Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#51

Post by briandoll » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 4:39 PM UTC

We've had a lot of great support requests and chats with customers on IRC (Freenode, #newrelic).

Like others have mentioned, it's great to have a few rooms open for projects/services you care about, where you can check in every so often and read the backlog. While some rooms are archived, I've never read them that way, but keeping IRC idling in the background can be a great way to keep tabs on things.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#52

Post by jzawodn » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 4:40 PM UTC

Of course.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#53

Post by abstractbill » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:09 PM UTC

Answering the question directly, enough people still use IRC that axod has built a sustainable business from a web-based IRC client (mibbit.com).

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#54

Post by melito » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:13 PM UTC

freenode for channels about opensource projects undernet for goofing off

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#55

Post by sofuture » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:13 PM UTC

spudlyo wrote: post #7

I hang out on a private IRC server with about 15 folks, mostly old friends of mine working in various parts of the industry. It's primarily a place to talk about geeky topics and complain about work.

My group of peers does the same thing. It's a pretty broad cross section of nerds (as broad as that can be) -- the channel is busy 8-5 weekdays and dead outside those hours. Basically, they're my virtual (and one physical) officemates.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#56

Post by chanux » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:16 PM UTC

The habit was fading. Thanks for reminding.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#57

Post by uggedal » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:23 PM UTC

notmyname wrote: post #33

jasonkester wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean you actually keep a chat window open all day long? Isn't that ridiculously distracting? I check my email twice a day, and HN the same. Anything else that could potentially distract me from what I'm doing gets turned off. I couldn't imagine giving random strangers the ability to intrude into my train of thought whenever they wanted.

I use an IRC bouncer to stay logged in to the IRC servers. I connect to the bouncer, which replays anything I missed on the IRC server while I'm not logged in to the bouncer.

If you have a shell account or a vps you could just keep running irssi or weechat inside screen or tmux.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#58

Post by rufugee » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:26 PM UTC

notmyname wrote: post #33

jasonkester wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean you actually keep a chat window open all day long? Isn't that ridiculously distracting? I check my email twice a day, and HN the same. Anything else that could potentially distract me from what I'm doing gets turned off. I couldn't imagine giving random strangers the ability to intrude into my train of thought whenever they wanted.

I use an IRC bouncer to stay logged in to the IRC servers. I connect to the bouncer, which replays anything I missed on the IRC server while I'm not logged in to the bouncer.

Can you share the name of the bouncer? Sounds like nice functionality...

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#59

Post by moobot » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:34 PM UTC

rufugee wrote: post #58

notmyname wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use an IRC bouncer to stay logged in to the IRC servers. I connect to the bouncer, which replays anything I missed on the IRC server while I'm not logged in to the bouncer.

Can you share the name of the bouncer? Sounds like nice functionality...

I personally use ZNC and I love it.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone still use IRC?

#60

Post by chanux » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 5:35 PM UTC

rufugee wrote: post #58

notmyname wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use an IRC bouncer to stay logged in to the IRC servers. I connect to the bouncer, which replays anything I missed on the IRC server while I'm not logged in to the bouncer.

Can you share the name of the bouncer? Sounds like nice functionality...

I'm using bip IRC proxy and I have no complaints. (couldn't get secure connection working with freenode the last time I tried it).