Do you remember IRC?

[neongod]

I grew up on IRC and I found a community and real life friends there who I'm still in contact with 20 years later. I stopped using it when most people disappeared with the rise of IMs, then the social media, but recently I returned. Now it's different of course, but surprisingly people are still using it. It's much less crowded and maybe with all the noise online, it's a good thing.

My main issue was that I couldn't make it fit into my daily routine. That you're only 'there', when you're connected and if you turn your computer off or it goes to sleep, you get disconnected. Then I bought a RaspberryPi (for other reasons) and found that there is an IRC client called The Lounge. It runs locally and provides a nice web IRC interface you can use both from your computer or your phone. As my RaspberryPi is always on, I stay connected on IRC even if my laptop or phone is off, and I can read back the chat history or reply to people whenever I have time. It's perfect.

[xXWebMasterXx_Gina]

While I never had any real experience with IRC, it is something I'd like to learn more about! These kinds of things are fascinating to me, and more practically; as the modern web becomes more inhospitable, looking back on how things were done in the early days of the internet is invaluable! There's also maybe the cool factor too  >_<

Without even knowing, Clonk and Worms, two games with lots of similarities, have a built-in IRC Client for organizing games.

Speaking of cool factor; the (Hollywood esque) hacking simulator game, Uplink, also included an IRC client in the form of an optional upgrade! I think it was primarily meant to serve as an in-game way to ask for advice from other hackers (players) but you could also just connect to any other IRC channel.

[SilentHope33]

I remember using it as a kid, and talking about video games, comics/manga, anime, and tv shows. I don't remember a lot of stuff about IRC from my days as a teen, in the late 90's/00's but I do remember making friends and having them added on instant messenger. So there's that, but now thinking on that stuff it wouldn't hurt to go back to that stuff as the net has become toxic with hostile politics and such...

[BagelCake]

remember irc? i'm still using irc and that's actually how i found out about melonland lol
good memories hanging out in irc rooms on and off through the years

[virtue]

I actually did use IRC for a bit with the free trial of mIRC, and i remember messaging the linux chat about methods to install linux, and they suggested i make a boot disk. There are a lot of servers to choose from as well

I found this one specific support channel and everyone in there was the biggest asshole ever so everyone just got support in the general chat someone else made for the project. Lol, Lmao, Rofl even

[Misanthropic Monster™]

I believe IRC was the first chat programme I ever used back in the '90s!

[kzuich]

I remember using IRC a lot for finding scanlations- that was basically how groups distributed their releases back in the day. I didn't really use it socially though. ^^; Sometimes I'd chat with people I met and we'd email each other and the like, but for the most part, I was just using it for yarr-harr things. :P

[Junebug]

IRC was before my time, but I've had an interest in using it for a while. I just don't know what I'm doing, so I'm not sure how to start. I've got Thunderbird for email. It's got an IRC client. I click around in confusion, hoping understanding will simply descend upon me, but no such thing occurs. Maybe this is a serious RTFM situation, but I recall last time I did it I was confused. Maybe I just need to repeat the attempts? Not sure.

[Memory]

@Junebug: Can recommend Xchat as IRC client on Windows 98. On Linux systems, Hexchat is a fine one, which has a pre-configured list of IRC network channels. The older clients might lack some newer servers in their lists though, like libera.chat, which succeeded freenode for example. Those need to be typed in by hand then. But the rest should be one click away to join.

[Junebug]

@Junebug: Can recommend Xchat as IRC client on Windows 98. On Linux systems, Hexchat is a fine one, which has a pre-configured list of IRC network channels. The older clients might lack some newer servers in their lists though, like libera.chat, which succeeded freenode for example. Those need to be typed in by hand then. But the rest should be one click away to join.

Thanks, I'll keep those in mind.

[xwindows]

Do you remember IRC?

Unlike what the question implied: IRC is not a "distant past" for me-- quite the opposite really; as I will elaborate.

