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A few times I have found myself needing to chat with a low rep user in order to better understand their question without cluttering the comments section. Twice, this has been with very low rep users (<20) whose English is very limited but whose native language I happen to speak fluently. I don't want to add comments in a language that is not English since they obviously would not be useful to the community, so chatting would be the perfect solution.

Unfortunately, users with <20 rep cannot post in chat rooms. A mod had suggested to me that I could create a chat room and then give the user explicit access. I tried this by creating a sock puppet and inviting it to chat with me. I went into the room menu of the room I had created and gave the sock puppet user explicit write access to that room:

enter image description here

I then received this warning:

enter image description here

Finally, I tested by opening a different browser, logging in as the sock puppet and joining the room in question but I could not post:

enter image description here

So, if I am doing something wrong and low rep users can be allowed to post to specific chat rooms, could someone explain how? If I am not doing something wrong could we allow low rep users to chat if the room's owner has specifically invited them? I can understand the (admittedly very low) minimum rep bar for chatting but we should be allowed to circumvent it when needed.

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    IIRC this isn't possible but I'd love to have that feature… I mean, chatting is a privilege and shouldn't be abused, but if you actively get someone to chat, then, well, that's your own fault, so to speak :)
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:34
  • heh, yeah. Made my bed, now I'll sleep in it and all that. The language barrier is the main reason for me, it would just be so much easier to get a new user on chat for a few minutes and talk in their language than try to decipher their question or comments...
    – terdon
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:38
  • I actually like this idea and would like to temporarily be able to talk to some of these users. BTW according to your screen shot you put the username in the wrong text block.
    – James Mertz
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:45
  • I understand the desire to help, but please keep in mind that if users cannot post reasonably clear questions without the help of others, they will have a hard time participating on this site. Especially when there's a language barrier.
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:46
  • @slhck yes, but sometimes they have a perfectly decent question and if I chat, I will be able to edit their original post and let the gem shine!
    – terdon
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:47
  • @KronoS yes indeed, sorry, updated the images. The question still stands though (you scared me there for a second :) ).
    – terdon
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:52
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    yeah, I think I had told you of that, but the rep limitation is waived only when a Mod is adding the user to the write list
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:53
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    @Sathya yes it was you, did not want to draw you into this for no reason. Ah, so it's a mod thang. Perhaps everyone who can create a chat room should be able to invite very low rep users? I know that getting more than 20 rep is pretty trivial but in can be discouraging to new users to have to jump through hoops like this.
    – terdon
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 16:56
  • @terdon guess you're just going to have to run for a mod position to be able to do this :P
    – James Mertz
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 17:21
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    See also the identical feature request on Meta Stack Overflow.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 1:16
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    Note that the sort of situations where a brand new user needs to be invited to chat are pretty uncommon. They do exist, but it's rare, so you can always ask a mod to do it when necessary. If a user can't get their question sufficiently answered through a question and its answers/comments, then there are probably problems with how they are approaching or communicating the problem that should be addressed separately.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 1:17
  • @nhinkle it can also be something technical to discuss
    – barlop
    Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 14:59

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