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I started using IRC when I was 12. I'm 37 now. I owe a lot to IRC. I learned a tonne from some good people, ran several of my own servers which led me to HTTP,

by movedx 5y ago

I started using IRC when I was 12. I'm 37 now. I owe a lot to IRC. I learned a tonne from some good people, ran several of my own servers which led me to HTTP, FTP and more. I stopped using IRC full time about five years ago when I realised it's basically dead. I also find that whenever I return to it today, it's mostly made up of kids (who missed out on the golden era of IRC) and grumpy, old arse-hats who are angry that their platform is dying out and has been reduced to a very small sub-set of (technical) users. I switched to Discord (here's my server for DevOps: https://discord.gg/devopslounge https://discord.gg/devopslounge) and Slack, but now I barely use Slack (the client is just garbage.) I'm happy to directed to a good IRC network with some good, well run channels on DevOps, programming, infosec and more. If anyone knows of any such places do let me know, but I'll not get my hopes up.

soupfordummies 5y ago
I’m just a couple years behind you and I fondly remember IRC, Usenet, forums ESPECIALLY. Looks like social media ate up a lot of the good online discussion-sphere. Thankful for HN because even my favorite subreddits are dying off these days.
superkuh 5y ago
>here's my server for DevOps: It's not your server. I hope you have everything backed up and alternate means of communicated with your community. Discord has and will ban you from their platform for things as innocuous as making bots for Team Fortress 2.
- movedx 5y ago
  OK Mr. Dramatic. I’ll be careful that my community about DevOps doesn’t make any TF2 bots.
- halpert 5y ago
  I honestly wish Discord deleted messages by default. I really don't want a record of my casual communication.
  - ziml77 5y ago
    Interestingly, one of the servers I'm in has people who feel the exact opposite. Some of them are upset that Discord doesn't allow them to download the entire chat history of a server. I think it's a good thing that it's not easy to do. Many conversations are better left as vague memories.
- nexuist 5y ago
  This FUD is not going to convince anyone to stop using Discord and IRC is not immune from this kind of childish meddling. Just a few months ago freenode underwent a hostile takeover and unlike most Discord communities, it is probably not coming back from that BS.
  - bluecatswim 5y ago
    To be fair that takeover was only possible because the owner of freenode sold the server to a malicious party which is only possible because you own the server, so that kinda reinforces parent's point.
    - nexuist 5y ago
      As a freenode user I have no say over who the freenode owner is, much like I have no say over Discord's moderation policies. It's the same puppet with different masters; neither situation really empowers me. Yes I can always start my own IRC server but if nobody wants to join it what's the point? 99% of the battle is getting people into the same virtual room.
      - petre 5y ago
        You usually own the domain, unless you sell out of course. So you can start wherever you want from scratch on your own or on leased infrastructure. People will connect to the domain/irc network. I'm not saying you should use IRC over Discord, but hey, that's how the web got centralised and why certain platforms have lots power: because people just gave it to them. If Discord decides to monetize by leveraging ads, good luck to you and your community.
        ziml77 5y ago
        You don't truly own the domain though. You rent it. You have to continually pay to maintain control over it. It also wouldn't be hard for the registrar to claim you violated their ToS and revoke your access to the domain (or if they don't think they can get away with that, then they can say that they failed to process your payment when the domain renews and then snatch it up instantly themselves so you can't get it back).
- tester756 5y ago
  >It's not your server. I hope you have everything backed up but who cares? who's going to read thru those 10s of thousands of messages where majority of them is just random talk? also Discord offers better privacy/security for end users than self-hosted alternatives
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
dijit 5y ago
I run a network still, it’s a social club but the majority of people are devops. ircs://irc.darkscience.net:6697/darkscience
- anthk 5y ago
  What's that channel about?
anthk 5y ago
Well, I disagree. ##slackware, #slackbuilds and so on are still a good site to learn and share knowledge. Discord and Slack are a disgrace.
unionpivo 5y ago
Discord is great. For now. I have been bitten so many times, by startups, offering exciting new features and of course great API's. People flock in, create great interactions, sometimes even better clients, etc. But thein it always comes, either buyout or IPO (or they just get big enough), and of course the inevitable post about how things wont change because they passionately believe in their vision and community. And then they change everything. Monetization, ads and of course removal of API's. I do use discord, in fact my biggest problem that between my "work" discords (programming, devops, various user groups) my hobbies, and occasional gaming group I have over 30+ servers, and it's hard to manage at that size. But I do not trust it, I try to not relay too much on it, because sooner or later it will go downhill. Currently watching slow rolling tragedy that is Reddit

