Ironically a lot of us started on IRC in the 90s talking about $$$ and affiliate marketing but back then it was adult stuff only pretty much and there were few laws.
IRC isn't dead, Freenode is the go-to place if you're having difficulties getting a prog to work. Python channel has about 2000 people in it at a time, ASM about 800. Not sure of any marketing channels though, I was thinking of creating #maps on Rizon or 2600net. I can ask around and see if anybody knows of any good channels, but I think mostly people are fucking w/ slack these days. The DG slack was poppin off for a while until gay drama ruined it.