Killing the CB: Add another vote for keeping the chatterbox.

IRC isn't ways available (i.e. because it's being blocked by the corporate firewall), but web traffic is OK.
Getting quick help and taking a break in the CB is really helpful and aids in maintaining a sane outlook on the World :-)

Offlining the past: IMHO, if a node has a certain amount of views or rep, regardless of it's age, it might be worthwhile keeping, rather than placing in cold storage.