About Us

In a nutshell, Senior Chatters helps you build genuine friendships with 1000’s of like-minded over fifties the world over. If you’re over 50, not already a member, and looking to chat with new people your own age, take a look here and become a Senior Chatter today.

How it all started…

It all started way back in 2004 with an idea…

Funnily enough, that idea was not Senior Chatters, but another website, that unbeknown to me at the time would lay the foundation for things to come a decade later.

My first attempt at a website was something called ‘Life Over 50’.  It was a simple site consisting of articles relating to the over fifties; from senior health to fitness, I would simply publish articles that I thought others would find interesting and ultimately benefit from.

Life Over 50

Life Over 50 – was my first attempt at a senior website.  This is how it looked before I closed it down earlier this year…

Social networks weren’t really around back then so there wasn’t any interaction among the people that regularly visited. Essentially, there wasn’t a community feel or spirit to the site that I wanted to achieve.

Fast forward a few years and online chat rooms were becoming more-and-more popular, and I remember thinking at the time

“Wouldn’t it be great if the people who visited Life-Over-50 could interact and chat with each other”?

I guess you could call this my Eureka moment…

So I worked on bolting a chat room onto the back of Life-Over-50, just to see what would happen…

The chat room was so successful that it didn’t occur to me that the rest of the site would start to suffer because of it.  It became clear to me that instead of posting articles to the over fifties, that I should refocus my efforts on creating a senior chat site with a real sense of community and friendship at its core.

Sure there were other sites out there, but they all seemed to be dating focused.  There didn’t seem to be anything really just for friendship.

April 2008

So in April 2008 I launched LifeOver50SP.com – I know what you’re thinking, what a catchy domain name that is, right? 🙂 Care to guess what the SP stood for…?

Give up?   Alright, I’ll tell you…

It stood for ‘Senior Profiles’ (Life Over 50 Senior Profiles). I know, that name was a mistake, but the concept of what I wanted to achieve was right, and so after many a late night, a new senior chat site was born….

Members were able to create a profile; participate in the senior chat rooms; send instant messages; post on the message boards and generally interact with each other to form genuine, worldwide friendships with other over fifties.

Things were going great, but I wasn’t happy with the domain name lifeover50sp.com, so later that same month I decided to change it!

I wanted something easier to remember, brandable and a play on the two words that were becoming synonymous with the site – senior and chat.

The name Senior Chatters seemed perfect, and because our audience at the time was mostly from the UK (today we address a global audience) I registered the domain https://seniorchatters.co.uk and the rest as they say is history…

Senior Chatters in July 2008

This was Senior Chatters back in July 2008 – Thanks to the WayBackWhen Internet Archive tool for this trip down memory lane…

Senior Chatters continued to grow month-by-month as over fifties from all over the world heard about our senior chat site and soon became loyal members.

Fast forward 3 years and it was clear that Senior Chatters was outgrowing itself, and fast. The code I had played with wasn’t scalable and was becoming increasingly difficult to support and develop further.

It was obvious that a more robust CMS (content management system) and a faster dedicated server were required.

June 2011

So in June 2011 I moved Senior Chatters onto a new CMS and Webhost.  After a bit of research I settled on these guys.  They’re not the cheapest, but their up-time and support are fantastic!

Senior Chatters was totally rebuilt soon after with improved new features, including:

  • Safe Senior Chat Rooms
  • Private Chatting
  • Private Messaging
  • Thriving Blog Network with over 2000 member posts
  • Community Groups
  • Senior Forums
  • Stunning Photo Albums
  • Site Wide Activity Streams

It’s been an unbelievable 10 years or so, and I just want to take this opportunity to thank each and every member, both past and present, for helping to create a safe, fun and friendly senior chat website.   Here’s to the next ten years…

Thank You!

