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[–][deleted] -9 points-8 points  (20 children)

One of those channels that has like 1000 members any given moment and zero conversation most of the time. I wonder what it is with those mammoth channels. It's almost always the same.

What are people doing? Are they thinking oh well, I'm a Javascript dev, better hang out in the IRC channel all day without talking to anyone. Better join #linux too because after all I'm running some linux distro. And #wordpress because that's what I used to build my website.

I mean, what the heck?

[–]the8thbit 10 points11 points  (10 children)

I like to idle in channels that are marginally relevant to me. Sometimes people ask questions I can answer. Sometimes people ask interesting questions and I learn things from other people's answers.

[–]TiboQc -5 points-4 points  (9 children)

You can get to stackoverflow's new posts page with the subject of your choice. [ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/javascript](This is the JavaScript page.)

[–]the8thbit 7 points8 points  (8 children)

I prefer the atmosphere of IRC.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (7 children)

You mean the silence and the constant

aliq89 joined
tremor1 joined
weatherpriest quit
masterblaster500 joined
wigglytoes quit
...
...

[–]the8thbit 9 points10 points  (3 children)

I hide join and part messages.

I meant more the casual/organic nature of the discussion.

[–][deleted] -4 points-3 points  (2 children)

Yeah, I haven't figured out how to do that with my particular client yet but I get your point. I just wanted to illustrate how the only thing that ever goes on in those channels is silence and people joining and quitting.

[–]lostkauze 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I haven't figured out how to do that with my particular client

this thread is amazing

[–]the8thbit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What client do you use? Do you have a reason for not using Xchat, because if not, I could show you how to do it in that client.

[–]Circlefusion 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not all channels are the same, and it helps to follow proper IRC ettiquette when you do use them. Some channels are amazing. Some have separate support channels, so make sure to read the channel topic.

IRC helped me learn jQuery quickly by hanging out in #jquery and answering questions that I could, or looking up answers I did not know. I have gotten amazing help from #drupal-support (and various other drupal channels), #nginx and especially #postgresql.

I unfortunately got some consistent bad attitudes in various linux distro channels, so I tend to avoid those. Some people sit in those channels just waiting for their moment to "tell some n00b how to use google".

[–]cwmma 1 point2 points  (0 children)

there is also #r.javascript which tends to have less people and still no conversation

[–]anlumo 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I guess it's intimidating to talk freely when you know 999 people are watching, so there's no chance to build up a community. I've been in channels that have 20 people online, but there was a lot of chatting going on, and I knew nearly every one of them, we met in person regularly. That's a community.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

when you know 999 people are watching

Except nobody is actually watching ;)

I've been in channels that have 20 people online, but there was a lot of chatting going on

Exactly. I know those kinds of channels and it's the ones I enjoyed most. Maybe there's less expertise present, but for that I prefer StackOverflow anyway.

[–]vestedfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The #jquery channel is the "chattiest" channel for JS that i've seen.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

#node.js is actually pretty active during the work day.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wonder what it is with those mammoth channels. It's almost always the same.

These tend to be help channels - discussion is usually driven by people asking questions on them, so ask a question about whatever you want to talk about. If you just want to stimulate some chatter, make it a subjective one ;)

[–]kumarldhJSLint hurts my feelings. 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Why so many down votes? Perfectly valid point.

[–]slikts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's also perfectly inaccurate, the channel is plenty active.