Chat room

A chat room is an online forum where people can chat (talk by broadcasting short messages to people on the same forum), or write messages to each other. Sometimes these forums are moderated, but usually not.

Chat systems include Internet Relay Chat (where rooms are called "channels"), Jabber, and several proprietary systems implemented on the Microsoft Windows and Java platforms.

Lesser known is the UNIX based talker and the French Minitel[?].

See also:

• Online chat
• Instant messaging
• List of active chat rooms