Sure, but the decision not to have a chan linked to on the sidebar is a seperate one.
Yes, one made by the people who started this forum.
Not just him-- amina, clubs, and a lot of other people who rarely use the forum but come on chat. Not a thought was given to them. No warning, no time for people to set up an alternative, transfer ownership, simply remove the link from CEMB or otherwise come up with a compromise/alternative. Just a big "I'm/we're done with it, fuck you" Arrogant bullshit.
In a few hours, a Palestinian-American teenage ex-muslim girl will likely be coming on to chat to talk with Solara and rora (chat's teenage girl mafia), and won't know what the fuck is up-- hopefully she has their contact info or comes here and sees this announcement thread. That's just one example-- we have ex-muslims and questioning muslims show up at chat that never came on the forum. But hey, whatever, the owner of the forum made a decision by administrative fiat in private consultation with the forum staff which was imposed on all chat users without warning-- guess they'll just have to suck it the fuck up, eh?
What's funny about this is all the staff here readily admit they don't use chat, don't see a need for it, but then feel oh-so-comfortable in just shutting it down without warning, without notifying or consulting the people who actually do use it. Fuckin bullshit.
Guess what? those people used to come here before the chat was ever introduced, so guess what is going to happen next? they will fucking start coming back here seeking the same support they got from chat.
You all have facebook, msn, these other channels that you can use to get the same hit you're missing from chat right now.