I still check out the Council Fire a few times almost every weekend, hoping to find DD or QP or FB or Satchmo or Tripper or FLP or Stumpy or other notables in there.  Admittedly, over the past 2-3 months, it has been pretty lifeless.  However, Council Fire seems to slow down during the summer months and perk up, again, as permit purchase season/summer planning approaches... not all that far off now, by the way.  

I DO agree w/dd about sharing very useful & entertaining conversations in there, including with some newer members who are trying to figure things out.  My personal opinion is that, if we got it organized around "probable chat times" & then better publicized, it could become a much-valued feature of the website.  I, for one, enjoy the feature & would hate to see it go away.

I would definitely vote for us to pursue alternative chat functionality.

Jimbo   8-)