randomguy2323Why do you use IRC?
American_JesusI don’t use it for a longtime, but if it works why change it. It good for realtime chat, you can use it on a potato and some. Matrix chats also have IRC bridges so all can be on same chat.
When you said you can use it in a potato you mean like self hosting ? Yes I heard about the bridge :)
Hosted or client, there’s IRC clients for everything, even on a Commodore 64 (csdb.dk/release/?id=197138)
Oh thats cool , how can I start on IRC?
Start by choosing a network, try something like Libera Chat libera.chat
You have some suggestions for IRC clients on their page, you can even use one on the browser. Browse the channels available, join, chat
Literally on a potato. It requires near zero computing power.
OverfedRaccoon 🦝I don’t think I’ve been on IRC since 2006ish. It was the gathering ground for my favorite private torrent tracker at the time. We had Internet radio and all kinds of fun stuff.
Before that, like back in the AOL days, there were chat-based filesharing rooms, where you would get a list of files, then request what whatever illicit goods you wanted via chat.
I’m not really sure what people use IRC for now, but it’s still active.
Thank you for sharing :)
People still do that on IRC actually. The only ones I know of off the top of my head are for ebooks though.
Building codes in my county require it pass inspections
? I am confused.
SummerIsTooWarmInternational Residential Code, another meaning of IRC
Oh good to know!
IRC is a simple interface that’s been well supported for more than two decades, folks have a huge selection of apps or web interfaces they can choose from. No it doesn’t directly support sharing pictures or anything like that, but for most chats all you need is basic text. It’s easy to build up a quick bot in several different programming languages and I’ve even written up self-running multiplayer games.
I considered switching to something like discord for the chats I host but it didn’t look like they allow that although there are some open source alternatives. What’s the deal with Matrix? Is there a reason you like it better? Can you easily set up a self-hosted server for it? (And for that matter, are there any connectors to link it to an existing IRC chat to allow for a smooth transition period?)
NaNIRC is so simple you can connect with a telnet client.
Matrix does have bridges to other services, including IRC, but I haven’t really gotten into matrix either. IRC has always been good enough.
I’ve heard Matrix is closer to Discord, but not quite as feature rich - with the trade off being open source. I joined the Matrix room for Jerboa development just to follow along, and then my home Matrix instance has a chat it threw me in when first logging into Element. I have no idea what I’m doing or even why I really joined, other than to check it out for myself to see what it’s all about.
It would certainly be nice to be able to directly share pics or multimedia content. I’m guessing Matrix supports that but I need to do some reading to see how much control I have over that. Like some rooms would want that but a common lounge room I would want to keep text-only. I suppose it’s time to start doing some reading…
Well Beeper is using Matrix and yes you can self host a Matrix Server. I haven’t tries IRC before might give it a try but I wanted to know what people mainly use for. Thank you for sharing :)
I’ve been doing some reading since this topic came up, and am currently working on building a VM with a home server. It certainly has potential for my purposes! I already have several questions so I figured just setting one up so I could play with it from the admin side would be the easiest way to see what I can do with it.
I’d love to learn how to get started with IRC and Matrix.
I am learning about Matrix because of Beeper and Element. Beeper is an all in one app that can bridge to telegram , WhatsApp , Instagram and even iMessage on an android phone. Really good stuff happening over in Beeper.
That sounds cool
It actually is very cool look it up in Google and it will blow your mind how awesome it is.
I put myself on the waiting list. Thx
ZenArtistBe cautious with how much data they collect and the security implications of giving access to these services.
Here's a thread on Beeper.
Thank you for the heads up but I will never use this app for sharing private information. Mostly memes and videos with friends.
Thunderbird is also a matrix client now!
Well, personally I use IRC to steal media, but I realise that’s not why you’re asking.
I suppose the reason people might use it for chat is that it’s been around a long time, so there’s clients (with endless plugins) that do exactly what people want, and it’s all simple, text-based often unencrypted stuff, so it’s easy to write bots for (that might notify you of something, for example)
jlow (he/him)You can’t steal, only copy digital things but I know what you mean ^__^
That’s literally not theft
How do you steal media if its not encrypted? :\
Blatantly.
aardMy irssi configuration is exactly how I want it for about two decades now. Why change something good?
May I ask what do you mainly use it for? Chatting? Group Chatting?
Both. Some work chats also are still IRC, but unfortunately less than they used to.
I also bridge whatever is possible into IRC via bitlbee. Unfortunately not that useful anymore, but looks like there’s now an active project to bridge matrix again, which probably can take over.
Holy shit. That’s a program I’ve not heard on a long long time.
katy ✨Misread this as ICQ and was going to say “because of ‘uh oh’; always because of ‘uh oh’”
Lurco de CandaciaAs others have already said, I guess it’s the repository of content. I watched Heat and Cape Fear for the first time yesterday, and then spent like an hour reading random threads about it. And I could have easily continued! And there are movies with an endless supply of huge threads, like Eyes Wide Shut.
This is just an anecdotal example that I just lived yesterday.
Don’t you have to be in the channel when things are sent to see them? Like you can’t go join a channel today and go back to read history threads? Right?
Usually no, unless you run a server or have a client constantly running and recording messages
Not on IRC unless they have changed things since 2012.
If you want a middle griund between IRC and matrix check out XMPP!
If you ever used twitch chat, that is IRC too
Because it just fucking works
I don’t care if it’s irc or matrix. As long as it has my content of choice
craigevilNo one I know uses Matrix or xmpp. IRC is simple.
willyaStopped using irc ages ago. Only use matrix for Lemmy admin chat.
Digital MarkMatrix, XMPP, etc. will all pass and be forgotten.
IRC will never die, and the channels on it are often useful. I suggest starting with libera.chat
Find a client you like. I’m on Mac, I tolerate LimeChat, Adium is “better” but I don’t use any other chats, which is what it’s for. There’s plenty of options. ircii is the classic.
There really is an XKCD for everything
Sky CatoNope xmpp is still going strong. I’ve been using xmpp over whtsapp for a while and I like it so much. You can even make a voice and video call. The best thingis it is federated just like fediverse
Anybody remember BitchX and the various scripts for mIRC? '90s IRC was edgy.
I fondly remember all the functionality Polaris offered, and because piracy was a big part of my IRC use, also Fserve. I made some extensions of my own to help with the typical IRCOP duties. Good times.
CumBrothI made several friends on IRC and got acquainted with a lot of people with whom I want to remain in contact. There’s no point in moving to another platform, especially since, as u/[email protected] pointed out, it “just works” and there’s a client for it on every platform you can think of. I have my own IRC bouncer (ZNC) set up on a server of mine. I have it tailored to my preferences, set it up to log all the conversations I care about across multiple servers, and I can connect to it from any device I own now or might own in the future - same exact experience on all of them.
AcidI used IRC daily religiously for 15 years, but around 2011 I just stopped and never got back into using it. The client of choice was Xchat.
Xchat with its sleek tab interface was the bomb
DoxinFor anyone reading along: That’s called hexchat these days.
In my younger years I used it to pirate stuff and back when I played counter strike, it was a requirement to have a channel for your clan to participate in matches on clanbase.org (rip)
Fuck I feel old… Good times.
I used to play counter strike too , but never got the chance to use IRC. Thank you for sharing :)
Matrix is bloated, eating VPS resources and it’s tied to Israeli Intel. Xmpp is better than bloated matrix. Besides I don’t trust matrix very much. Most of users use main matrix instance and don’t botherteo spread the servers to avoid centralization