Most of the time, when I see that people are having a hard time connecting in the IRC, it's because they don't make too much of an effort, although it's not always like this. I've seen a couple people downright ignored which is pretty rude. There is an old saying that goes like this: "You can't bake a cake without all the ingredients". Basically, if someone wants to be included then they need to make an effort themselves to be included, AND, some of us IRC vets need to help them out as well. I generally make sure to welcome new people, and PM them to see if they have questions, and to reassure them because IRC can be really intimidating for some people, so if you guys want to help, that is definitely a good way.
As for the general negativity going on lately. Honestly, as much as I hate to blame Mafia for the negativity, I do think it is mostly because of it that some people are being so negative. Regardless of what we think, it rubs off on all of us, even in the slightest. Although, some people take it to farther extremes, we all need to be careful and keep what happens in Mafia, in it's place, and even tone down the way we can act in Mafia to begin with, because it gets really harsh.
One thing I've noticed just recently, is that people have been playing Mario Kart 8 a lot, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the chat is just filled with MK8 babble half the time. Mafia talk should also be in a separate channel which some of us have tried to enforce but failed. I'm not sure if there is a mod that can watch over the cellar/basement, but if there isn't, maybe one of the new/existing mods could do that? (you probably already thought of that) I find that sometimes the gaming talk in general can be a bit too much, ESPECIALLY for new users. They get completely turned off when games are going on in the IRC.
And again, I don't think that we can blame people for their negativity per say. I think that sometimes people are a bit too sensitive, but also that people can be a bit too harsh. There have been a few times (some recently) that I have seriously lost my cool and went all out on people, I'm not proud of it, but it is really hard to control sometimes when people can pretty much say whatever they want to you, and you can say whatever you want to them online.
A couple quick fixes for some of the negativity would be disclaimers in all Mafia games ensuring that people who are easily offended, etc. should probably steer clear, and enforcing gaming talk to switch to different channels, and even keep a single channel to use for certain events and/or Mafia games.
Hopefully with the new mods, some of this will be easier to do, and together we can help make this place more positive. I know for myself, I've some great friends, and love hanging out with people on the IRC. It's also great hanging out at the TBT Dance Party recently, which has had some really great turnouts and conversations.