Chat Avenue

Chat Avenue has been around for over 20 years. Since then, the world has entered into a new millennium, smartphones have revolutionized the world, and virtual reality is now possible. To say the world has changed since Chat Avenue opened its doors would be a vast understatement. Yet, much of Chat Avenue hasn’t changed a bit. For those that want to chat with other likeminded adults or have some sexy time late at night in a chatroom like it's 1999, Chat Avenue delivers the experience and more. After all these years, the chat site still has active rooms, and it shows no signs of slowing down yet. While most things change in life, Chat Avenue proves there are sometimes exceptions to that rule.

Beyond simplistic

Although a lot of people are going to be turned off by the design of Chat Avenue, there is something to be said about its simplicity. Certainly, Chat Avenue's design was par for the course 20 years ago, and it looked outdated. Let's get that fact out of the way. Look beyond that, though, and one may find the reason why they haven't felt the need to give the site a facelift. It just works. The main – 'nay, the only function – on Chat Avenue is chatting. The design of the site is focused solely on that: nothing more or less. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. That isn’t to say that Chat Avenue shouldn’t incorporate new icons and at least a new banner. A fresh coat of paint would not hurt a thing. Look past the 90s look, though, and most will find a robust array of chatrooms that harken back to a simpler time.

Completely free chatting

This is no-nonsense chatting in its purest form. Visitors will not have to pay to send messages, spend minutes chatting with others, or even pay a subscription fee to gain access to the chatrooms. As long as a visitor can open a Web browser, they can chat on Chat Avenue. Chat Avenue understands that sometimes less is more. Getting out of the way and letting visitors take advantage of the features of the site (the few features that are on Chat Avenue) should be commended. Whether a person wants to see what being social on the Web looked like in the 90s, or they never got away from visiting chatrooms in the first place, Chat Avenue makes itself accessible to everyone.

Can chat as a guest

Although there are perks to signing up as a member (most notably, getting a permanent username), that's entirely optional. For the visitor that wants to jump into chat without any strings attached, Chat Avenue makes it happen. It does not minimize the experience, either. Jump into any chatroom, and it will become evident that so many people do the same thing. Perhaps they don't want an e-mail address tied to Chat Avenue, or they want to use their e-mail address for as few things as possible. There are multiple reasons why people may not want to sign up. But for those that do? The process is simple. For those that want the best out of Chat Avenue, signing up is a good idea. Users can add a picture to their account, and their username appears before guest names in the friends' list. It's the closets Chat Avenue comes to allowing people to chat with someone that feels verified (even though they're not verified).

Private message anyone and talk to them directly

As anyone that grew up using the Internet in the 90s can tell you, one of the most amazing advancements was instant messaging. It wasn’t always around, and the fact that it became incorporated into chatrooms felt almost otherworldly. Chat Avenue provides the same function. Sure, visitors can chat in the main chatroom like everyone else. But to get the best experience out of Chat Avenue, private messaging is a must. Send a private message to someone, and a new tab will open in Chat Avenue. Once a new message has been received, a notification sound will play, and the letter icon at the top right of the page will show a number indicating how many unread messages there are. In the lower right corner, the most recent message sent to someone will also appear.

Easy to navigate and browse

Finding a chatroom worth visiting is so simple, it's hard to imagine how much more straightforward it could be. Despite the out-of-date design, finding a chatroom, logging in, and chatting with other men and women is self-explanatory and to the point. The overall design of the site should not fool anyone: less is more here.

Plenty of good rooms to choose from

It's incredible how most of the chatrooms on Chat Avenue are still around. Even if a person looked at every single site on ThePornDude, it’s doubtful they would find a site that has changed so little as Chat Avenue. But then again, there is a reason why so little has changed. This is because there are still tons of people that visit Chat Avenue every single day (more on the number of people later). Some rooms have indeed disappeared in Chat Avenue's last 20 years, like Pokémon Chat, Wrestling Chat, and Absolute Chat. As trends and the average age of Chat Avenue visitors have gotten older, it’s unsurprising these disappeared. Other rooms have appeared over the years, too. Video Chat, Mobile Chat, and Gay Chat are just a few examples of Chat Avenue adding rooms as society shifts and moves forward. Most rooms – specifically Adult Chat and Singles Chat – have been around longer than most Web browsers have existed.

Decent rooms for people that want to chat sexually

Of course, the most popular rooms on Chat Avenue is Adult Chat and Sex Chat. Video Chat and Mobile Chat will usually satisfy these needs as well. Still, for the visitor that wants to go to the room where there is guaranteed to be a sexual conversation happening somewhere, the former two rooms are the first places people will want to visit. The number of horny people in these rooms cannot be understated, either. While there are more men than women, that's not discounting just how many women are in these rooms. There are handfuls of women here. It will take a person a little while to message every single female in the chatrooms, which says a lot about how many women are actually in these rooms.

Beware of spambots

When entering a room, visitors will, unfortunately, be bombarded by spambots. It's a given when dealing with a chatroom from yesteryear, but it's still annoying. Don't be fooled by the sheer amount of messages received when logging in: chances are, those people are not real. But it should not discount the real people that do visit Chat Avenue. There are indeed real people here. The bots are out in full force, but hot and steamy conversations are here.

Chatrooms are always full

Good conversations can still occur despite the spambot problem because the chatrooms are always full here. Again, there are so many people that visit Chat Avenue every day that the spambots are not as big of an issue as if someone visited a chatroom with barely anyone inside. This is where the strength of registering as a member becomes apparent. It gives chatters the confidence that who they are speaking with is a real person instead of a bot that is in the guest section of the member's list.

No verification process

Unfortunately, Chat Avenue's insistence on not fixing what isn't broke sort of comes back to bite the chat site. Society has certainly changed, and as a result, the needs of people when chatting with strangers have also evolved. While Chat Avenue is an old-school chatroom that wants to keep the original spirit of the rooms alive, it's time to add a few modern touches to the chatroom. Specifically, there needs to be a verification process for registered members. A profile picture does not give visitors the confidence they need to know that who they are chatting with is who they say they are. Chat Avenue will not suffer if they don't add this feature, but it's interesting to wonder how many people would be obliged to visit if they knew that the men and women they were chatting with were who they said they were.