All the best

Regards
Rob
Founder
Senior Chatters

Responses

  1. My description of ‘Life Over 50′ was a ‘hole in the wall’. We had to waddle through all those advertisements and information that got boring after the first time, until we found the little gap that allowed us to enter this funny little chatroom that was basically just a blank page. I got totally lost and to this day have no idea how I actually found the place where I could actually type and chat. I think the most I ever found in there at one time would have been 4…(mostly due to my time zone I think) I even tried sending a private message at one time but had no idea if it ever got to its recipient and if it did it was the right person who got it. Despite the insecurity of being in such a strange looking place I was drawn back there time and time again and so life began. What an introuction that was to live chatting….yes, it was my first week of having a computer, my first time venturing into Google (I had used computer for games and letters etc up until then) and the first time I had ever experienced the ability to chat to someone on the other side of the world….something I did not know was possible until I entered the world of ‘Life over 50’. Guess I did it all the hard way to….I was on dial up speed and, being green as grass with computers, had no idea there was any way to improve my experience until someone asked if I was on dial up….thanks Rob….I would never have known any different if you hadnt told me that…probably something you have regretted from that very day…hahahaha!!!!

    1. Yes, Faye I remember 🙂 It’s amazing to think how quickly ten years has flown by. Thanks for posting…

      1. Congratulations, Rob. I remember “Life over 50,” although I wasn’t a lifetime member back then. I could still use some of those “golf tips!”
        It was during a blizzard, when I was stuck inside for days and going out of my mind, that I found Senior Chatters, and connected with people from all over the world. I never thought this would lead to friendships that have developed over the years and I never thought I’d actually meet these friends in “real life,” but that did happen. So, again, congratulations on bringing people together and thank you.

      2. I am here in northern California and enjoy very much the Senior Chatters website. Was wondering if you have breakdown where people are located as I have not found any from the west coast areas??? Many in England and Austraila I have talked with but having lived in Greece, Turkey, Germany, and visited Spain . Italy, Portugal do not see them???

        1. Len, if you go to members page there is a search option where you can type in the area to see if any member in the area youre looking for…

  2. Rob congradulations on 10 years. I had never thought of joining a chat room until one day in May 2010 I decided to look online and typed in Senior Chat Room and your site was the first one I click on because I thought it would be nice to be able to talk to people from all around the world. So am not sorry I joined and when you upgraded the site in 2011 a lot of the members left but I liked the new site and stayed. I have made some wonderful friends and even though I don’t go into the chat rooms I really enjoy the groups and the shoutbox. Well thanks for this wonderful place to meet new friends from around the world. All the best to you. 🙂

    1. Thanks annemarie, so glad you’re still enjoying the site. I guess that’s one of the attractions to Senior Chatters; you can use all of the features or just the ones you get the most enjoyment from. Some people solely use the chat rooms while others prefer private chatting or participating in the Blogs, Groups and Forums. There’s no right or wrong way to use the site as everything is geared towards community and interaction.

    2. thank you marie it was you that told me about senior chat i joined just after my husband died and i have enjoyed hereing how every one is living in other places

  3. Enjoyed reading that Rob,and I too am glad I stumbled onto your chat site.My first experience of computers and the bet,I was lucky I found you guys I thing,thanks for all effort you go to.Mac xxx

  4. Rob your site has been a revelation to me………joined out of curiosity………thought I was pretty clued up on people and life……..not so………have learned so much about other cultures, peoples differing lifestyles, their thoughts and opinions……..have jelled with some, not so other’s………just the way of the world, I mainly chat in private but will pop into chat occasionally, I like to comment on the activity page…lots of choices for everyone……..still have contact with past members……..so friends have been made……..hopefully for life…..I thankyou Rob..xx

    1. Thanks for your comment, Star. Really pleased to hear that you have made new friends with Senior Chatters – that’s what it’s all about…

  5. Rob, Congrats on 10 years~ That only proves what a success senior chatters is!
    This is my second year and I am a lifer now. I had tried other rooms but they were a bit more that what I was looking for in a chat room.
    I know I can come into senior chatters and find wonderful friendships around the world! I have learned so much from others!
    I love the monitoring most of all. I know I can come on here and enjoy a good conversation without all the hassle.
    You have created an awesome site Rob! Again I thank you!

