Doreen et al.,

As a paying member (sorry, thought I would throw my "weight" around, pun intended) I have a suggestion. CHAT seems to be a very enjoyable and beneficial feature of this forum, but the most under-utilized. I think the reason for this is the only way you can tell if someone is in CHAT is to scroll to the very bottom of the home page to inspect. I often forget to check... or its an afterthought... after I have scanned the forum... to see if perhaps someone is there, alone, wanting to chat. Usually when I do, its empty, giving me little incentive to check its status the next time I am on the boards.
Suggestion: Why don't you put the "CHAT" status box, up at the top of the home page, with a little flash (colored border, etc... something inticing?)? That way, the minute someone signs on, they can see if others are in the room and can opt into the chat room? I have seen other forums not half the size of this one where the main attraction is the chat rooms and they have dozens of different rooms, with different topics, always full. You could even make it that those that are not "contributing members" can only get into chat as "guest."
You are the experts and can decide the details, I just think that you could make this forum more attractive and useful with a more appealing and more expansive CHAT service.

Best Regards,

Mike

We did that a while back, and got some complaints due to the the size of the full chat row display. Since then, we've implemented a little chat counter at the top, to alert members in case their is a chat going on, and how many are chatting. This will only show up if there's someone in the chat room.

Wa'il