*Force* is a harsh word. What we're trying to do is experiment with new things to try and improve the website for everyone. The Flash (video) chat is very good and has served the site well, the problem is that it's old technology that can't be used on most mobile devices and I've noticed a slow but steady decline in it's use over the years. The new text chat uses different technology and although it's still in beta mode and can be improved, it can at least be used on mobile phones, giving many more users access to a chat app on this site.

The video chat was never removed, but I see where the confusion crept in and have changed the order of the links so that it's now the first one you come to.

I'm away from my laptop at the moment but I'll try to get this back up tomorrow

Thanks for your feedback, keep it coming. It seems having the online users in a separate tab is a sticking point for several people. The difficulty is finding something that works in both desktop and mobile. Obviously in mobiles there's less screen width, so having them both in the same tab wouldn't work there. Maybe different layouts for desktop and mobile is a possibility. I'll think about this.

It 10 per day for private chats you initiate yourself. So you can reply to as many as you like from other people.

Please write any ideas, suggestions and comments you have about the new chat in this thread. This chat is a work in progress and there are some know issues which I'll list below:

* No sound on iOS mobile devices and some Samsung devices
* Using multiple devices on same login causes a logout error
* Chat height does not adjust to screen size

Please note that private chats are limited to 10 per 24hours, but general chat is unlimited.

We'll be working on the chat over the coming weeks to iron out any issues to ensure it works as smoothly as possible.