I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I suspect it would probably result in more netsplits on freenode, owed to the inevitable influx of programmers who would now seek assistance on IRC like the good old days.

I've definitely noticed a downward trend of activity in the assorted programming chat channels I've frequented over the last 25 years or so, which I guess could be a result of the growing popularity of Q&A sites like stackoverflow.

But I still think it's one of the best places to seek assistance - plus, helping out programmers on IRC in real time is a good way to stay sharp and on top of the continuously evolving software landscape.