Hub vs. P2P chat

[LinkSync]

Something I have never liked about DC is the way chat has to go thru the hubs then it posts it to all the connected clients.
This seems really ancient tech to me and uselessly loads the server.

How hard would it be to implement a client to client broadcast of chat?
i mean once a client hooks up to a hub its addy could br added to an internal client "active list" and then when user chats the message is sent to other clients rather than the hub for rebroadcast.

If this was done it would be then very easy to add custom colores and fonts so each user would have costom self chosen appearance. This works in several other chats online now, (notably Tesla).

I think the colors and fonts thing by itself would enhance chat here as when it gets busy in a hub it really sucks as its hard to follow what with some clients lagging and some not and 4 conversations cross talking to 20 ppl and so on while everyone LOOKS the same...GRRRRrrr

But the load issue for the hub is to me even more important. As comps and conections get better and better it seems only right the clients should do more of the work thereby implementing a true p2p distributed network.

anyway i know it would require a rewrite on both sides (hub /client)
but how long will the old excuse of remaining compatable be held against modernisation? just a little team work would get it done pretty quick i bet.

peace