Yes, use it day to day for work chat. It’s nice in my case because by default people expect irc to have no history and no mobile support. This makes for a good balance. When you are at a computer you’re there, and when you are away you are away. Much more like an actual physical space with less of an assumption of “always on” than chat apps with tight mobile integrations (granted you can use irccloud or similar if you want that)
Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
111–120 of 254 posts
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#112All day, every day, for both work and social purposes.
Could you please share some social channels you find interesting for the uninitiated?
I think he means private messages but there is one tip I can give you that adds much to the experience: Stay logged in and use IRC like email exchanges on slow channels and in private conversations. IRC ofc does real time chat but the best stuff is even slower paced than email. If no one is talking for months it is perfectly fine to answer a question asked half a year ago. Logging in to dump a question then leave again 5 min later is a bit like removing your mailbox after receiving a letter or quickly switching off your phone after each call. Don't expect anyone to be interested if you use the web client.
Also, asking questions is fine but answering them is much better if you want to learn something. Other peoples q&a is just as useful. Lurking is fine. Just find the channel for every language and every tool you use and stay there forever.
Some channels have a separate #foo-social or #foo-offtopic place for [usually slow paced] interesting stuff that is unworthy of the main channel. Travel around, check out new places. Some are well hidden.
If you are truly a useful asset you get to behave.... uhmm... somewhat like an idiot.... don't go ask the biologists where the white stork gets the babies from on your first day.
Enjoy!
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#113Use it daily. ##math on freenode is not replaceable. I visit a few small ones now and then.
Not to go off-topic but I saw that article about PIA on the front page yesterday. Does that mean freenode will need a bit of hosting help from the community?
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
wee_slack.py (if you can create application tokens) works wonderfully for the same purpose. Since everyone is really pushing slack it makes my life easier to have it natively in my favourite IRC client.
How does it manage Slack threads?
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#115All day, every day, for both work and social purposes.
Could you please share some social channels you find interesting for the uninitiated?
No, the best part about them is that they're not known to the general public. If you spend enough time on IRC, you'll find your way into social channels naturally.
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I still find it the least "invasive" Doesn't it just broadcast your IP address pretty plainly?
Many of the IRC networks offer a "cloak" if you register your nickname, and of course it's trivial to connect via a VPN or via Tor (if your network allows it).
Side-note on the cloak: You'll want to make sure you're identified before you join any channels, or everyone will still see your IP. The best way to do this on networks that support it is to use SASL.
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#117I'm in a couple of tiny communities on IRC. There seems to be no growth potential, and when I've suggested switching to IRC in a work setting people look at me as if I'm mad, and starts hugging their webbased monstrocities filled with emojis and memory leaks, but I think I will always prefer IRC.
Even terminal based weechat is perfectly capable of rendering emojis.
emojis are old school, i don't use anything unless it has full gif support now.
Gotta have a way of putting up baby yoda sipping gifs when people ask how i'm doing
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#118I bumped into a guy I had just met on freenode, playing WoW Classic. He was using the same handle and starting the same conversations.. really I probably could have guessed who it was without the handle, lol- guy just has a certain tone and range of topics. It was nice to see someone IRC culture pushing moderated discussion in /trade, but it also illustrates why I don't spend much time on IRC anymore. So many people going in loosely predictable circles, and I'd be one of them, until some angry and drunk incel or political sock-puppet shows up to try out whatever misanthropic chat script. As if getting booted for being annoying and disingenuous is some kind of gold-star accolade. And for that to be the interesting part - ugh. I enjoyed IRC a lot more when I would have had a tall glass of whisky to go along with it. IMHO its still the best social network on the internet, too bad that isn't saying much. It's great for languages including the non-programming ones still, for sure. And reading that one russian guy tell stories about being a kid among the intelligentsia and politburo of the late CCCP era - wow I don't know where else I was going to get any related personal experience about that. Pretty cool.
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#119I definitely use IRC to communicate with users of open-source projects like Spacewalk or Fedora. Anytime I can't get decent help using forums or Google searches, I go to IRC and work with the community there. Works very well!
Re: Ask HN: Curious to know if people still use IRC?
#120I personally use freenode all the time. That's where I get the best advice and great tech support from many open source projects. In fact, when selecting an open source project, I consider it a serious knock against it if it doesn't have a freenode channel. I personally can't stand using Slack and am always disappointed when a project requires me to do so...