I'm hot and cold on chats. They are not always applicable and are dependant on the average user behaviour and want. I had a look at the chats and in there I see @drabiv point about how do users discover chats, I find it easier to reply here and think it will have more value, but even if users can find the chats, they do not necessarily need them or use them, so you have NodeBB that has to cater for all worlds and mixed worlds, so that's actually 3 worlds. Now here is an idea. A Chat only version of NodeBB Chat Vs NodeBB Deluxe (the full version, the one we are on now). I like chats to hit a person directly, the cognitive break also reinforces the more private and direct nature of the communication, even if a group chat, it's a contained exchange. For some radical moves in ditching the nav bar why not jam in a Chat UI element there see what happens!