On Nov. 6th, 2012 we set up a space for MetaFilter members to discuss US election results in real-time (MeTa thread). We're leaving it running on a trial basis.

The chat server uses the Jabber/XMPP protocol. The easiest way to try it out is to visit chat.metafilter.com in your browser.

Log in with your MetaFilter username, formatted as a Jabber ID:

username@chat.metafilter.com

A few caveats: Use all lowercase for your Jabber ID, even if your Metafilter username contains uppercase letters. If your username contains spaces or punctuation, you'll need to escape those characters. So a name like Example User would login using

example\20user@chat.metafilter.com

You can also connect with various Jabber clients that support group chat. These include Adium, Pidgin, or Spark. On an iPhone, JabberB and OneTeam both work with the MeFi chat server. Android users can try Xabber. If you use an alternate client, you'll need to know the name of the group chat room:

mefi@conference.chat.metafilter.com

You can join that room once you're connected to the chat server.

Having trouble logging in? When you log in at chat.metafilter.com you don't need to escape spaces and punctuation your username. If you're already logged in at metafilter.com the username field should be filled in correctly for you.

(MetaFilter Chat is different from MetaChat, which is an independent site.)
(tags: chat social subsites jabber ) December 15, 2012 - back to questions