Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Wikipedia:IRC channels

The IRC channels that are used by Wikipedians have recently gone through a lot of controversy. There are widely differing views within the community as to what role the channels actually have on the project. This request for comment will allow the community to openly discuss what roles the channels have here, so the arbitration committee (who have recently stated that they will take control of the misconduct issues that arise on the channels) can assess the community's consensus views on the channels. If you have an opinion, please create a new outside view below, and/or endorse other users' views. Some pages to consider reading before commenting are seen below;

Wikipedia pages
Meta pages
  • m:IRC (background information only)
Recent dispute resolution-process background reading
Outside views