hi MamaPeapod,
yes, we disabled that a while ago, and now working on getting that back up along with the Instant Messaging (IM) for person to person direct instant communication. These will all go together along with the store mini-chat. We're going to do something with user avatar as well, so that when someone is online, it'll be apparent (maybe like a green bar and the text 'online', and a grey bar and the text "offline" )
So, these will be coming shortly over this week and next week.
SF