Well it seems that this is a wanted feature to some degree in some capacity. So I may pursue this in the near future.

I'm more inclined to use a web-based approach to start as it is the most accessible right now, but this does not restrict the option for an app for other platforms later down the road. The web-based approach would be the most friendly to all parties involved, just based off the availability to load web pages and use AJAX extensions from JavaScript via HTML on mobile devices as well as other work and home computers.

My biggest influence is easy of access for everyone in the community so I will focus on this. The rest is about security and easy of maintenance.

IRC unfortunately doesn't really fit into this mold very well. It would rely on 3rd party applications, registration and lay on the whims of other public IRC servers. Not a combination I'm comfortable with when it comes to keeping an environment that is pleasant for our community members. There is no reason however that any of you couldn't start up a #PGD channel on an IRC server somewhere to chat, however this has been done before and it slowly faded into oblivion over time.

Suggestions are still of course welcomed and of course interest will help show me your demand for such a feature on PGD.