Swhack is a cultural forum that was founded in 2001 by Aaron Swartz, and which continues to manifest itself in the form of a publically logged IRC channel. Its participants are preëminent computer scientists, sysadmins, writers, journalists, and engineers who wax miscellaneous whilst dividing their time evenly 'twixt work and play.
A range of topics are discussed, encompassing cryptography, linguistics, internationalisation, law, Apache server hacking, RDF, Semantic Web technologies, HTML & CSS development, Website design, typography, search engines, forteana, Mac and OS related issues, lunix hacking, programming in various languages (Python, Perl, Lisp, Bash, C), decentralization, politics, syndication and aggregation, privacy, gnuperiority, whimsy, storytelling, and science.
The IRC channel is currently full to the brim. Newcomers are welcome to an extent, but ought to make themselves aware of the tenets of the society that has built up around the forum; failure to do so may result in disinclusion.