Update
This just happened. I waltzed into the PHP room, and sure enough:
If this isn't evidence that we need a room star creation reputation minimum, I don't know what is.
Alternative
While I believe functionality in this proposal would be optimal, it is perfectly understandable that such an implementation may be too large for reasonable expectations.
Alternatively, as has been discussed elsewhere and in the comments (and additional notes) below, a reputation minimum for room star creation may be satisfactory to prevent clutter.
This could be broken into two functions:
- create a room star
- increment an existing room star
Since the fundamental issue is with room star creation, a reputation minimum should only be required for that; perhaps something on the order of 500. However, a lower minimum could be required to increment existing room stars; perhaps something on the order of 100.
Proposal
Continuing with the frustration from this question, I'm wondering if a distinction between personal stars and room stars would help manage the way we mark content as "interesting".
While there aren't any specific guidelines on star etiquette (please correct and link accordingly if I'm wrong), the tendency of regulars in various rooms is to star content that has some sort of permanence and relevance to the rest of the room.
Occasionally, however, an unfamiliar face will wander in and start starring things left and right. The stars are relevant only in the context of their conversation (typically regarding a problem about which they've visited the room for guidance) and only to themselves.
This would permit people to track their bookmark content on-site, without it "polluting" the room stars.
As stars are inherently public, personal stars could be visible publicly on a given users' chat.stackoverflow.com profile.
Additional Notes
- A minimum reputation requirement (something reasonable, 200? 500?) could be required to create room stars, whereas personal stars can be created by anyone able to chat.
- For this to be effective, the default behavior of starring a message would need to be "personal", unless both options were provided beside one-another.