New communication channels

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+- Feature Name: new_communication_channels
+- Start Date: 2017-01-23
+- RFC PR: (leave this empty)
+- Rust Issue: (leave this empty)
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Traditionally, most of Rust's main community interaction has been via the Rust IRC channels. These
+channels have spanned everything from beginner topics to the core team meetings. Unfortunately,
+there are current contributors to Rust and potential users to Rust who are hindered by this heavy
+focus on IRC. This RFC proposes creating additional official Rust communication channels.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+The motivation is fairly simple: IRC is struggles in terms of usability, and to some, this is a
+barrier for entry.  More recent chat platforms like gitter and Slack have filled in the usability
+gap, and are now preferred over IRC.
+
+At the same time, core developers spend a fair amount of time discussing issues on IRC, so it's an
+essential place to participate if you want to be deeply involved in the project. By requiring people
+to use IRC, we're creating an boundary between the Rust community and potential contributors.
+
+If our goal is to create a warm, welcoming community, then part of that work means working with
+technologies that are more familiar and comfortable to this potential community.
+
+# Detailed design
+[design]: #detailed-design
+
+This RFC proposes that we create two new Rust communication channels: an official Slack channel and
+we make the [unofficial gitter channel](https://gitter.im/rust-lang/rust) official.
+
+Slack has been a request from some new users because they're more used to it, as it's grown
+in popularity with many software companies. This allows them to more seamlessly transition their
+habits to contributing to Rust.
+
+Gitter has grown to over 1200 registered people, the same size as the official #rust channel,
+all without any official Rust promotion.  This seems to point to a potential for Rust to be able to
+reach out to users who prefer alternatives to IRC.
+
+These two new channels would cater to helping new Rust users as well as offer a point contact for
+advanced Rust contributors to interact with each other. This will happen through the use of rooms.
+The default room will be the one new users will see first. This is where we can help folks with
+their general Rust questions and is a catch-all to help direct people to the appropriate room or
+other source of information.
+
+The new channels would also have additional rooms. At first, this will likely be only one additional
+room focused on contributing to Rust (like #rust-internals), though we may also want to create the
+equivalent of #rust-beginners as well.
+
+The goal is to create helpful landing pads for people comfortable with gitter and Slack, and a place
+for people to grow into Rust contributors and still use their communication channel of choice.
+
+
+# Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+Prior to this RFC, there have been
+[on-going discussions](https://users.rust-lang.org/t/a-possible-rust-slack-channel/7433) about
+standing up new communication channels. To summarize the drawbacks:
+
+*1) This creates a fork in the community where part of the community will use one communication
+channel rather than another, which risks splintering us.*
+
+This is a risk, though it assumes that the community won't expand its scope to accomodate. Some of
+us will likely just add a few more browser tabs for the new channels so that as a whole switching
+between then becomes largely a non-issue over time.
+
+*2) This may create an "us vs them" where all the "good stuff" happens on one of the other
+communication channels.*
+
+Some of this is natural and avoidable. Already there is plenty of good Rust work going on that is
+in other languages, other locales, and even just other times of day than what any one person can
+experience.
+
+This is in part why I suggest we make these official channels and encourage the community to use
+them. The best way for them to not feel second tier is to keep the quality high and keep the channel
+feeling like the same welcoming Rust experience they would get on IRC.
+
+*3) Related: it creates confusion which channel is the official channel for meetings and the place to engage
+with core developers.*
+
+If necessary, this RFC can be revised to include such a recommendation, though currently subteams pick
+their own communication channels.  If we wish to officially set the subteam meeting channels, 
+that may be better left to a separate RFC.
+
+*4) There is some concern specifically about Slack and its role in open source, as it is a closed
+platform.*
+
+Since the RFC recommends continuing to use IRC, advocates of IRC can continue to use it. Rather,
+this RFC attempts to expand to welcome Slack users in addition to IRC users. Rust is supported by a
+number of closed-source solutions (eg GitHub, twitter, cloud infra, etc), and we can optionally
+seek out alternatives if the closed-source solution begins to hinder the community and Rust's
+growth.
+
+*5) These new channels increase the moderation burden and may require the moderation team to grow to
+accomodate.*
+
+The moderation team has previously mentioned they would be willing to grow to accomodate, but it's
+worth noting here as well.
+
+# Alternatives
+[alternatives]: #alternatives
+
+One alternative is to use unofficial, rather than official, channels. The drawback of this approach
+is that if we don't promote them how will the users they're intended to reach out to find them and
+how will the sense of equality we want to reach be fostered?
+
+There has also been discussion about possibly not only creating the new channels but also unifying
+them using bots that can bridge between them. Unfortuantely, the current state of these bots seems
+to not be at the level of quality to give a good user experience.
+
+# Unresolved questions
+[unresolved]: #unresolved-questions
+
+Some of the points in the drawbacks section may need to be addressed before we can even implement
+this idea.  Namely:
+
+* Can moderation adapt to these new channels?
+* Can we ensure high-quality help to beginners on these new channels?