Michael Morris said:
I know user crossover is minimal - I've been in there enough times to know the folks that idle in the channel don't use the boards often. I've been told point blank by several users that they don't frequent the site at all when I've went in there to look for testers on dev in the last year.
This hardly counts for decisive research into the matter.
A couple of people voicing their opinions or stating their habits doesn't make up for the majority.
And just out of curiosity, what nick did you use? How long did you stay in the channel? Did you attempt to join the community there or did you just go in, ask a few questions, and leave?
As I mentioned earlier, I used to come here and the chatroom before I lost interest in 3.x. But I hardly ever posted because I was busy with other things. I currently have a lot of spare time so I find myself posting and chatting more often. Point being, just because people aren't regular posters, doesn't mean they aren't regular members of EN World. Does post-count now determine how valid your opinion is?
Michael Morris said:
If IRC can deliver this I'm all ears. If it cannot then it is off the table as far as I'm concerned.
Those are some very restrictive requirements which I'm guessing you know can't be achieved by a dedicated IRC network in connection to a forum.
It seems you care more about what you want than the community itself. The community of #dnd3e is speaking and you're flatly denying them their wishes. It makes me wonder why you started this thread at all if you were always just going to do what you wanted regardless.
*shrug* it's your server so I guess do whatever. But if you ask for people's opinions, expect to get them.