Huh. That always-on chat function makes a lot of sense. Out of curiosity, if you invite someone to that new style of chat, do you know if the original chat-creator can boot other folks out, essentially turning the chatroom 'off' for those parties?
I don't actually use AIM (Mac-friendly chat program, go), but courtesy your explanation now realize someone tossed me into one of those always-on chats... and now it's impossible for me to get the damn thing off my flist.
Sorry to turn you into The AIM Expert, but I was totally unaware of that new feature until reading your comments.