Personally I went from IRC to Slack. As much as I like the IRC model (decentralized, open protocol) it just lacked so much that even the best client could not f

Personally I went from IRC to Slack. As much as I like the IRC model (decentralized, open protocol) it just lacked so much that even the best client could not fix. Practically speaking, Slack is actually really good. I enjoy using it. I think the progression you are seeing is just an IRC exodus followed by people looking for an minimum viable solution, which may or may not end with Slack.