Freenode provides discussion facilities for the Free and Open Source Software communities, for not-for-profit organizations and for related communities and organizations. In 1998, the network had about 200 users and less than 20 channels. The network currently has nearly 30,000 users, freenode  provides facilities to a variety of groups and organizations.

More Information:
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode]]
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-Directed_Projects_Center|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-Directed_Projects_Center]]
[[http://freebasic.net/chat|FreeBASIC Chat Hosted by FreeNode]]