Great -- freenode matches the open in openxcom very nicely.
Oh, and I forgot to say I think starting an IRC channel is a good idea too, even if there are only a few members on there. For two reasons:
1. Even though there are only a few active members, some might stay online a lot (and others may have some notification like a mailbot when messages are received) so it's possible that it can be useful to the project.
2. Because IRC is a chat, which by its nature lets us chat, whereas a forum doesn't really... let me explain. It's obviously a psychological thing -- a chat feels less public than a forum, and in fact probably is, as you can see who's in the channel and channel logging need not be turned on... So you may speak more freely, ask more, be more creative or suggestive. All in the spirit of colaboration / open source.
Maybe that's why IRC is still so popular. I know I still use it from time to time because often (at least at freenode network) there are a lot of helpful people with good listening skills right at your fingertips.
