50

Right now if I try to start a chat page with a user with a reputation of 1, it spits out the common:

User X on has Y reputation, not yet enough to chat

I certainly understand that the user should not be able to start a chat themselves but why can't I (reputation 16k) start a chat with them? Typically if I'm trying to help someone semi-interactively they'll most likely be a low reputation user! What this ends up in is that we have a monstrous comment session which doesn't sound very useful for posterity.

Maybe we need another reputation level which is something like:

Able to start chat with low reputation users.

Since I'm at 16k we can make that, let's say, 15k.

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11
  • The problem is that the low rep user will be given limited use of a feature, and it will be a bit frustrating when they realize that they can't use it without a high rep "sponsor". We see that all the time with comments and users with less than 50 rep, they know the feature is there, but somehow can't access it, and they just give up and post their comments as answers.
    – yannis
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 20:03
  • 8
    Well @Yannis, they are being denied now anyway because of their reputation. I don't see how allowing me to "sponsor" the chat is going to somehow make it worse. Seems to me that at least it helps me out as well as improves the site usability.
    – Gray
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 20:06
  • I'm not against this, it might work, and if it does save us from monstrous comment sessions, I'm all for it.
    – yannis
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 20:09
  • 4
    I've sometimes wanted that myself. But just to tease you, I suggest it become a 17.5K privilege ;)
    – Daniel Fischer
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 20:21
  • @DanielFischer hmm well there's nothing beyond the 20K privilege now...
    – Some Helpful Commenter
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 21:05
  • +1 @Gray: Good suggestion! I share that frustration too :( and would definitely like it if this could be implemented :)
    – Siddharth Rout
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 21:20
  • You aren't the first to think so. This link has a work-around: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/99491/…
    – Mark Ransom
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 22:17
  • @Mark Correct me if I am wrong but that work-around doesn't work any more?
    – Siddharth Rout
    Commented Jun 7, 2012 at 0:23
  • @SiddharthRout, I haven't used a chat room since then so you'll have to tell me.
    – Mark Ransom
    Commented Jun 7, 2012 at 0:46
  • See also the discussion here: meta.stackexchange.com/a/186384/162102
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Feb 12, 2015 at 2:23
  • 1
    Some related posts: Invite low rep users to participate in chat (and the questions linked there) Allow inviting people with rep < 20 to private chat? (and the questions linked there).
    – Martin
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 8:02

1 Answer 1

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+50

This feature is necessary. It would be reasonable to change the 1k privilege to include this. A 1k member should be able to give explicit write permission in his room to any user on the site, regardless of the rep of the user.

Why?

  1. The new users can visit chat, but cannot participate, which is frustrating (much more than being able to talk only somewhere). This would allow you to change it for them.

  2. Chat is a much easier place for discussing the quality of the posts, especially if a question gets closed and a long discussion starts (there are ones with more than 60 comments!). As well, the comments are not prompt and their automatic hiding is not really suitable for instant discussions.

  3. The discussion in chat does not clutter the comments, which is a painful thing to deal with. In chat, it doesn't bother anybody.

  4. It's an invitation thingy, and I wouldn't invite spammers to my own room, would I? After all, a moderator can come and zap it, and can disallow me from creating chat rooms at all if I misbehave, so there's enough control mechanism to prevent spam.

Good communication is a key to good moderation, so please, allow to improve the communication and implement this.

Similar arguments were given by Monica Cellio in Propose a privilege to sit in the 500 reputation mark.

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