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Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

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Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so hear me out: I'm a young dumb kid, and I just don't get irc. I'll join a supposedly active irc channel for something I'm working on, do whatever the channel wants as far as registering, etc. Once I'm in, nothing. No one seems to be chatting about anything, the only messages I see are logging people joining and leaving. One time I left an irc client open for hours and i finally saw some other human asked a ques…

This is my experience on irc today as well. It’s dead. I used to keep a few channels open at work all day long in 2007. #j2me, #java, #c. The conversation was active with no more than a few minutes of silence at a time. People would say good morning at the start of the day, goodbye at the end, they would talk about their weekend. It was like a virtual break room where you could ask tech questions (except #c was hosti…

It's totally not dead. I've thought for years that IRC is underrated now. I'd much rather participate in an IRC channel than something like, say, Slack. Active channels come and go. Some legacy channels are better than others. Some of them die and people move on to next level, more obscure channels. I just mentioned as an example in a comment above my experience in #python on Freenode which has been overwhelmingly active and positive. You also need to consider when the channel is most active, it's usually gonna be late afternoon and evening in US and European time zones. YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#33
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just over the past couple days: https://i.imgur.com/WUFiL18.png I wouldn't call it dead at all.

where/how do you connect to these rooms? I would love to hang out in the #linux room

The channels from his screenshot are on Freenode.

Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#34
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so hear me out: I'm a young dumb kid, and I just don't get irc. I'll join a supposedly active irc channel for something I'm working on, do whatever the channel wants as far as registering, etc. Once I'm in, nothing. No one seems to be chatting about anything, the only messages I see are logging people joining and leaving. One time I left an irc client open for hours and i finally saw some other human asked a ques…

Some people have amassed a collection of channels throughout the years that were probably pretty active in the past, but aren’t anymore. Some people like me might notice this and remove them from my autojoin list while others won’t care since idling in a channel is a pretty negligible performance hit.

I think that's accurate. People who think "IRC is dead" are probably in the wrong channels and need to invest a little time updating their autojoin list.

Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#35
I had similar feelings a year ago and wanted to setup a “diet” for my mind; I’d only allow quality information, opinions to enter my mind, not just random stuff.

Firstly, the best way to access/find valuable knowledge is still books. Then, I have Freenode open in background for technical conversations, and also follow some good quality podcasts in non-technical subjects; from history to art.

If I got a question, I either ask in Freenode or ask trustworthy people by e-mail.

No social media. No news websites (except HN).

I’m a lot happier with this set of communication and information channels.

Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so hear me out: I'm a young dumb kid, and I just don't get irc. I'll join a supposedly active irc channel for something I'm working on, do whatever the channel wants as far as registering, etc. Once I'm in, nothing. No one seems to be chatting about anything, the only messages I see are logging people joining and leaving. One time I left an irc client open for hours and i finally saw some other human asked a ques…

This is my experience on irc today as well. It’s dead. I used to keep a few channels open at work all day long in 2007. #j2me, #java, #c. The conversation was active with no more than a few minutes of silence at a time. People would say good morning at the start of the day, goodbye at the end, they would talk about their weekend. It was like a virtual break room where you could ask tech questions (except #c was hosti…

2007 EfNet #java was an absolutely magical place.

Honestly, I think things started declining when the original jjava bot got wiped :( RIP, jjava.

But yes, IRC channels in those days didn't take kindly to questions from people who didn't bother reading the docs, and imho that was a very good thing. Nobody properly learns by being spoonfed.

Re: Ask HN: Where do the real hackers hangout?

#39
post #3

mostly (and still) on the un-encrypted IRC :D

Ok, so hear me out: I'm a young dumb kid, and I just don't get irc. I'll join a supposedly active irc channel for something I'm working on, do whatever the channel wants as far as registering, etc. Once I'm in, nothing. No one seems to be chatting about anything, the only messages I see are logging people joining and leaving. One time I left an irc client open for hours and i finally saw some other human asked a ques…

1. Run a bouncer - this is a program that will log messages and keep you aware of conversation when you aren't actively connected (really the bouncer stays connected and you just connect to it)

2. Most channels have a time of day when they're alive. That may not be when you're in them.

3. Turn off/Suppress the join/leave messages in busy channels. You'll be happier.

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