I have heard of IRC from historical perspective nearly as long as other instant messaging protocols (15+ years) and some time later from technical perspective (10+ years), but never really used it: I have never been into instant messaging that much. My prior experience of such interaction with IRL family and acquaintances via MSN Messenger, as well as XMPP (third-party client connected through Google Talk network) were short-lived.

I am an introvert-- a pretty far off one in the spectrum, in fact: I simply have no interest in the kind of chitchat which ordinary people would like to have.

But my disuse of instant messaging changed in 2020: I decided to join a "Unix club" (1) for a web space to publish things in separate from my real-life identity (2), as well as an associated pseudo-anonymous email address. That particular club also have IRC chat facility which is not just a chat parlor for this club, but also link other similar clubs together. (3)

As I have my small housewarming gift on the occasion of joining (4), I connected to IRC there using on-site TUI IRC client (Irssi) running under SSH session to the club; just to greet and hand out that gift. Despite knowing some parts of the protocol from technical standpoint and had a one-off use before that, I started using IRC as a newbie in 2020. And things kind of snowballed from there...

(I shouldn't disclose too much details here, but I ended up hand-bolting my IRC setup to allow thorough monitoring of all IRC channels in all IRC networks I was in, both visual and auditory-- more elaborate than what many actual IRC server administrators (5) would have; which pushed me to a condition that could be called addiction at one point... I had to force myself to cut down my usage since then)

So today, if anyone from the Internet asked me what instant messaging "platform" I'm on (6), I confidently reply: IRC (7)

Like I said at the beginning, IRC is not my past memory-- I didn't grow up with it; it is rather my recent and present experience in the realm of Internet-based instant messaging.


(1) In-circle term for this is "pubnix" (PUBlic-access uNIX system).

(2) Not for learning Unix-like system or any other "cool factor", I already use GNU/Linux as a daily driver. But since I'm a wielder of command line power, having access to server-side command line for file management is considered a quality-of-life feature.

(3) You may have heard of a term "IRC network". IRC don't necessarily have to operate as a lone server; within stringent set of requirements (usually same brand, version, and configuration of IRC server software), multiple servers with different operators can federate, forming an IRC network-- which share channel namespace and screen name namespace; people can connect to one server in this federation and talk 1:1 to any others, or discuss in broadcast fashion in chatrooms ("channels"); regardless of which server in the federation that each participant came from.

(4) It was a freely-licensed manifesto "postcard" artwork.

(5) People would remember an in-circle term "IRCop" (IRC OPerator) for this.

(6) Protocol and data format instead of "platform" and "app", please.

(7) But if anyone in real life asked me the same question, I answer: I'm not on any. I mostly keep identity circle on IRC separate from real life.

[garystu]

I remember IRC, but I rarely used it. Not a fan of chat rooms.

Some forums would have a companion IRC, like how some forums have a companion Discord nowadays.

The fucking forum drama when the IRC logs got leaked, it really has been replaced by Discord in every way.


I think there was Freenode drama. a few years ago, but more recent that you'd expect IRC drama to occur.

fake edit: its on Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode#Ownership_change_and_conflict


God this reply is so catty and gossip-y I'm So Sorry

[Catonator]

I still use IRC, and with the recent bans of Discord in Russia and Turkey, there's more reason than ever to use it. It's kind of wild that despite over 35 years of technological progress, the IRC method of an open protocol implemented by servers and clients alike hasn't really been superceded yet. The best kinds of chat servers are the ones you can own yourself.

Maybe my only complaint is that IRC never really had visual standardisation, and as such most clients are both a little weird and a little clunky to use by modern standards. Most IRC clients today could probably implement some sort of image embedding or link highlighting or such.

My main issue was that I couldn't make it fit into my daily routine. That you're only 'there', when you're connected and if you turn your computer off or it goes to sleep, you get disconnected.

I think I actually prefer this kind of method. It's more akin to joining a friend group and chatting about something inconsequential. Discord's long term message storage and reply features tend to cause people to flock over there instead of posting onto forums instead to make threads and other longer-term discussions about meaningful topics. IRC encourages a more casual atmosphere.

E: Clarification