They can not be viewed when you are in the chat room. You have to go back to perb and do a search to find out who you are talking to...not to mention be a member of terb and merb to find out who they are...if you care How do you feel about that?
Dakota brings up some good points and I'd like to be able to access the profiles in the chat room. From my handle it is difficult to know my gender (I am male) and others being able to see my profile would lessen confusion. Also, as one can not advertise on the chat, seeing if someone has a web site etc. would help the "fishing" and connecting process greatly.