I think this forum is missing a instant chat area, like a shoutbox on the main forum, would be good to have instant interactions with people an its good for forming relationships with members,
It would be over used but im a member/moderator/admin of many sites and most of they sites use the principle of 'member status - regular shout box or boxes, moderator only boxes, admin only boxes,
Also you need so much rep to access it to start with.
Obviously if people spam or break the rules they will get banned from the shout boxes for 3 days to cool off.
Any thoughts?