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Invite low rep users to participate in chat

Question answering is a large percentage of the traffic in the typical language/library discussion group. And like many of the SO semi-faithful, I fight the good fight against junky systems like phpBB and Google Groups for Q&A.

(I think they're junky for pretty much everything else too, but it's especially noticeable with Q&A.)

Yet the ergonomics of a StackExchange-style site can be hard for people to grasp. The point system can be intimidating, and though things keep getting better with offering advice on how to refine question titles...people are still having some bad first experiences.

So I thought I was clever by inviting people from Rebol to join me in A Rebol Chat Room here. I'd get a chance to show off the site's features, give guidance so they don't get slammed into oblivion as they try and learn the system.

But no dice...the 20 rep limit for chat (which I did not know about) blocked them. And now they have even more anti-StackOverflow bias than they did before; it looks elitist about this points thing that "doesn't actually matter, but does"

I understand wanting to stem the spam tides. But this restriction—while a seemingly low bar to jump—ties the hands of evangelists and adds fuel to the "let's make another crappy phpBB site" fire. If I want to invite someone to come get started with StackOverflow by way of a chat room, what's the deal with gagging them?

And if you want to feel my pain, check out the silly third-world URL category I'm trying to upgrade:

http://www.rebol.com/cgi-bin/blog.r?view=0518#comments

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    It's like someone once told me: "There is something you need to understand about showing people Future Things. You have to be careful. It's a lot like if you are dealing with someone who has never had a grape before. When you give them their first grape you must be 100% sure it's not a sour one...because if it is sour, then every time they're asked if they want a grape after that they will say no."
    – HostileFork says dont trust SE
    Dec 4, 2012 at 18:32
  • 20 rep isnt hard nut ..one good question or answer will give you ... and its(20) important to stop spamming
    – NullPoiиteя
    Dec 4, 2012 at 18:42
  • Related: Chat: can I grant write access to a unregistered user?, Allow temporary guest accounts in chat, Invite low rep users to participate in chat and a handful of others from the Related sidebar
    – Pops
    Dec 4, 2012 at 19:21
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    @PopularDemand Those suggestions did not come up when I was searching. :-/ But they're here now, so I voted to close too...and perhaps this will show up when other people have the same question thus helping someone else's search. I'll dig into what's been said and why a solution has not been implemented to deal with this rather obvious defect.
    – HostileFork says dont trust SE
    Dec 4, 2012 at 19:28
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    @NullPointer It's not the issue of whether the reputation is hard to get in the grand scheme of things for someone who's gotten the basic indoctrination. Of course 20 is easy. The grape quote is the...er, point.
    – HostileFork says dont trust SE
    Dec 4, 2012 at 19:30

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