daniel:// stenberg://The Serial Port made this lovely IRC documentary
(and yes, I got a "thanks" in the ending credits as I contributed with facts)
YouTube
Ville 'cos' R@bagder I was on IRC about 25 years, ~1995-2020. Lot of good memories. Now it's replaced by Matrix which is the modern successor for it, but I'm still on many originally IRC channels that have been bridged.
I've written some clients and bots, but the protocol itself isn't something I miss.. It's a product of late 80's.