Where can I talk to friendly, interesting strangers on the internet?

June 28, 2015 5:22 PM

Remember back when the internet started, and it was all about connecting with people you'd never met before? We're not talking Chatroulette, message boards, or anyone asking 'A/S/L?', but just having interesting, non-creepy, real-time conversations with strangers? I miss that. Is there a corner of the internet where that still exists?
posted by torietorie to Human Relations (7 answers total)

I feel like Facebook groups kind of serve this purpose. I am the member of two FB groups that are local to my city, one about hiking and the other about food. They both have a TON of post activity, though it's not a live IRC style chatroom. I have met some great people this way!
posted by joan_holloway at 5:30 PM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

This question has some responses that might be of interest, too.
posted by cogitron at 5:32 PM on June 28, 2015

Mefi chat scratches that itch for me. I lurk/chat in there pretty regularly.
posted by HermitDog at 5:40 PM on June 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

Twitter! Some people will ignore you but some people would love to chat or riff with even no follower-havin eggs about whatever.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:17 PM on June 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Ooooh ooooh oooh, I'm making an app that does exactly this!

It's still in VERY early stages, but it sorts people via mutual interests (mutual passions to be precise) with the hope you can actually have a meaningful conversation with someone. Not sure if mefi rules allow self promotion but eh, here it is: UnRandom Chat - chat to strangers with similar interests

Hope this helps. And if it doesn't, let me know and I'll improve the app!
posted by tomargue at 8:33 PM on June 28, 2015 [12 favorites]

Twitter scratches this itch for me. I can dip in & out of conversation with complete strangers and it's super-fun.

I tend to follow a low number of people but make sure they're all really interesting if-you-know-what-I-mean. Then I check out people they've retweeted and conversation usually kicks off from there.

(Occasionally I discover said interesting people are MeFites which sort of makes sense, I guess?)
posted by kariebookish at 4:31 AM on June 29, 2015

It's not real time, but I signed up for The Well not long ago, mainly in a de-Google stroke. They are one of the oldest online communities, and seem to have fairly civil discussion forums. It's not LIKE conversing in the early days of the Internet, it basically is.
posted by tremspeed at 12:38 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]