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I know this question may sound silly, but I haven't been able to find an answer.

How the title states, is there a way to invite someone to chat from within a question?

I mean, after an undefined number of comments (I don't know how many) one is invited by the site engine itself to continue the discussion in chat.

Is there a way to prevent this and move the discussion to a chat room immediately?

2
  • I suppose, from the privileges section with 100 rep one can create a new chat room chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/new (sometimes it's created in the name of two interacting users if comments exceeds a certain amount as mentioned in Q). See more on rooms retention over time due to no activity
    – texenthusiast
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 14:40
  • @texenthusiast Thanks for these hints, I was aware of them after this discussion over here.
    – karlkoeller
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 15:27

2 Answers 2

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You join chat just by visiting the chat room page, so a comment such as

I think it's best to discuss this on chat. Care to join me on http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/41/tex-latex-and-friends ?

is sufficient.

You can copy and paste a comment thread into chat to make discussion easier. As regular users, I don't think we can migrate comment threads to chat.

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  • 8
    One slightly frustrating feature of the site is that people can't use chat until they have 20+ rep -- and those are exactly the people who have problems which are often best sorted out in that way. Ah well. Nothing's perfect.
    – Paul Stanley
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 10:56
  • Thanks for the answer. Obviously I meant a 'private' room in chat, but I don't have enough reputation yet to create a new one, I think.
    – karlkoeller
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 11:20
  • @karlkoeller - I think the automatic invitation is to the public chat. If you have the reputation, create the chat room and post that as your URL.
    – Charles Stewart
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 11:22
  • Are you sure? I've been invited to a one-to-one room days ago, before posting a comment.
    – karlkoeller
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 11:25
  • Well, I've probably made a mistake saying 'private' room. I meant a public room but not the default one. BTW, I've been able to create one.
    – karlkoeller
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 11:35
  • @karlkoeller: You are right, the automigrated chat is created in private rooms: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/96914/… - I think I'd generally prefer these discussions to happen on the main chat, unless there's something sensitive at stake
    – Charles Stewart
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 12:15
  • 6
    @CharlesStewart I don't actually think that the main chat room is appropriate for such discussions, partly because having more users chiming in may not be very helpful, and partly because the other threads in the chat may intervene and also cause confusion. As Karl says, you can create special but still public chats, and for dealing with specific problems that new users have these types of chat are a better choice, I think.
    – Alan Munn
    Commented Jun 5, 2013 at 14:49
  • 1
    Just a note about 'private' here: all of the chat rooms are accessible to mods, invited or not!
    – Joseph Wright Mod
    Commented Jun 6, 2013 at 7:28
  • 1
    If a user A with enough rep invites a user B with 1 rep into a room owned by A, the user B can enter the room and post messages there.
    – yo'
    Commented Jun 6, 2013 at 23:32
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    @tohecz: Thanks - that is useful. I think my answer as it stands is woefully incomplete - I should update it to include what I learned from this answer thread.
    – Charles Stewart
    Commented Jun 7, 2013 at 11:56
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The formal way to invite someone to a user-specific chat room is done in the following way:

  1. Find the user in list of Stack Exchange chat-users:

    enter image description here

    Note that while you may have a (parent) TeX.SE user account, a chat account is a subsidiary account, since only certain people are allowed to participate (minimum 20 reputation).

  2. Expand the chat user profile by clicking on the appropriate user:

    enter image description here

  3. Enter the name of the chat room and click on "start a new room with this user":

    enter image description here

Alternatively, if the both users are already in a chat room, click on their gravatar and select "start a new room with this user":

enter image description here

Note that all the conversations are free, open, and public to read by anyone.

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  • Thanks for this complete explanation, Werner.
    – karlkoeller
    Commented Jul 10, 2013 at 6:22

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