Just me,
There has been a lot of investigation on this one and still no evidence of a problem on the MS end. The chat room is working fine. It sounds like you are having a problem with something slowing down your system so that it can't handle the realtime nature of the chat room. Have you considered taking your computer to the Geek Squad for a once over?
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“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy ____…! What a ride!’” ~Hunter S. Thompson