I've been logging the channel continuously with very few interruptions since, oh, maybe early March of '07 when I got the iMac back from service that one time.
I'd say if you want to see what goes on in the IRC channel, then go ahead and join. We don't bite unless we're provoked, and sometimes, we can be downright friendly.
It's not necessarily a good reference resource, but we're usually good for fielding a question or two, and we can help point you in the right direction if you need help quickly (although I still advocate asking complex multi-part questions on the forum, since few of us actually read the backlog of what happened when we were gone.)
I'd say if you want to see what goes on in the IRC channel, then go ahead and join. We don't bite unless we're provoked, and sometimes, we can be downright friendly.
It's not necessarily a good reference resource, but we're usually good for fielding a question or two, and we can help point you in the right direction if you need help quickly (although I still advocate asking complex multi-part questions on the forum, since few of us actually read the backlog of what happened when we were gone.)