Comment 5 for bug 392799

One large problem that arises when splitting up the help channels is it means the people who help have to watch multiple channels, for instance:
Helper knows about GRUB issues and flash issues, sits in #ubuntu-flash and #ubuntu-grub. He then has to switch back and forth between the channels in order to help people with both issues. The switching means he now spends more of his time reading the backlog (which he missed when he was viewing the other channel) and his total productive time goes down.
Sure, when you're dealing with two channels, this may not be an issue, but four? six?

If person-B has a problem with sound (and happens to know GRUB), B joins #ubuntu-sound, and probably would not join #ubuntu-grub (because B is looking for sound support). If person C comes around and asks for grub help, person B wouldn't ever know, and wouldn't be able to help C (in a monolithic #ubuntu, this scenario happens often). In six weeks, person B comes back with a flash issue, and likely wouldn't re-join #ubuntu-sound (where person D just happens to have the same problem B originally had).

Splitting the channel up like this really puts a damper on much of the give/take atmosphere of community support. If we had some sort of staff doing dedicated support, then this sort of splitting might make sense, but since it's not, this seems like it's just going to end in frustration from both sides.

The logistical aspects of the split are also interesting. If we split by timezone, does that mean that supportees need to find a supporter who both is knowledgeable about their specific issue as well as in their general time-area? Splitting by topic requires a good deal of triage as sometimes initial problems turn out to merely be symptoms of other problems. Bouncing people around from -flash to -sound means an increase in overhead (someone has to brief -sound on the situation, which causes scrolling that otherwise wouldn't have occurred).