Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are the traditional means of meeting people on the


Internet. So traditional that they were around way before the World

Wide Web took hold.Before the WWW and the Internet as we know it today (pre


1990s), there were Bulletin Board Systems, or more commonly

referred to as BBSs. Mostly computer hobbyists ran these from their

back room. They had anywhere from two phone lines to hundreds,

and you could dial in and use crude chat software to enable you to

talk to the other people on the same system. There were no such

things as mice, graphical user interfaces, photos, scanners, email

addresses, etc. This was the realm of text-based green screen

monitors, 20MB hard drives, and 300bps modems you had to dial

yourself. Women online back then were as rare as hens’ teeth, and

they were literally swamped by messages from every male online at

the time. It was quite rare to meet anyone but fellow male computer

nerds this way. Online dating back then was almost unheard of, the

Male/Female ratio was just too small, so it wasn’t really thought of

nor attempted (except possibly by yours truly!). Overall, it was

hardly a place for anyone but your stereotypical teenage male

computer geek or electronics hobbyist.

Then came widespread public use of the Internet and chat

programs like IRC, the newer web based chat sites, and finally

instant messaging services like ICQ.

Gay and Lesbian

Most good personals sites will have the option to search for Gay


and Lesbian people. When you fill out your profile you will be

typically asked for your sex and the sex of the person you are looking

for. These will then match up when people do a search. For instance,

when you do a search you might select ‘Guy looking for Guy’. Be

very careful to ensure that you are searching for other Gay or Lesbian

people, and not heterosexual as the majority of people will be. Most

people will state their sexual orientation on their profile somewhere,

so ensure that you check for this before emailing. Be sure to state it

on your profile as well, you don’t want the wrong people responding

to your profile, it just wastes everyone’s time and their money.

There are sites that do cater specifically for Gay and Lesbian

people. These are probably a better option if this is what you are

specifically looking for. But bear in mind that they are not as well

known, and hence, you are limiting the number of people you can

potentially meet by only using these dedicated services.

There are also many dedicated Gay and Lesbian chat rooms

around the Internet. Random ICQ chat also has this feature.