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Anyone got a link, or step by step instructions on how to do this?

I have the method I use, that I will post as an answer here.. but it seems convoluted.

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    \$\begingroup\$ At best you can invite another user to chat. You can't make them go there or interact with you. I basically never go to chat, even though I've received "Let's continue this in chat" comments many times. It's usually someone wanting their own personal but free consultant. That doesn't work for me, and continuing some pointless discussion is even more pointless in private. Writing stuff few people will ever see is a waste of free time. \$\endgroup\$
    – Olin Lathrop
    Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 14:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @OlinLathrop indeed, unsolicited chats are irksome, which may be why it is so buried. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 18:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd imagine that's it could be convoluted by design. This is not intended to be a 'social' site. Users who want to be (or at least don't mind being) contacted can add some external contact details to their profile page. \$\endgroup\$
    – brhans
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 13:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ Related: electronics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5941/41856 That post did not seem to get much positive attention... =P \$\endgroup\$
    – DerStrom8
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 13:31

1 Answer 1

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Here is the method I use.

1. Go to the bottom of the EE page and find and click the "Chat" link.

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2. Click on the USERS list

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3. Type in the name or part name of the user you want to chat with and hit enter.

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4. Find the user in the list. Note there may be many with similar names so make sure it is the right person with the same image and rep level. Then click on their name.

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5. Click on the orange "start a new room with this user" button.

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VOILA!

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    \$\begingroup\$ Do note that this will work if the particular user already has a chat account. You will not find every user that you will also find on the main site. \$\endgroup\$
    – rene
    Commented Feb 28, 2018 at 18:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ This is indeed convoluted. Moreover, sometimes, the users don't have the same ID in chat and on the EE.SE site, because you can have different names on each site and set your chat user parent account as you wish. So it is a mess. Anyway, I have another method: discuss with the user in a flow of comments under a post, and wait for the "Please avoid extended discussions in comments. Would you like to automatically move this discussion to chat?" message. Then proceed. \$\endgroup\$
    – dim
    Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 9:41
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    \$\begingroup\$ @dim yes that's the odd thing, the message in the comments impies "do not chat here!"... but... getting to chat is so convoluted \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 18:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Trevor_G IMO this is on purpose. SE as a whole isn't for just chatting with people, you should usually be talking about a very specific thing. And comments shouldn't ramble on, they're meant for specific criticism/feedback/important points. Electronics.SE specifically seems to love comments, including answering in them :/ Who am I to criticize though, I'm hardly a high-rep member :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mbrig
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 19:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ @mbrig yes, but there are times when you want an "aside" to someone that is better left out of the question comments. Plus the question comments often gets bumped to a chat session which, unfortunately, can result in the loss of some pretty critical comments... like "don't do that if you don't know what you are doing..." I do agree they made it hard on purpose though, or at least, they don't want to make it easy. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 19:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ @mbrig EE.SE may be more comment-inclined because we find a lot of XY problems, here. Certainly much more frequently than in software-related sites. And solutions in electronic engineering can be very different depending on context. So answerers often need to ask for clarifications before being able to make a relevant answer. Finally, clarifications often require multiple back-and-forth exchanges. So I don't think it is abnormal, and this is not "just for chatting". I don't think people here like to chat pointlessly... Mmmh, except for my comment here, which is an excellent counter-example. \$\endgroup\$
    – dim
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ @dim I generally agree, there's definitely more need for comments based on the questions EE.SE gets. But at the same time, people put blatant answers in comments. Sometimes outright wrong answers... now, I'm definitely not going to start copy-pasting workplace.SE's snarky "answers in comments are abuse of the voting system" message, but there's definitely a reason they feel that way... \$\endgroup\$
    – mbrig
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @dim meta-comments are probably fine for "more-chatty", given that we're "discussing" the way the site runs :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mbrig
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mbrig indeed, and that's something else that is missing here. There is no way to down-vote a comment to allow others to indicate it is plain wrong... which of course adds the necessity to add another comment instead.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ @mbrig I also think another reason, at least in my case, why folks answer in comments is to make it more off the record. Being an engineer, we tend to be picky about making statements or recommendations on and off the record. If a question is vague and the answer has some degree of ambiguity or misinterpretation, a comment answer seems less official/risky. Though that may just be my interpretation/imagination. Other times, the answer is so trivial I just use a comment. I use answers when I want to expand the answer in detail. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Trevor_G I think you're right regarding why there are answers in comments. For information, here is the relevant meta question. \$\endgroup\$
    – dim
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:48
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Trevor_G I definitely understand (also an engineer). I think the generally reasonable reasons for people answering in comments are why some sites decide to take such a hard line against them: when people are really tempted to do it, you have to really hammer them to get them to stop. There's probably some ideal mid ground that could be taken for EE.SE, but that's a topic for another meta question haha. \$\endgroup\$
    – mbrig
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mbrig yup.. There is also that "OK this is my comment answer based on what I think you are asking for" which we are all so familiar with when talking to customers etc. Intended to start a discussion to work out what they really want. Which, somehow we are shoe-horning into this site. I guess that's more in the nature of engineering. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor_G
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 20:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ lol.....that is cool.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mitu Raj
    Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 19:35

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