Tweaks to the chat

[gn0me]

So, flash chat is really cool and all, but it's usually barren, to the point of sitting around in chat for hours in a background tab, when someone comes in, says hi, doesn't get an immediate response, and leaves....

I think it would be really useful if we could think of some ways to draw a little more attention to the chat.

Lampwork etc. has a sidebar for the chat showing the names of the users in the chat, which is a little more attention getting than the simple number system we have here. Also being visibly separated from the other forum controls that nobody looks at would be a bonus, and possibly if it were a different color when someone is in the chat versus not may lure people in more readily...

Would this be possible? Chat is a nice feature to the site but at present I think it's underutilized since it's hard to tell when someone's in there. I've seen other forums with a shoutbox or something but those don't seem to stick around for too long. Thoughts?

[l33t:weasel]

a number of other people feel the same way. we decided maybe an irc # was in order, but noone ever ventured a server or # name.

something actuary connected to the site would be better seine u would have to go out of your way to download an irc client and alot of people would not.

i think there might be an easy way to make a web-page based irc client. then we would have the best of both worlds.