page, psychology- and psychiatry-related issues are on-topic there. And although personal "self-help" questions are not allowed on the main site, I can't see why it would be a problem to discuss these in the chat rooms.

It is well known (I don't mean to offend anyone), but often good programmers are often anti-social, some Autistic.

It is also well known that many programmers drive cars, enjoy playing video games, and own pets. Recent studies have also revealed that nearly all programmers eat food, and at least one in three programmers have experienced significant economic difficulties at some point during their lives.

Should we have chat rooms for all of these topics?

Stack Exchange's purpose is not to provide a general chat platform. There are already plenty of those available on the Internet. We offer chat facilities as "a third place", somewhere you can go for lighter and more free-form discussions that would not necessarily be on-topic for the main site. You still need to talk about things that are related to the site's topic (or at least pretend to do so some of the time). In this case, that would be programming.

"Lifestyles of Computer Programmers" is not only bad reality TV, it also makes for a bad chat room topic. As you say in the question, creating a room with a topic definition that is explicitly off-topic is a good sign that the room is not appropriate here.

If you want to chat about mental disorders and other societal issues (whether afflicting programmers or others in different professions), you might be able to do so in a chat room associated with a more appropriate site, like Cognitive Science. According to the about page, psychology- and psychiatry-related issues are on-topic there. And although personal "self-help" questions are not allowed on the main site, I can't see why it would be a problem to discuss these in the chat rooms.

It is well known (I don't mean to offend anyone), but often good programmers are often anti-social, some Autistic.

It is also well known that many programmers drive cars, enjoy playing video games, and own pets. Recent studies have also revealed that nearly all programmers eat food, and at least one in three programmers have experienced significant economic difficulties at some point during their lives.

Should we have chat rooms for all of these topics?

Stack Exchange's purpose is not to provide a general chat platform. There are already plenty of those available on the Internet. We offer chat facilities as "a third place", somewhere you can go for lighter and more free-form discussions that would not necessarily be on-topic for the main site. You still need to talk about things that are related to the site's topic (or at least pretend to do so some of the time). In this case, that would be programming.

"Lifestyles of Computer Programmers" is not only bad reality TV, it also makes for a bad chat room topic. As you say in the question, creating a room with a topic definition that is explicitly off-topic is a good sign that the room is not appropriate here.

If you want to chat about mental disorders and other societal issues (whether afflicting programmers or others in different professions), you might be able to do so in a chat room associated with a more appropriate site, like Cognitive Science. According to the about page, psychology- and psychiatry-related issues are on-topic there. And although personal "self-help" questions are not allowed on the main site, I can't see why it would be a problem to discuss these in the chat rooms.