[barbs]

I've always thought Hacker News could do with a chat room, and given how simple it is (and free), IRC would probably best fit the bill. Searching Hacker News shows that some people have proposed different chat rooms but nothing's stuck really. I reckon it'd need a "chat" tab up the top. Nice-to-haves would be adding an optional web-based client, and tying it into your actual HN login.

I've never set up IRC before though, so I have no idea if this is actually feasible.