Guys,
Don't make the common IRC chat room newbie mistake in getting free chat rooms mixed up with the commonly known fee-based signal calling rooms (e.g. Kingfish).
Fee-based signal calling rooms have a head trader or guru trader that tells the members when to buy and when to sell et cetera.
In contrast, a big contrast, free chat rooms usually have a bunch of moderators that keep the peace sort'uv among the members along with some members posting trades amongst the market talks, off topic talks, strategy talks like any other discussion forum (e.g. EliteTrader.com).
That's the main reason why many traders find free chat rooms a major distraction because if the chat room isn't well moderated...
It starts lose its shine in comparison to when it first started.
Thus, if you find a good free chat room...
Those are the rooms that are well moderated, contains at least one member sharing his/her method and several members posting their trades even though they all may be using a different method.
Something else, don't make the common mistake of trying to use a free chat room as a signal calling room...
You'll be greatly disappointed.
Also, you can find some useful education or trading tips in free chat rooms but just like EliteTrader.com here...
You need to weed through a lot of junk.
Thus, it's like comparing apples to oranges (free chat versus fee-based signal calling).
With that said, one of the best ways to use free chat rooms is the meet other like minded traders and then form your own private free chat room to reduce the noise and distraction.
Use them as a trade journal to store all your thoughts about any trade to help put a face on those numbers in your brokerage statements and/or trading statistics.
Simply, brokerage statements and trading statistics only tell half the story.
In addition, to keep the room worthwhile for those that decide to branch off from a free chat room and form your own free chat room...
You will need to moderate it because a lot of traders and non-traders use IRC to spam, disrupt, venting about their problems et cetera to make you feel like the room is an eyesore.
Once again, not worthwhile trying to compare free chat rooms to fee-based signal calling rooms because both has a different purpose.
Mark