Adding logged chat to SMF

[ntg]

I am a Gentoo linux user and found SMF and this site via the gentoo overlays project.

I am considering to setup a help forum with topics related to mental health after being a member of a forum for some time. Some (younger) posters there are quite desperate and unable to write comprehensive posts.

Thus the thread fills rather quickly with one-liners and counter-questions and the whole process is ineffective. I have made good experiences to get the story out in the open by chatting with those posters by (web based) IRC.

A big advantage of working on forums is openness and transparency. Further, for monitoring and legal reasons is it important to keep records and thus I post logs of those chat sessions in the related thread. As a sidenote, some innovations are not well liked by the forum, hence I want to setup my own forum.

What I want to do is to add a chat function to a thread by which the OP and responding poster end up in a chatwindow and chat away. The chat is logged and stored in the forum database. Upon completion of the chat, the log from the database is auto-posted in the thread. Additional functions would include to invite other members or (auto invite) moderators / specialists to the chat by IRC.

What I am asking is: Does this concept have merrit in other applications? Anything related around?/where?

If nothing is around what would be the best concept to implement it?

I have extensive prog experience asm, C, C++,bash, some python and am learning PHP and SQL and would be happy to help.

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

[vbgamer45]

I would look into editing one of the shoutbox mods and once a chat sessions is completed have it auto create the post in the proper forum.