Chatroulette Is Back, But It Doesn't Look Good

 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Chatroulette Is Back, But It Doesn't Look Good
Mashable Image
Credit:

The transition to version two wasn't exactly graceful; Chatroulette was supposed to be down for only one day, but the extended downtime -- during which period the site was nothing more than a white page with a simple text message, saying the new version will launch "shortly" -- was a sign that not everything had gone according to plan.

So, what did the new (and, hopefully, improved) Chatroulette bring? Aside from instability, the site has a flexible but spartan interface that lets you drag and move the video chat windows around, as well as resize them by dragging the upper right corner. The site doesn't explain any of the features in any way, and it still looks very much in beta.

For example, if you don't have a camera installed, the site is completely unusable, and it doesn't display any kind of warning or message; it's just dead. If you do have a camera, you get a new random chat simply by refreshing (Update: or hitting the large, unmarked button above the chat box) -- there are no options besides setting the audio and video source, which appear when you move the mouse over the chat box.

As far as content goes, well, suffice to say that it took four full minutes of refreshing to get a screenshot without a penis in it. Yes, some things never change.

We're hoping that Chatroulette will become more stable and perhaps receive some additional improvements over the next couple of days; for now, you can still manage an occasional random chat, but don't expect much else.

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