exactly what wrs said. I run znc on a small VPS instance that is always running, always up, so I don't have to worry about keeping my connection to an IRC serv

exactly what wrs said. I run znc on a small VPS instance that is always running, always up, so I don't have to worry about keeping my connection to an IRC server open. ZNC (the bouncer) keeps me logged in to the IRC server, and I connect to ZNC when I need to be in contact with others.