hmmm.. i have a feeling that alot of unlicensed people will come to that channel. i would wait until the forums are completly locked.. just my oppinion.

Why does it matter if the forums are locked?

I have owned and operated several IRC networks back in the day. If we can get the support, I would put one up for vB. I'm not talking a channel, but our own network with several dedicated server(s). I can easily install the latest cservices for channel and nickname control, etc. without out any trouble.

In fact, we don't have to limit it to a vB dev network. It could even supply vB owners with a place to register a channel for their board. Several programs (Java or otherwise) exist to interface into IRC.

Avenger, what kind of support are we talking about here? :)

No one is ever in the channel. I pop in and out a few times a day, and there is never anyone in there. :(

So what server/network did we decide on? I personally think (no disprespect to irc.mediadriven.com) that vB having its own server and services would be a good thing.

I'm on #vbulletin now - nobody there!

The best place to start would likely be with an official poll/survey asking if it would even be used. We should provide some information about IRC in the thread for those who may not be familiar. The information can include the basics of what IRC is, and how it can be used to benefit this community. If we can at least get a good vote turnout and some positive feedback, that would be a great start.

If the surveys overall outcome is positive, then maybe we can approach vb.com staff with the results. In order for it to be successful, we would need a few ?plugs? to help get the word out. Something on the vb.com and vb.org websites would be nice. Also, any board that registers a channel would be an automatic flow of users.

I would be more than willing to not only pay for this, but also coordinate its creation with others. We would likely start out with a single server, get the cservices online, and begin accepting users. This would give us some time to work out any bugs, and begin to establish staff members. Additional servers can be linked as the network grows and others become interesting in linking.

Avenger: I have a couple of UK servers I can link if required.

Update: We got something planned (and almost ready) that should go up in the next couple of days... don't go anywhere!

Nice, I've just found out what (and where) it is too :)

Need to link some services! :D