chat was working fine when I was there - I left about 11pm or so GMT and when I left there were a good half-dozen/eight folks in there. Only one from the USofA though .. so possibly he left when the Brits did ...
as for contributions - there is a thread on JB explaining how to contribute to the DigiChat Fund. As I understand it, as at Saturday we were about $50 short of the current annual fee so all/any contributions will be welcomed!!
It was a question of saving DigiChat rather than moving to a new, simpler but less user-friendly chat style, and chat-ers decided to save DigiChat!!
See you there "in due course"!!