I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as IRC, is in fact, IRC/Freenode, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Leenode. IRC is not

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as IRC, is in fact, IRC/Freenode, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Leenode. IRC is not a complete social network unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning royal fiefdom system made useful by the chit server, the integrated bouncer and vital bulletin board servers comprising a full network kingdom as defined by Tower of Chats. Many IRC users connect to a modified version of Leenode every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of Leenode which is widely used today is often called "IRC", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the Leenode network, develope^Wpurchased by Andrew "rasengan" Lee. There really is an IRC, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. IRC is the protocol: the part of the system providing network connectivity between the users accessing it. The protocol is an essential part of a network, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete networking system. IRC is normally used in combination with Leenode: the whole system is basically Leenode connected via IRC, or IRC/Leenode. All the so-called "IRC" servers are really servers of IRC/Leenode.