  6. Rob congratulations on a job well done – and for sharing the background on SC – very interesting. I ‘stumbled’ on SC in 2012 while trying to locate an organization I used to work for in Newfoundland. I was cautious about getting on a chat site at first, but thought I’d try the free 14 day offer as the site seemed to offer a variety of groups and people from many countries. All I can say is I am glad I took the ‘plunge’. Although I very rarely drop into the ‘Chat Room’ – I enjoy participating in or popping in and out of the many topics offered.
    Keep up the good work.

    1. Thanks a lot GoldenGirl – I’m glad you took the plunge too. It seems a lot of Chatters have similar stories and were cautious before becoming members. I guess this has a lot to do with the bad reputation that senior chat sites have in general. Hopefully Senior Chatters is changing that view for the better…

      Thanks for your post.

  7. Rob, Let me say the site is technically the best I have ever seen. it is very user friendly , very systematic and very transparent in all respects.
    My compliments for doing such a high class job , to you and your staff.

  8. Rob, your history is interestingand you did learn not to repeat mistakes. You hit the nail on the head. I want, and I think most seniors need, a place that is by them, about them and for them. I try to write blogs and share information that is worth knowing and of value to other seniors. I hope more people will realize that every life is equally important, and there are others like them who can benefit from what they are and have experienced.
    We all need community, and we all have to share and appreciate and respect each other in a good community. I love the design of senior chatters. It is a site that you just want to stop and stay a while. Thank you Rob.You seem to be a very nice and clever fellow.

  9. Rob I guess this is the way to communicate with you. First of all let me congratulate you on the great job you have one with the Senior Chatters Site. I have been a member for a long time (I dont remember the exact date I did) but I was so impressed with it in the beginning I took out a life membership. I have continued to enjoy the site over the years. In recent time I have not been as active as I was in the earlier days but I do enjoy visiting from time to time. I find it a great place to make friends and to enter into the various groups of ones interest. I would like to say thank you for the good work and dedication. You are indeed a dedicated person.
    Fwen

    PS I finally got back into the group and I posted a message for you on the opening page which I guess was the wrong place to do it. Thank you for your assistance in resolving my sign in problem.

  10. haven,t been on for a while and thought i would come on again i see quite a few who were on before so lookimg forward to joining in again

  11. GREAT SITE ROB AND LOTS OF LOVELY PEOPLE ON HERE IT HAS HELPED ME A LOT THROUGH A LOT OF SAD TIMES AND GOOD TIME HAD LOADS OF LAUGHS HERE DOING A GREAT JOB ROB KEEP GOOD WORK UP x

  12. I joined this lovely group of people nearly 18 months ago and I don’t think there has been a day since when I haven’t popped in for a chat or a visit to one of the groups on site that I joined. This is a truly marvellous site and I’m so very glad I discovered it. Thanks a million Rob for your wonderful creation. ?

  13. Hello Rob.
    Being new is hard, but in the couple of hours that I spent in the main room, I was very impressed. I have taken the time to read your information and watched the presentation video. I have been searching for a chatroom community for a long time now. I used the FB network and other social media but turned away from them for personal reasons. Doing a Google I found many sites professing upfront to be safe, free and secure. Like a dummy, I tried a few and did not like being linked to dating, adult partner sites. Here I see things are really different. I am very impressed with that your transparency has merit.
    Let’s see how this works out.
    Top job Sir

  14. ok I’ve just now joined & am trying 2 figure out how this works. I’m a newbie at this it’s my very 1st attempt at a chat room. So if I make a ricket please be patient Cheers

  15. Bless you for what you’ve created. I believe this is just what I need to help me through this life phase. Retirement was not something I looked forward to and especially not in an area so devoid of what makes my life rich.
    However at this age we all realize that life presents corners which we can’t see around and once we turn the corner we have to confront whatever arises. Given that: I’m grateful to have this opportunity to meet new people who understand what being over 50 can truly mean.

Comments are closed.