I'm usually at work without audio or a webcam, so it's not the most useful thing to me. The few times I do a chat while surfing the Discourse, I find it hard to divide my attention. Factor in that there's plenty of chat sites online already and it becomes a question of why do we need another feature that's already out there and free? The wheel works fine, why reinvent it?
It'd be really useful if we are having trouble mastering a flourish to talk with Simone in real time that can tell you what you're doing wrong.
Who's Simone?
Lemme guess - "someone"?
You can always post that you're starting a chat elsewhere, like tinychat or something, and let Discoursians meet you over there.
Alex, are you still considering this feature?