Today we crossed 300 people in the #apache IRC channel on Freenode. I remember when we crossed 100, and bemoaned the changes in the nature of the conversation. And, now that we’re at 300, the feel is indeed less friendly, more hostile, more angry people, more rude “helpers”, more RTFM responses, more people looking to be spoon-fed rather than actually participate in solving their own problems.

I think it’s probably possible to restore a bit of courtesy and friendliness, but I imagine it would be pretty hard.