> My initial feeling is to agree with Tyler, and with what Sam has already said or implied--there are plenty of projects that would make much finer additions to RinkWorks than a chat room, which isn't much needed right now in any case. And it surely does seem to have the potential to be a monstrous headache for Sam, as Tyler suggests. I guess for now my vote would be "definitely not for a good long while".

I myself have never seen the appeal of chat rooms. Message forums are much nicer, because they allow for some thought to go into what is said. If I'm not quite sure how to respond to something someone has posted, but I still want to respond to it, I can always come back the next day and respond then. That luxury just doesn't exist in a chat room; one cannot even wait five minutes (typically) before the thread of the conversation has been lost hopelessly in the mire of java.

Speaking of java - not that we really were up until right now - after Sam learns java, how do people think that will impact RinkWorks? I mean, we all know about the plans for the Dialectizer, but does anyone see any more subtle, profound changes that might occur? A new direction the site might take?

Dar "I *still* like to say "quark." Quark, quark, QUARK!!!" ien