We are talking Open Source Project Communication not small group communication. IRC and FreeNode channels have been the standard for communication and not for

We are talking Open Source Project Communication not small group communication. IRC and FreeNode channels have been the standard for communication and not for archival purposes. I use an IRC bouncer with my home server and I never look back through the thousands of communications except to see a reply to my question. Why does a Open Source Community channel need archived communication unless it is just a few developers only chat?