chat box? no one uses it

why does no one use chat box, it looks lonely and abandoned, a feature no one uses and can speed up interaction with other's, id use it, so come on guy's its a free feature and it could be fun,

Because I dont think people actually realise it's there and also dont know how to use it for what it's for, when it has been used I've seen people asking questions and posting stuff that should be asking within the forum sections, the chatbox originally was ment for posting quick messages ie: to tell other members if there is conditions on the radio or telling others your on the air plus saying what frequency/channel your on .

Hi Nubster,  thank you for reply,  we could always put a new forum page for the chat box out lining what it is for and what cannot be put on the chat box, like it cant be used to sell or buy item's, 
it cant be used to harass people, 
it can be used to tell other's of updates to terms of use or special events forum page has new content, 

what i find hard to believe is that so many very intelligent ladies and gents use this forum and theres no locked forum, out lining the rules on what the chat box is for,

Well when this forum started originally back in 2009 we had a different type of website not unlike this one as such but the chat box what we used then was more as I said for very quick messages and quick info about radio conditions nothing long winded and was always live at the bottom of the main page like this one but more noticeable ,another thing is that the forum was 100 times more busier than what it is now there was always something being posted every 2 mins somewhere on it plus radio was also more active too
so really at the moment it's not exactly that useful unless you want anyone to know that your on the air or to see if anyone can say give you a radio check in your area if you get my meaning of what it's for.

It is true the Chat Box used to be a well used and very handy feature. So many of the New ones haven’t really been up to scratch. The current one isn’t too bad really. I’d love to see more people using it. Every time I look no one is signed in. I’ll make more of an effort myself.

Just had a quick look at the chat box and its exactly what I said full of people asking about I want a call sign and introducing themselves or asking about radio info, now all these questions should be ask in the relevant section in the main forum not the chat box ,I'll give an example of what we use to it for ,let's say I'm hearing a station on 27???? USB say and they are calling out and it's a say a far off station so I would put up on the chat "Anyone interested on 27????  USB theres a station calling from wherever somewhere " and that's it, not a long winded introduction about myself and asking about how do I get a callsighn or say I lived near Paddy (which I dont but it's an example) I might say "Paddy can you go to 27??? or Channel? and give me a rig check please" like I said just a quick message system that's all the chat box is supposed to be used for .

Like Martin has said, it will probably get used more, when good propagation conditions return.