diff --git a/src/static/js/chat.js b/src/static/js/chat.js
index ce9a0033..bdb5ee09 100644
--- a/src/static/js/chat.js
+++ b/src/static/js/chat.js
@@ -29,9 +29,11 @@ var chat = (function()
   var self = {
     show: function () 
     {      
+console.log("here");
       $("#chaticon").hide();
       $("#chatbox").show();
       $("#gritter-notice-wrapper").hide();
+      console.log("scroll down 1");
       self.scrollDown();
       chatMentions = 0;
       Tinycon.setBubble(0);
@@ -91,7 +93,9 @@ var chat = (function()
     {
       if($('#chatbox').css("display") != "none"){
         if(!self.lastMessage || !self.lastMessage.position() || self.lastMessage.position().top < $('#chattext').height()) {
-          $('#chattext').animate({scrollTop: $('#chattext')[0].scrollHeight}, "slow");
+          // if we use a slow animate here we can have a race condition when a users focus can not be moved away
+          // from the last message recieved.
+          $('#chattext').animate({scrollTop: $('#chattext')[0].scrollHeight}, "fast");
           self.lastMessage = $('#chattext > p').eq(-1);
         }
       }
@@ -195,6 +199,7 @@ var chat = (function()
       });
       if(!isHistoryAdd)
         self.scrollDown();
+         console.log("scroll down 2");
     },
     init: function(pad)
     {