Nice work Parker. Do you have this installed anywhere for us to check out?

That sounds like its getting close to what we are looking for.

One way I can think of to improve it would be to put the contents of the private message in the window itself. Also, include a reply button so a user can send an reply without having to stop what they are doing on the board. After they respond, the window can automatically close. That way, its almost just like an instant message.

Of course, at this point, its probably best to make it a seperate hack (instant message as opposed to private message). Give it its own set of templates with minimal interface.

With these small changes it sounds like we've almost got a decent IM tool!