Slack client for the terminal

Slack addresses some of the problems, but not all:

> The lack of conversations/threading is really annoying.

Slack is arguably worse - they recently added threading (really comments that can go on a post - there is no nesting), but this has made me much more likely to miss any follow-up because messages are less visible than otherwise.

> By default there seems to be a lot of leave/join spam. I used IRC for a year before turning this off and it vastly improved my experience.

This is entirely client dependent, so not really a fault of IRC. Slack has the same option, it just defaults to not displaying it like clients as opposed to whatever IRC client you used.

> I think most clients don't save anything by default. When I reboot my computer and don't log in again, I miss messages.

Yes. I don't know the inner workings, but generally if you're offline on IRC you will miss anything directed at you. Slack definitely addresses this, and it is my favorite "feature" - it means that Slack is not good for only casual discussions. (Slack's search is my second fav, and there's nothing special about that, it just works well enough that I can usually find that comment I vaguely recall someone making within the last 6 months on one of the many channels I'm on).

I expect this is largely a client issue, though I also imagine that most IRC servers have a very limited amount of immediately available conversation. Remembering that you have direct messages waiting for you would require servers that reserve nicks. That's all guessing though.

- Having to use pastebins for code is annoying.

Slack allows for posting code in text, posting text "snippets" that can include code, and posting files that can be downloaded.

Overall your frustrations seem very reasonable, but from the sound of it you're "hanging out" on IRC channels that are being friendly for outside users to drop in and out, and for devs to have conversations that are considered temporary. Plus not having users post goatse pics or worse. Which means they aren't even TRYING to accomplish what you want. Hard to blame IRC in that case - those features aren't used even when available.

I'm not exactly saying "You just need to use IRC client X" as you predicted, but more "you probably just need to change a config and connect to IRC servers that are INTENDED to do what you want". Not wanting to go through that effort is fine, and I'm not saying Slack and other alternatives are worse or even equal for those tasks, but don't blame the plane for not flying when the pilot is making donuts on the runway.

I'm in multiple organizations, but some are against different email accounts, some use an external SSO and some don't. Were Slack to give a single login I would probably NOT be able to connect to the multiple workspaces I do now, which is a major benefit to me.

> A proper open-ecosystem solution

Not sure what you mean by "open ecosystem solution." IRC is literally just a few RFCs, a variety of server software, and a variety of client software. It's as extendable as you need it, and most networks have their own extensions already. Is that not open enough for you?

> IRC doesn't solve those problems; individual users solve those problems

As opposed to...? AI solving them? Do we need a corporation to hold our hand while we solve these issues? I'm not following what you're objecting to here. You're free to write and propose your own RFCs and extend IRC however you wish.

Disagree about barrier to entry.

I run an office hours chat for my online classes powered by IRC. I use KiwiIRC as the front-end.

Students need only the web address of the web page I want them to go to. When they get there, they need only a username.

No signup, no verification, none of that. They're online, getting help in seconds.

Individual public channels requiring nickserv registration and all that? that's another story.

But seriously - the barrier to entry to get started is this:

https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net/?##irc_can_be_ea...

Thanks for the feedback. I thought I had solved that with the "Why a New Unix Shell?" link at the very top, but I understand you still have to read a bunch of text to answer your questions.

My main goal right is to have sophisticated users try it and give bug reports. It's not ready for people to use as their daily shell (and that isn't even the primary purpose of the project. As explained in the FAQ, I'm focused on shell as a programming language first.)

Some people have tried it and reported bugs, but I could use more reports. So I suppose I could try to sell it a little more and maybe get more feedback. But overall I feel like it's gotten a lot of feedback and attention. I'll think about whether it makes sense to "sell it" more.

The other thing I would like is to attract experienced developers who have implemented VMs and programming languages. Most of those people are working on their own projects. But I think many of them understand my project and half of the blog posts are aimed at that audience.