internetarchive

As one of the most popular IRC (Internet Relay Chat) clients, mIRC helped shape the culture of real-time online communities in the 1990s. With a friendly interface and customizable scripts, it introduced many to the power of group chat and global conversation.

While IRC is less prominent today, mIRC continues to support a dedicated base of developers, hobbyists, and open source communities.

Explore the history of your favorite websites with the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/
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Jun 18, 2025 at 5:04pmWeb
Show threadinternetarchiveJun 18, 2025

IRC started in 1988 when Jarkko Oikarinen created a real-time chat protocol 🌐 It soon grew into major networks like EFnet (1990) and Undernet (1992), shaping online communities long before social media.

Here's a May 1993 memo by J. Oikarinen and D. Reed about IRC protocol that defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community: https://archive.org/details/rfc1459

Show threadRossSJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive I was on DALnet from about 1994 - 2001 using the mIRC client and had a blast...Op attacks notwithstanding!
Show threadPixel DunnJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive using and enjoying (not only on libera) :)
Show threadRhialtoJun 19, 2025
@internetarchive So does that rfc acknowledge its inspiration: the Interchat Relay Network on Bitnet, aka Relay? Its ui is a direct copy of how 3270 terminals worked with VM/CMS.
Show threadDHeadshot's AltJun 20, 2025
@internetarchive
RIP irc.foonetic.net...
Show threadTochJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive a lot of memories 🥰
Show threadAnita LewisJun 18, 2025

@internetarchive

Fond recollections of using IRC for a weekly Linux chat in the late 90s.

Show threadAnthony AcciolyJun 18, 2025

1/3 - @internetarchive I miss being a kid on mIRC. Before what most people today classify as social media, before ICQ, MSN Messenger, FrontPage 98, StarCraft, RuneScape, Napster, BitTorrent, or Stack Overflow. I was a kid fresh out of BBS discovering the “Information Superhighway” on a dial-up connection.

#IRC #EarlyInternet #FreeInternet #Hacking #Nostalgia

Show threadAnthony AcciolyJun 18, 2025
2/3 - IRC was magical. Folks would gather to chat about random things, ask and answer questions about the basics of coding, upload and download the latest bootlegged music from your favourite band, mess around with bots that still put some of the stuff on Discord and Slack to shame, and basically just hack and mess around. IRC is still alive and well, although it's not quite the same.
Show threadAnthony AcciolyJun 18, 2025
Maybe decentralised social media like ActivityPub and Nostr can be to a new generation what IRC was to mine. So, if you happen to meet some enthusiastic young folks joining your community, be as kind and helpful as you can. You might be helping someone take their very first steps on a great journey of hacking and building. And one day, they may look back on Fedi / Nostr with the same joyful memories I have about IRC.
Show threadJohannes Jacobs 🏳️‍🌈Jun 18, 2025
@internetarchive DALnet, IRCnet, DUTCHnet, been there, done that :) i'm still on IRC today!
Show threadWGJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive I still use MIRC. I even paid for the license long enough ago that when the license format changed, they creator had to send me a new license code because the old one no longer was supported, he was surprised someone who bought it that long ago was still using it.
Show threadVelkroJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive I used mIRC so much back in the late 90's. I loved scripting various bots to use in the channels I participated in. It actually got me interested in computer programming.
Show threadMᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢJun 18, 2025
@internetarchive It also happens to be how I met my wife. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary this week.
Show threadAleksei 🇪🇪Jun 19, 2025
@internetarchive mIRC scripts introduced me to programming 20-something years ago.
Show threadAleksei 🇪🇪Jun 19, 2025
@internetarchive I would still probably use mIRC if it was cross-platform.