Well, again, we should probably go to the other thread, for this, but basically I'm in a 'caretaker' position with regards to The Summit. I'm hesitant to make major changes, and I'm not sure that there are major changes I could make without altering the channels basic idea. It's perfectly valid that people might not want to interact with other people, but that is down to your character, not the channel.
I know that it has served the purpose that I stated, for me, and for other people. Obviously no one channel is going to serve the needs of everyone perfectly, and I think that all can be done really is make it as open as possible.
I think it doesn't seem unreasonable that, IC, there might be a com channel open to the podder community at large. I don't think that OOC reasons (like encouraging people to talk to people they might not otherwise talk to) invalidate the plausibility of the channel IC. I also think it is up to individual players whether they prefer to start their interactions IC or OOC, and the two channels facilitate either inclination.
I'm not sure what the solution would be if people find the channel both inactive and overactive or noisy. I know that trying to hop in, as a new RPer, to participate in ongoing RP debates or what have you might be intimidating, but the Summit is nothing if not welcoming to lurkers
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If you have a lot of people talking, it is gonna be an issue keeping up, that's just how chat channels work sometimes. Likewise being confusing for a new person (as partially addressed above). The unhelpful part is something that probably can be - and should be - dealt with, to some degree, and I hope that I've started doing that.