ASL?

Honestly, It'd be nice to communicate with people on this platform instantly....especially since its its still in its infancy. The trolls and dregs of the internet have yet to impregnate Steemit with their bullshit and if the upvote/flag dynamic applied to the chat, the latter would never be a problem.

Why?

Not Mainstream. The sheep aren't on Steemit, simple and plain. This mere fact makes me want to talk to everyone here. The type of thinking that attracts anyone to Steemit is the type of thinking that goes agains the grain and challenges normal paradigms...the same thinking that is ostracized for its creativty...and envied for when it changes the world. You can't just pluck these individuals out of a sea of people. They would have to show you their true colors and being on Steemit, at this moment, is a way of doing that.

How?

It could be a third party client with moderators and no rewards/flagging...or it could have rewards/ flagging but as to not bog down the blockchain, these tx would have to happen in off-chain payment channels and eventually settle on the Steemit Blockchain.

I'm sure Steemit has considered this already and why it doesn't exist, I don't know. They're could be many technical, or social, even economocal reasons why Steemit chat doesn't exist. While you can never truly circumvent trolls and people who just waste space from entering these chats, the majority of users will not only providing constructive conversation but could also link to their or other user's articles giving Steemit users a new way to passively advertise themselves or people within their network.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?