During this weekend's 'copia event, I asked db if we wouldn't mind changing the "time-out" parameter so that you don't get logged off after 5 minutes (or so) of inactivity.  

I'm one of the somewhat frequently users of the previous chat venue and what was somewhat typical was to "plant" yourself in the room and wait until someone else dropped in.  (The old version even included an audio "plop" sound when someone logged on.)

So, you could log on and then go do other things and wait until you heard the sound, then return to that window to have a chat with the new arrival.

Effective tonight (via a test of mine), it appears that the 5 minute auto log-off is no longer in place.  I stayed logged on for well over an hour (with no activity) without being bounced.

However, the bad news is ... if you accidently loose connection, you remain logged on for some indefiinte period (so far as I can determine), which is going to make re-entry under the same ID a bit interesting.

db also said that if you "loose signal" you might be able to hit the browser back button to reconnect.  I've not have a chance to test this option personally.

dd