I much prefer this to posting a question on a forum/stackoverflow etc type site. Probably my own impatience, but I want an answer now.

IRC is actually growing a load. It's pretty widely used. The fun thing is, I don't think anyone really realizes it, and it's still considered 'old stuff' by many.

If you look at the numbers, twitter usage is about the same as one of the tiny IRC networks in terms of volume of messages. Of course it's apples vs frogs comparison, but still... More communication is done on IRC than twitter and all the other "hot" new things.

#startups is good on freenode (If you can stand freenode and their 'ways')

#linode on oftc is great

#googleajaxapis is cool on geekshed

#mibbit is great on irc.mibbit.net :)