right now 2 experts. we are expecting to have a lot more some competitor has > 100. We are aiming for quality over quantity though - hence the request for this feature, and our niche is a lot smaller so I would expect maybe 20 to 30 when we get rolling. BTW i know it's a big ask and prb low priority, but wanted to jot down thoughts for completeness and try to give the kind of requirements I would like to get - before moving on to the next task.

+ 1 markdown in the text editor

+1 (but as an optional configurable module that we can turn on and off at admin discretion) - reason : discord/gitter type chats are great for real-time touch point but can get chaotic and hard to moderate and search. also have seen it backfire if nobody is around to moderate then you can get a bunch of negative comments in the history. - kind of like the villagers with pitchforks in the old Frankenstein movies :) "Is anybody here.", "How come nobody can answer my question, this place sucks" not to mention poaching issues. with that said It is a really good idea to have the option for the very convincing reasons that @Andrew Kirby mentioned. - ... and if this feature gets added then it would be really great to have a configurable bot system so that you could drip feed content into the running chat so that it does not get stale and maintain a positive vibe.

example

@Nick Guadagnoli Thanks! it's especially important for us b/c I am far from an expert in the course curriculum. (we have real experts who teach and design the courses)