What are your thoughts on creating an "official" phoronix irc channel? Personally, if you (Michael and any other guys that run Phoronix) choose to do so, I think irc.freenode.net would be a fitting place, since its very linux/oss oriented.
As fun as forums can possibly get, I prefer IRC, its much better if you need help with something broken, and there's less waiting (usually =P).
I think it's a neat idea. I'm so busy at this time of year that I probably wouldn't be able to get on consistently. In that way, the forums work quite well.