Maybe it's a generational thing, but I'm not the slightest bit interested in a real-time chat. I really like that I can come online here and read everyone's comments and participate in the discussion when I have time to do so - even if I'm late to the party I can still add my 2 cents to the conversation. Equally, I don't miss out on anything anyone else has to say. I can also get distracted by my real life (my children for example) and still jump back in to the conversation. With a real-time chat, I have to be online at the right time, and focused on the conversation. That doesn't fit my lifestyle right now. It's not that I haven't used real time chat when it suited me - it's just that I think that some people will miss out on the benefits of the conversation here if some of it is real-time instead of asynchronous.