IRC Support Channels?
Nik Picker asks: "Is there an IRC server group that has the best concentration of online users who are prepared to contribute to the IRC Linuxhelp channels? I have been using Undernet #linuxhelp but find that sometimes it just goes all quiet, lag time not being the issue here. I was wondering if any other readers have found a better source of online/realtime Linux support through IRC?" I think real-time support is a great idea, a lot of companies should investigate the use of IRC as a support medium. It wouldn't be all that difficult to do, and a few -Web sites- are implementing Web-based realtime support chat's, so this idea is spreading around. What good support channels are out there on IRC?
There are channels devoted to almost every topic, and alot of individual projects have channels set up there, such as #jabber and #livid.
As of this moment, there are almost 1000 users on 31 servers, including one of the faster servers, irc.linux.com.
The best channel for newbie help is #linuxhelp(50), but #linpeople(80) is chock full of gurus for the harder stuff (if you can ever get them on topic :) #debian is always the most popular, with 123 now.
Basically, if you can ask a question about Linux, someone there can answer it.
Oh, and did I mention the /. crew is usually in #slashdot (Emmett and CowboyNeal almost always)