Some players are bragging about having private talks with dev(s) about game mechanics and even going so far as to brag about being able to influence these on an IRC channel.

one, I don't think using IRC for something that influences everybody is appropriate, and CCP really should put an end to it, and while doing so, release all chatlogs from sessions between devs and players.
These forums are the official channel for communicating, and by allowing opinionated, and severely biased pricks to influence devs without input from players with opposing views is dangerous.

I do believe you're mistaking your role as a beta tester with that of the Dust Senior Designer.
CCP also have in-house meetings about the game and I'm sure they get advice and ideas from spouces and family. Should those be taboo?
By all means, send CCP employees for jail. How dare they communicate with others who are not the forums.

And on another note, you are most welcome to join us on IRC. We mostly harrass each other and make up imaginary RP crap. We also gossip and call each other gay.

Who are you calling gay nub?

I agree with the OP, forums should be the main source of info, special tidbits for the cool kids on IRC should stop.

I do believe you're mistaking your role as a beta tester with that of the Dust Senior Designer.
CCP also have in-house meetings about the game and I'm sure they get advice and ideas from spouces and family. Should those be taboo?
By all means, send CCP employees for jail. How dare they communicate with others who are not the forums.

And on another note, you are most welcome to join us on IRC. We mostly harrass each other and make up imaginary RP crap. We also gossip and call each other gay.

you, ya scrub.

You are spouting nonsense. Should we ban grabbing lunch with the boss at work next? The amount of communication is about as influential as saying hi to a Dev at fanfest. People who get their ideas out there are networking, not participating in some secret club.

This is essentially incorrect, but since Noc hangs out in IRC all day I suppose that's to be expected. Saying "hi" to a developer at Fanfest isn't equivalent to directly communicating issues about balance to developers all day.

The IRC channel at the very least should be set up by CCP, not by community members, and direct chat logs should be transcribed to the forums at least as a downloadable resource. The inherent bias in the current system is causing us headaches to this day.

L2RL devs are real people who like talking to their fans. Nothing on IRC is official so you already have exactly what you are asking for.

I don't understand how CCP can claim that the IRC is a public resource that they personally authenticate but leave primary administrative conduct in the hands of potentially biased community members, rather than finding a system to at the very least provide oversight on the actions of any administrators for it.

I don't use Twitter or facebook and accept I don't hear the things said there first. What makes this so different? Zuck is far less likable than Grid.

Yet the few dev "friends" seem to be passing on a lot of information, and Iron even have gone as far as boasting that he convinced a dev about some mechanics at some point. It may have been one of the other IRC users and I don't recall the details, but I do recall it came to pass, at the detriment of Tank drivers yet again.

The IRC channel is a public channel where everyone can join, as pointed out in this post https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=22699&find=unread . Some memebers of CCP are in this channel but nothing secret or special takes place in it and if something official is said, there is always a post in the forum that documents it.
I'm in that channel as well and I can assure you the following things:
-There is no such a thing like IRC-users or not-IRC-users for CCP. We don't value opinions in different ways.
-CCP has a really marginal presence in the channel. If something is posted, you'll find it in the weekly update.
- The main channels are the forum and the we everything that is important is always reported there.
-The channel trend is more or less a "chat with friends". People talk about DUST 514, EVE but also about everything else.
-The chat is public and everyone is more than welcome to join.

Long story short: the IRC channel is nothing secret or private. You are more that welcome to join and read what's going on.
I'll keep an eye on this tread. As soon as turns into a massive flame, I'll lock it in order to avoid casualties ;)

Long story short: the IRC channel is nothing secret or private. You are more that welcome to join and read what's going on.
I'll keep an eye on this tread. As soon as turns into a massive flame, I'll lock it in order to avoid casualties ;)

Yet the few dev "friends" seem to be passing on a lot of information, and Iron even have gone as far as boasting that he convinced a dev about some mechanics at some point. It may have been one of the other IRC users and I don't recall the details, but I do recall it came to pass, at the detriment of Tank drivers yet again.

Long story short: the IRC channel is nothing secret or private. You are more that welcome to join and read what's going on.
I'll keep an eye on this tread. As soon as turns into a massive flame, I'll lock it in order to avoid casualties ;)

Whats wrong if people use IRC to give the devs their opinions and feedback. Just like these forums irc is an important component in addressing any issues with the game;

What is wrong is that there are no LOG for other people to see, this forum does at least provide that.

What is wrong is that there are no LOG for other people to see, this forum does at least provide that.

CmdrWang requested +v. He told you your questions were rude twice before you were muted temporarily. Stop blaming Grid and the IRC. We moved on and don't care anymore, you'd still get a chance to speak again in a similar situation which is phenomenally not biased. So please stop whining about a non-issue.