How can I make the chat visible for guests?

I don't need them to post there, I just want them to be able to read the chat at least. Is this possible through code? I am currently using ModernBB but I can switch to PHBB2 also if that makes a difference. Thank you.

Bonus - Can I make people automatically log onto chat? Registered users that is.

Thank you

By default, only members can see the chatbox.

Is there a way to change that though?

I believe not. It is similar to the PM system. Guests can not use it.

You could get a third-party chatbox/shoutbox and add it to your forum.

Alright, wanted to avoid using a 3rd party since Forumotions is pretty good. Thought by allowing guests just to look at our chat could encourage people to register so they could actually participate.

Forumactif/Forumotions chatbox system uses a MD5 hash to encode the communications, and the only way to do that is to sign in so the SID can be assigned to the user. This makes the communications more secure, especially with the new SSL update and other miscellaneous fixtures upon the chatbox module. The entirety of the chatbox module sits upon the userID being logged in and active with a SID assigned.

Third party tools do a similar thing, but they just assign a new SID to every guest and allows the guest to quickly pick a username or signup for an account quickly to start using it right away. This helps avoid problems such as XSS, phishing, spam, etc. The backend of chat servers are supposed to have a bot that checks IPs against the blacklist to avoid spam, but some people create their own chat systems without it, which places people's information on risky communications (HTTP-based).

I see. I mean, I see it around on other free forum softwares but I'd never switch over from forumotion because of that. Forumotion is too sexy, though I hope in the future we will be able to have the option of letting guests simply view the chat conversation.

Okay. If you do decide to work with third party tools, it's best to read the privacy policy(ies) carefully, especially if you do not want your guests/members' information exposed.

On one of my sites in the last couple of months, another admin installed a chat interface that works with Forumotion's chat module. I checked into the coding, and it was sending all of the conversations in HTTP (insecure) mode to the third party server, passing it through a subsystem, and sending it back to Forumotion Chatbox GUI. In other words, some tools do not properly encrypt communications, which means if anyone has any "private" conversations, they would not be truly private because of such tools.

With the new system Forumotion has in place, it is very helpful to convert your forum over to SSL certificate to help encrypt most, if not all, of your communications. However, I'm not one to impose such things aggressively, it's just something worth mentioning since you're so interested in Forumotion's features.