I won't raise the timeout makes little sense if you chat up ppl you *think* are on but are not =/
That is a thing to consider, but I can put a warning in place somewhere.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one familiar with the feeling of thinking somebody is taking a while to reply, when they're really timing out/leaving their comp.
Maybe some sort of warning system should be in place if we do have an extended timeout. Like you know how there's either a red or green dot by a person's name in your mailbox that indicates whether or not someone is offline or online? How about a yellow and orange dot that shows their inactivity before going logout red.
Example0-4 minutes of inactivity since last page load/refresh = green
5-9 = yellow
10-14 = orange
15 = red/offline
This example is based on a 15 minute timeout. If I remember correctly, 10 minutes is the current timeout.