I have been following the elm community for quite some time now and I can share some of my observations of how things are handled here.
Community shifts are happening (google mailing list -> discourse) but no IRC is mentionned in http://elm-lang.org/community. The community is not big enough to be maintained in all places. Slack is great for instant messaging. It’s kind of the replacement of IRC in this community. For slower, more in depth discussions, or to summup slack discussions, discourse here is great. You can use reddit also if you prefer it over discourse but I tend to prefer discussions here.
Core language evolutions are handled mainly by Evan, which is a ton of work. So few things he is responsible for (like the website, the guide, etc.) often wait for new elm versions before being updated. The limitations of this approach are well known by Evan and core contributors. Reasons for this are not relevant to your question so I’ll skip. But the current state of elm, appearing as “unmaintained” is just a consequence of those design and collaboration choices. I can’t remember where, correct me if I have false memory, but it was also said that core team members are aware of those issues. Things will be better handled after 0.19 is ready. If there is something that I’m sure of, it’s that it (the community) is maintained with extreme care by people like Brian and other core members (have a read of this post to know more about them). Stick with us and you will realize this also.
Just an example of how careful decisions are taken: The transitions from google mailing lists have been much discussed in posts like this one that was back in January 2017. You will notice that, even though Evan was in favor of moving mainly to /r/elm, this community was created 10 months later and I’m very glad of it. You can also look at discussions like this one about which categories the discourse should have to improve exchanges here etc. There are tons of examples so I’ll stop here.
In sum, just bear with us while we wait for 0.19. Things will get better then, and enjoy 0.18 in the meantime which is great already. Go to slack or here if you have any specific question.