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Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

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21–30 of 109 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

#22
I don't miss IRC much -- I actually miss the paragraphs-level chat systems with lightweight categories, like MIT Zephyr and Gale. They really encouraged deeper thought, in the way that an HN comment is often deeper than an IRC one, just by virtue of having more time to collect your thoughts and then getting to attach them to the right place. It's surprising that nothing like those systems lasted.

I also miss ytalk, which shared each character you typed as you typed it. I used ytalk with my spouse a lot while we were dating.

Re: Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

#23
I don't miss IRC, since I still use it, but I miss certain channels. I swear every linux related channel I go into is full of a bunch of a-holes. 20 years ago I got a lot of help (and I hope provided a lot of assistance myself) in #linux and others, but now it feels like I'm offending a channel when asking for help.

Re: Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

#24

I was born in the 90s so I never used IRC outside work. I used it for work on a daily basis until a couple weeks ago, and I hate it with passion. The vpn drops and you miss messages. You are offline you miss messages, don't want to miss messages? set up a relay (seriously?!). Now I'm on a team which uses slack, and I miss how lightweight hexchat is, but in terms of being able to use it my phone and having something t…

You can use slack via weechat. It works pretty reliable. Better not use slack though but an open protocol.

Re: Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

#26
I still use it daily after nearly 30 years, though the main channel I'm on has dwindled from hundreds active during its prime to just a handful.

While I miss the people that has moved on over time, I must say Discord feels like a fine replacement for me in terms of functionality. I use Discord for a few technically oriented things and those places give me the same vibe IRC did back in the day.

Re: Ask HN: Do You Miss IRC?

#30
I miss having it as a resource though I use it every day. You used to be able to find kernel devs and contributors on #kernelnewbies, now I ask an actual question that isn't a simple Google and I get flatline response.

I do still use it for some communities, our LUG, a few Foss projects and the catv people

Netsplits still suck, nickserv constantly forgets me, but overall it works.

And yes, irssi is still the worst and only irc client I use

Most bounce problems can be fixed with a screen session on your VPS you already use to host stuff.

Upsides include great logging, idle chitchat and a chance to real time communicate ideas and hash ideas out when a ML doesn't work

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