A free one is phpMyChat, which works quite well with mySql support.

Something I've noticed though, a lot of interesting stuff gets lost in a chatroom which could have been posted in the forums.

2 cents given.

but isnt there a free mirc hack chat in vb.org? i thought i saw 1 im not sure though..

True, but there's always Chat Logs. :) It's kind of a pain, but you can setup a bot to monitor the channel and create a log. That log can then be posted and through PHP rendered for the web. Again, it's a bit of a pain, but it can be done.

Saintdog, just compile an ircd on your own server, it is free software. Since you have your own hosting company, getting some space isn't a problem.

Although very true, I do not with to punish others on the server due to the fact I am running IRC here at vBT. There is an alternative and that is probably what will be gone with a little later on :).

    I like the idea though you'd have to pay for it. If you use OpenProjects it's free but doesn't have the same security as most IRC Networks. But like I said, it would be a great addition to these forums.

Can you elaborate a bit more on this? I use OpenProjects extensively, so I'm wondering what security risks are present that aren't on other IRC networks. :confused:

An IRC chat is a great idea. It could provide quick answers to little questions not worth putting on the board. I think you should implement IRC on your server SD. That way I can use it too. hehe ;)

Why not find an IRC server and just register a room...? Unless I missed a bunch in this thread (Probably did).

Not to speak on SaintDog's behalf, but a room has been created but he hasn't officially announced it yet. :)