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I play on a RPI mud (with absolutely no channels) and personally I prefer not gettting to know the other players OOCly except in rare circumstances. I find that it helps me to keep my PCs IC feelings / actions separate from my OOC feelings. I really do think it reduces the amount of OOC cliques that appear too. On my old mud the ones who were yapping all the time on the global channel were the usually the same ones who banded together ICly and acted liked they ruled the place (which they did to a certain extent).
Tycho does have a point about seeing the 'nice guy behind the villain' but it can cut both ways. If, for example, I know the player behind a character I'm planning to hurt then I might end up pulling the punch so as not to hurt them OOCly. Horses for courses I guess - whatever you want it's out there for you.
If players want to let OOC considerations dictate their actions then there is very little that can be done to police that really. AIM, ICQ, etc. means that it's easy for players to organise OOCly, cheat or whatever. I think I'm lucky though as by and large the people that I RP with are mature enough to not carry grudges for long. Of course when you lose a beloved PC you're going to be upset and you might resent the other player for a while but you just have to look at it, as Tycho said, as another part in the story of the gameworld unfolding. If you find yourself really getting bothered about it all then walk away for a while - it's a game and you should be enjoying it! I've heard of people walking away from the mud I play on after a particularly traumatic death but they virtually all return after a short while ready for more.
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