In the thread on comments, in various forms, "we do encourage users to edit information into comments" is brought up. WTH does that mean? I've read all the different ways it is expressed and have zero concept as to what taking that action means in terms of questions and answers.

@JeremyMiller - Hi! I wanted to thank you for your very kind remarks, and for your support.

@medica I don't recognize your name here, but I presume it's on the mod position? If so, as always, I'm 100% honest... you're a great addition to the community (mod or not) and as worthy as the other great people who have joined in!

@ Whoever this one should go to... In regards to the greater participation in chat, I'd like to add that this is the only chat I participate in -- in other SE chats, when I click on it, a plethora of options show up and I have ZERO clue where to go.

I only came to this chat after a misunderstanding with a former moderator who suggested I take it to chat and I had no idea what I was being asked to do... noobs or even non-noobs who only deal with the Q&A format may never know chat (or meta, as in my case) exists.

@JeremyMiller You hit on an interesting problem, making chat more easy to discover without turning it into something that distracts too much from the main site. That's been a challenge since we rolled chat out, and we're not even close to finding a happy place in that regard. A lot of people find it after the automatic "Please consider moving this to chat" comment, or by being pointed here by someone else in a lengthy comment discussion.

That's .. not the ideal way for folks to find it the first time :)

@JeremyMiller could this suggestion have come from me? I don't recall a particular situation and I'd be happy to help any way I can.

We try to keep the main site as focused as we can, and the chat is meant to be a place to handle stuff that is a poor match for the Q&A format -- like extended discussions in comments, off-topic small-talk, moderator talk, and a number of other things.

Beofett is right that it's hard to find, especially for users who are not familiar with the SE model. This is probably a deliberate choice by Stack Exchange (the company) in order to keep a good focus on the main topic. The chat is a very small side show.

Reversely, sometimes people come to the chat and ask something that would be a very good question on the main site. In some sites' chat rooms, users that ask good questions are asked to post them on the main site; answering in the chat is discouraged. I think that would be overdoing it on our site, but it works well for technical sites.

popped my name into the ring as well. I'm certainly not balancedmama in terms of experience with many many kids, but I can moderate a bit

@TorbenGundtofte-Bruun No and it ultimately got handled well, so all is good. :)

@TimPost I was always nervous when I saw that message... What was going to happen next? So, I just ignored it and tried to cut the discussion down. Like my boss says, "A confused mind says 'no'." (He's prob quoting someone.)

@JeremyMiller That's amusing. ') Extended discussions in a chatroom are actually an interesting experience, as you get to talk one-on-one with fellow users, not a thing which is easy to do on SE sites. And not everyone feels comfortable coming to chat, so that's a way to have a healthy exchange of ideas. When I look at it that way, I feel more like it's an opportunity to discuss something in more detail, and less like I'm being called into the boss's office.

@JeremyMiller And, yes, I'm anongoodnurse except for a very few sites, mostly because I'm very openly a medical person there, and did not want to be so here, 'til I posted of my interest in moderating.