I think you should have the feature of IMing (Instant Messaging) other members on the forum directly through the forum

Umm... that's just a dumb idea (no offense). :blink:

why? Many other boards do that....

I think you should have the feature of IMing (Instant Messaging) other members on the forum directly through the forum

There is a PM system, and there used to be a live chat component, though its now been discontinued.

Umm... that's just a dumb idea (no offense). :blink:

Might want to check your history... ;)

In fact, Invision was briefly, almost, integrated with Integrity Messenger, a multi-IM platform similar to Trillian. Why that never went forward I do not know, but if you check out the development of Integrity Messenger, it may explain a few things... :whistle:

I also disagree entirely with your assesment- when you have people using the PM system as a make-do IM client (which happens on my forums, in the absence of Live Chat), it does indicate that an onboard IM system (perhaps combined with, or another aspect of the PM system) is a viable option for the forums.

I'd not want my bandwidth used for IM, so I am against it.

I use a live chat for that purpose.

Same here, I use a chat system... If the Invision chat system has indeed been discontinued, there should be no problem saying I use FlashChat. I have dialup, and it takes a few seconds longer than it did on 1.5M DSL, but it's still very much usable. My forum isn't very big, but I do pride myself on having a chat system, especially one that decimates the Java-based solutions out there. (I'm no big fan of Java... maybe just some uses of it I've seen - like the Java-based chat on EZBoard... utter garbage.)

My biggest question (to the topic at hand, not chat) is Why? Members of one Invision board wouldn't be able to IM with members of other Invision boards, or of vB, phpBB, or the many craptacular light-years-behind boards out there. Second, there's nothing wrong with AIM, and if you don't like the official client, Gaim works just as well. One identity, the whole Internet.

Something like http://www.gtalkr.com (browser-based google-talk; but not affiliated with google) would be great.

Some IM client that would communicate through Jabber/XMPP protocoll.
Would be nice for people that are not at home. Like this they would have all at one place.