So if we're going to get rid of the local forums, or forums, or whatever - you'd be better served getting rid of the IRC, too. It's an exclusive old boy's club where people orchestrate wars, not-wars, and other things behind the scenes.
To the extent that you are right, IRC is like drugs.
You can't stop people from using drugs. You can ban them, and try to prevent people from buying, selling or importing them, but you're never going to be able to stop it completely.
Similarly, if people want to communicate OOC and hatch plots there, it's impossible to stop them. You're far, far better off creating a place where not only is everyone in the game welcome and invited (heck, it's linked right there on the left of your family page), but it has at least a quasi-official status, and thus can be somewhat regulated under the Social Contract.
And, frankly, if it were such an old boys' club, those of us who have, in fact, been there since 2004 or earlier wouldn't be so enthusiastic about trying to get more people to use it. Old boys' clubs are all about forming a clique and then trying to keep other people
out.
So, basically, if IRC were really all the bad things you say,
then the very worst thing we could do would be to try to get rid of it. All that would accomplish would be to crystallize the "old boys' club" in its current form and restrict it to only the diehard IRCers.
