In my seemingly never ending quest for a decent chat window for this site, I've removed the Blab IM system since it wasn't quite straightforward to use, and seemed to have a habit of denying users the use of their favourite nicknames.
What I've done now is whipped up a simple public chat system using Flex and BlazeDS.  Make sure you reload the top bar of the site (right click the blue bar anywhere and select "Reload" or "Refresh" depending on your browser), and then you can Click the Chat button any time to open a Chat window.
When you're ready to leave the Chat application, be sure to use the X in the chat window to disconnect.  It let's other users know you've left.

The first enhancement will be to display the number of connected users when you log in.  The second enhancement will be to add command codes (like "/who" to show the names of other connected users)

Okay, now the chat can display who is online using the /who command!  I also made that command get sent automatically upon logging in, since the first thing you'll probably want to do is see who else is around.

is Hitler there?

You'll have to log in and issue a /who command to find out.  

New Chat window.  Make sure you clear your browser cache!

Features:
- Self updating list of currently connected users
- Ability to send private messages between users (just type "/to someone something" to send "something" to "someone")