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looking for an interesting chat room or forum...

S

sh4dow

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hello there :)

i've recently registered here because i plan on moving to toronto in a couple of months and i wanted to ask if any of you know of any interesting chat rooms or forums, so i can get to know some people up front... getting a feeling for the society, maybe getting to know somebody i can hang out with then i couple of months or something like that...

while this forum is great for people living in toronto, talking about very toronto-specific things, as you know, there's not much going on when it comes to things like e.g. movies, politics, art, music, games or just random discussions.
and that's what i'm looking for... whether in form of chat rooms with lots of users (but still quality over quantity...) or a nice little forum (level of activity at least like this one).

somebody in another forum already recommended the community section at CBC but after looking at the user comments for some news stories, i got the impression that there were a lot of conservative and/or ignorant people hanging out there - not really my kind of crowd.
also, i've tried out the irc-channel #toronto on efnet and was greeted by one of the channel operators with "fuck off" (no misunderstanding here, he referred to my nickname)...

oh, just one more thing - you might have already guessed it from the CBC-thing - it doesn't need to be a toronto-community. i'd prefer it but ontario or even for all of canada would be alright as well.

i hope someone here can help me out :)
 
i'm not sure whether you're joking or you haven't read my posting...
but i noticed... i didn't mean to call this forum "uninteresting"... sorry about that. i really just meant it as i described - that there is little discussion about "more general things of life" here...

nevertheless, thanks for the welcome - i currently live in austria, near vienna...
 
@ adma:

not really what i was looking for but thanks a lot anyway, seems like those are some interesting websites once i get to toronto =)

@ victor:

yeah, that's what i'm talking about :)


now that i got a nice looking forum, there's still the need for an interesting chat room - please keep the suggestions coming :)
 
very funny...

but it's an interesting coincidence that you cite something from real time in your sig, since that was the first forum where i asked the same question as here...
 
sh4dow said:
very funny...

but it's an interesting coincidence that you cite something from real time in your sig, since that was the first forum where i asked the same question as here...
Click to expand...

I hope I didn't offend you but I was serious. You said you were looking for forums or chat rooms.
 
Honestly, this site is one place where you will find the most reasonable discussion, participated in by people who actually love and defend this great city (although there is plenty of disagreement, too).

Spacing magazine (and their Toronto blog linked above, http://spacing.ca/wire) is also a place where you will find passionate discussion about Toronto. They have a community of supporters and have regular spacing parties at venues around Toronto when they publish new magazine issues.

For music related discussion, Stille Post (http://stillepost.ca/boards/index.php?board=7.0) used to be the place where the cool kids hung out to talk about bands, clubs, being cooler than me, etc. Don't know if it's still as relevant as it used to be.

For food related discussion there is the very lively Toronto branch of the Chowhound discussion boards (http://chowhound.com/boards/23). Here you'll find a mix of discussion, from somewhat pretentious break-the-bank foodies to debates about where to get the best food court fries.

Unfortunately, all the news sites (CBC, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail) have their comments sections pretty much hijacked by an "angry minority" of ultra-conservative ranters who, in my experience, do not represent the average Torontonian in any way -- don't let them bother you.

If you are looking to get to know people from Toronto before arrival, the best bet would be to explore a specific interest. For example, if you are a blogger, join some Toronto-related blogging groups, start commenting, and when you arrive you can attend their meet-ups. I have a friend from the UK who did just that. There are all kinds of internet groups and meetups in Toronto but they tend to revolve around an interest that is more specific than just "Toronto".

Good luck!
 
@ dt_toronto_geek:

yes i was... but considering that the one website looks awful, doesn't work and was also one of the first i found when searching with google myself and also saying that straight and gay people need different chats...

i'm simply looking for chats people already know about and know that they are good, since google just returns nonsense.
and i might just be too liberal but i don't think that sexual preference has anything to do with the interests or behavior (besides sex of course). so even if i was gay, i wouldn't see a point in seeking out a gay community to talk about e.g. movies.

@ pukegreen:

i have to say i'm actually not as much interested in the city (yet) but more in its population. i just want to live in a huge city where most people speak english, a lot of liberal people can be found, where a lot is going in terms of culture and where i have interesting job opportunities. new york or LA would've been my first choice but since the US (in my opinion) went downhill so much in terms of politics and values of society in the last ~8 years, i wouldn't even want to vacate there right now.

of course there's more to it than just that but i guess it's better to keep it short ;)
but what i said in the beginning is why i'm not looking for discussions >about< toronto but merely discussions with people living in toronto - about regular topics.

about the ranters: well, what was shocking to me, weren't necessarily the rants themselves but more the thumb ratings... the fact that e.g. a demand to execute a criminal got around two thirds thumbs up is very worrying to me. and in one of the recommended forums there was a poll about a teenager punching a bully and some 90% voted that his reaction was great. i read only one sensible comment where someone wrote that he hopes the bully won't come back armed...
but then again maybe something like that wouldn't be much different here - conservatism seems to be on the rise in all of north america and europe (except maybe sweden - but that's just a guess...).

as for specific interests: that's what i'm trying. but i'm not interested in blogging - takes too much time and isn't interactive enough for my taste. the latter is also why i prefer chats over forums. in forums you can discuss a lot but it's usually hard to really get to know people because you always discuss a certain topic and not with one person but basically everybody.
i once was very active in an austrian movie forum for 2-3 years... never gotten to really know anybody. then they launched a chat for the forum and within days i had personal discussions with several people via icq... that's why my focus is on chats...
 
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Good ideas there PG.

sh4dow you can also ask about specific issues using this very thread. This board is full of knowledgeable and friendly people who know the city, the people, neighbourhoods and the culture here well. So until you find the type of board your looking for, ask away!
 
hm... sounds like your recommendation really was honest... sorry for doubting it but i hope now that i've explained, you can understand why i had those doubts...
 
sh4dow said:
@ dt_toronto_geek:

yes i was... but considering that the one website looks awful, doesn't work and was also one of the first i found when searching with google myself and also saying that straight and gay people need different chats...

i'm simply looking for chats people already know about and know that they are good, since google just returns nonsense.
and i might just be too liberal but i don't think that sexual preference has anything to do with the interests or behavior (besides sex of course). so even if i was gay, i wouldn't see a point in seeking out a gay community to talk about e.g. movies.
Click to expand...

Again apologies there, not knowing your sexual orientation I thought I'd suggest both.
For films, go to www.imdb.com (I'm a film freak myself) to discuss the film of your choice. Some of the discussion is useless yet some of it is good, it varies. Ain't It Cool News has fun discussion boards too at http://www.aintitcool.com/. Of course neither is Toronto specific.
 
i've already been on imdb for years but as you said... it's not possible to find people from a certain area there.

i'm basically looking for some movie community like moviesonline.ca but with a chat. so i can talk one on one with people as well...
or a gaming community like... gametrailers.com but specific to canada (or even ontario/toronto) and again - with the option to talk to people one on one (private messages via forum don't count - too slow... and i can't imagine anyone starting a personal conversation via PM...).
or an art community or ... and so on. since i'm interested in a lot of things, the kind of community doesn't matter as much as the ability to have a chat with people.
 
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