Very good idea about the whale group (I plan to open the VIP room soon). Would Skype or Google talk be preferred? I remember someone on the team doesn't use Skype but we'll sort something out.
Why not just set up a private IRC channel?
That suits as well (granted everyone is okay with this). We just need to find a good time, this weekend will be optimal. I'm going to be away for ~12 hours so I'll make a channel when I'm back.
The only problem with IRC is everyone needs to be on at the same time, it makes at harder to set something like a 36 hour buy period when only those that were on IRC at the time will know about it.