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At the time of this writing, for instance, 27 different servers comprise the Freenode IRC network, one of the most popular and highly trafficked IRC networks currently operating. IRC networks, as with most other IT networks, are composed of servers. When you get right down to it though, in order to participate in IRC conversations all you need are four basic things: A network, a client, a nickname, and a channel.
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It's not that the learning curve is steep so much as it can be very difficult for new users to find the commands or accessible documentation necessary to perform relatively simple operations. As chat systems go, this one is not the most approachable for new users.
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The Freenode IRC network boasts over 50,000 different channels and over eighty thousand users, most of them dedicated to free and open source projects.Īt this point I must admit that at least some of the negative aspects of IRC's reputation are deserved. Mozilla's IRC network hosts thousands of users and over a thousand channels. The Open and Free Technology Community (OFTC) IRC network has nearly 2500 different channels.
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Whatever your personal opinion of IRC, the truth remains that if you wish to participate in open source software and communities, you will need to learn how to use it. Some of us (and, yes, I proudly count myself among this number) are more swayed by other facets of IRC's reputation: It is open to anyone. Whether this reputation is deserved appears to depend upon the experience and preference of the listener. Beyond that, it's just not as "shiny" or "usable" as more modern alternatives. The most commonly mentioned facets of IRC's reputation is that it is arcane and opaque to learn, with an online presence which is neither logged nor persistent by default. Software doesn't reach such a venerable age without developing a reputation. Its networks have forked-and then forked again-over issues of implementation and community, yet still it persists as a robust realtime chat option today. Through all of the realtime chat churn, however, the venerable IRC continues to perservere.Ĭreated in 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen (a year before Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web), Internet Relay Chat (aka IRC) has had a sometimes tumultuous history. ICQ, AOL | Yahoo! | Microsoft Messengers, Google Talk-and aggregators for them such as Meebo-dominated the online chat scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. MUDs (and MUSHes and MUCKs), BBSes, and the talk command allowed real- (or near real-) time chat as early as 1980. Yet this is an example of "everything old is new again." Realtime chat has been a cornerstone of online life since before the invention of the World Wide Web. These tools help support collaboration and communication among distributed team members as well as enable the building and management of diverse communities. From WhatsApp and SnapChat on mobile to Mattermost, Telegram, and Slack (among others) on all platforms, real time text communication is hot. Recent years have shown a resurgence in online chat technology.