I agree.
not that the irc channel -=da=- set up got any traffic, but... sure. what exists sucks.
the question is... irc or jabber chat?
plus in either case, probably a local applet to make life happier.
I'll also look into running ircd and ... hmm. yes. note to self:
http://www.jwirc.com/j_applet.html
anyone have something better than the above? (free, with code?)