Chatkill

A chatkill is a term mostly used in online chatrooms to describe an indeterminate length of awkward silence. Usually preceded by a chatroom user writing something out of topic and/or context which causes the flow of all conversations to halt.

Another kind of chatkill occurs when an online conversation breaks down over a period of time, as a result of fleeting participation by the involved users. This phenomenon is frequent on message boards as well.

To start the conversation after a chatkill is called kick starting or reviving.

And although reviving an online chat after a chatkill is considered polite, the very same thing is called Bump (internet) in message boards. Bumping is considered to be a rude way of gaining attention, as it resends the message to the page of those post-subjects with the newest activity.