I know how you feel ksb, the chat window is so small, never thought of trying to expand it , so it flies. Not enough channels, so you cant clear out the selling and stuff. I sometimes dont know what i got when i open a slicing box, and during/after combat, forget about seeing anything. SWTOR's chat system makes me appreciate STO's so much. i try to say hi when i see people come in, but usualy i dont even see that until well after the fact. I have lost the habit of watching the chat in this game. STO spoiled me with custom user made channels, easy removal of channels, custom choice colors for channels and such.
As for vent currently i get no input, so i have not been using it.
To add to all that, this game is nothing but combad and every hit is shown in chat, if you say hi and i dont respond trust me its because i never saw it. I love this game, but ITS CHAT SYSTEM SUCKS.
Ok rant over, i will try to shout out sometime this evening after 5:30 eastern time.