Is there a Chat feature that you can enable with YABB ? I think it would be cool on one hand - one the other hand, it might cut down on people posting and that would suck. Never mind - just a random thought !
I personally don't think there should be a chat for a "forum" because like you said...it would take away from the number of posts
and people wouldn't be able to go back n read other members comments about things that may be helpful in the future