One thing I would like to add to this, is that it I very often see help posts wasting away for sometimes a day sometimes hours before ever getting a reply. This will discourage a user from staying. If they can pop in the chatroom and ask that would greatly improve their chances of getting help and staying.

As for how it was like... despite opening it many times not a single user ever used it so I wasn't even sure if it worked. I was a lot quieter back then though and would surely be willing to make the first post now.