The chat rooms have been non-functioning for some time, and though a fix does seem to be in the works,
nobody knows when that might be forthcoming. There are plenty of people who engage in dialogues within
the forums, so exchanges can be more or less in real time, but even if you do not get an immediate answer in
one thread, there are plenty of threads to read through and become involved in according to whatever your
interests happen to be, and many threads go on for months... and months. Some have lasted years.