I think we should have a shoutbox at the top of the forum home page. This is an example of what i'm talking about:

http://img139.imagevenue.com/img.php...9_untitled.JPG


To those who might reply "but that's what we have forums for.." That's great and all, but forums aren't always replied to within seconds.. I've had first-hand experience with shoutboxes and they end up working great. Here are some pros and cons:

PROS:
Great, fun for chat, and you can double-triple-quad-post as much as you want to, they don't increase post count and nobody really cares. It's also a quick and easy way to just throw a message or tease somebody when you want to. I could go on with the pros, but you need to be aware of the cons..

CONS:
It is possible that people spam their sites in the shoutbox. I have not witnessed this a single time, but I'm sure it could happen. What I have seen happen, however, is somebody coming in and directly asking something in the shoutbox that should be asked in the forum.


If this becomes established you won't regret it.