For a variety of security and liability reasons, ETS will not be adding Chat to the site. Even the Private Message function opens is up to issues, but since we started out with it early on, its been decided to keep it unless it is abused. So, if you want to do this, you'll need to do is completely divorced from ETS.

Philosophically, I am not a fan of Chat or IM for the purposes of exchanging information on the topics we discuss here. Personal and private issues are another matter. We have many more lurkers than we do active participants, as is the case with most such forums. These lurkers benefit greatly from the many great discussions that this community engages in and that is lost when discussions go private. Inevitably some will and that potentially very important information will never see the light of day where it can help others.

Just something to keep in mind.