Why
why you have to have 20 reputation points to be able to chat online? Is it because you have to be well known??
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This isn't a UX question, it's a question about this particular website. It belongs on UX.Meta site so I'll migrate it there for you.– JonW ModCommented Apr 3, 2013 at 15:43
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Also note that getting 200 rep on any Stack Exchange site will allow you access to chat on all sites.– ZeldaCommented Apr 3, 2013 at 15:56
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2 Answers
No, it's not because you need to be well known. Far less dramatic than that. It's to stop automated bots from turning up in the Chat rooms and spamming links everywhere.
It's pretty easy to get to 20 rep, all you need to do is post a few upvoted questions or have an answer upvoted a couple of times to qualify. That's more than achievable for the vast majority of people, but not so easy for a spambot.
Also, StackExchange sites are there for Questions and Answers. We really want to keep all the valuable content within the main site. Chat is temporary and nothing is really retained there (well it is, but it's not easily searchable or retain-able) so keeping all the questions and answers in one site is far more useful to other visitors.
The 20-rep requirement for chat is an anti-spam measure; we require that chat users be active users on the Stack Exchange network so that our chat rooms don't get crawled by bots or spammers and clutter them up. It has nothing to do with being "well known".
