Recommend the system alert with a small beep when a chat message arrives during the play of a hand. Invariably, I'm too busy concentrating on the hand to notice a message about failure to alert, lack of time, etc.
The wording on the current Partnership Desk function needs to be fixed. Many people use this as a parking place while waiting for partner to show up on-line instead of simply listing them as a friend on the People Tab where they can be identified as on-line. Consequently, they deny any request to partner as they already have one. This undoubtedly causes many people to avoid seeking a partner in this manner again.