Tabor and Arnulf, I would be delighted to help however I can OOCly or even ICly where it makes sense
On the subject of the OOC channel open to all the GalRP community has just started doing this, and it has seemed to do wonders. Last week everyone in the channel jumped into an IC venue and just did a general chit-chat thing as a result of them being all together in the OOC channel, it was amazing to see a room full of GalRPers talking and generally having some awesome RP.
I definitely would agree that the idea of having an OOC channel for anyone interested/involved in a faction's RP is an exceptionally useful idea - it fosters a sense of community which is essential I think.
It also performs a function similar to what Louella mentioned it creates a node from which a larger network of channels, events, corporations, etc. can be linked to - like the hub in a wheel.