IRC is a community. The application layer has its own grammar, the way the web does. The IRC community is simply made up of different kinds of users of this com

IRC is a community. The application layer has its own grammar, the way the web does. The IRC community is simply made up of different kinds of users of this community application, separated by servers and channels. The way the web is. I don't think it lacks modernism, I think it's simply a different dynamic than 'modern' alternatives. (What is "modern", btw? What "new" protocol alternatives are there? XMPP?) It could be argued the web is a far more archaic, featureless, non-modern protocol... it just has fatter clients and dynamic server-side and client-side applications.