by movedx 5y ago

soupfordummies 5y ago

I’m just a couple years behind you and I fondly remember IRC, Usenet, forums ESPECIALLY. Looks like social media ate up a lot of the good online discussion-sphere. Thankful for HN because even my favorite subreddits are dying off these days.

superkuh 5y ago

>here's my server for DevOps: It's not your server. I hope you have everything backed up and alternate means of communicated with your community. Discord has and will ban you from their platform for things as innocuous as making bots for Team Fortress 2.

movedx 5y ago
OK Mr. Dramatic. I’ll be careful that my community about DevOps doesn’t make any TF2 bots.
halpert 5y ago
I honestly wish Discord deleted messages by default. I really don't want a record of my casual communication.
- ziml77 5y ago
  Interestingly, one of the servers I'm in has people who feel the exact opposite. Some of them are upset that Discord doesn't allow them to download the entire chat history of a server. I think it's a good thing that it's not easy to do. Many conversations are better left as vague memories.
nexuist 5y ago
This FUD is not going to convince anyone to stop using Discord and IRC is not immune from this kind of childish meddling. Just a few months ago freenode underwent a hostile takeover and unlike most Discord communities, it is probably not coming back from that BS.
- bluecatswim 5y ago
  To be fair that takeover was only possible because the owner of freenode sold the server to a malicious party which is only possible because you own the server, so that kinda reinforces parent's point.
  - nexuist 5y ago
    As a freenode user I have no say over who the freenode owner is, much like I have no say over Discord's moderation policies. It's the same puppet with different masters; neither situation really empowers me. Yes I can always start my own IRC server but if nobody wants to join it what's the point? 99% of the battle is getting people into the same virtual room.
    - petre 5y ago
      You usually own the domain, unless you sell out of course. So you can start wherever you want from scratch on your own or on leased infrastructure. People will connect to the domain/irc network. I'm not saying you should use IRC over Discord, but hey, that's how the web got centralised and why certain platforms have lots power: because people just gave it to them. If Discord decides to monetize by leveraging ads, good luck to you and your community.
      - ziml77 5y ago
        You don't truly own the domain though. You rent it. You have to continually pay to maintain control over it. It also wouldn't be hard for the registrar to claim you violated their ToS and revoke your access to the domain (or if they don't think they can get away with that, then they can say that they failed to process your payment when the domain renews and then snatch it up instantly themselves so you can't get it back).
tester756 5y ago
>It's not your server. I hope you have everything backed up but who cares? who's going to read thru those 10s of thousands of messages where majority of them is just random talk? also Discord offers better privacy/security for end users than self-hosted alternatives
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

dijit 5y ago

I run a network still, it’s a social club but the majority of people are devops. ircs://irc.darkscience.net:6697/darkscience

anthk 5y ago
What's that channel about?

anthk 5y ago

Well, I disagree. ##slackware, #slackbuilds and so on are still a good site to learn and share knowledge. Discord and Slack are a disgrace.

unionpivo 5y ago

Discord is great. For now. I have been bitten so many times, by startups, offering exciting new features and of course great API's. People flock in, create great interactions, sometimes even better clients, etc. But thein it always comes, either buyout or IPO (or they just get big enough), and of course the inevitable post about how things wont change because they passionately believe in their vision and community. And then they change everything. Monetization, ads and of course removal of API's. I do use discord, in fact my biggest problem that between my "work" discords (programming, devops, various user groups) my hobbies, and occasional gaming group I have over 30+ servers, and it's hard to manage at that size. But I do not trust it, I try to not relay too much on it, because sooner or later it will go downhill. Currently watching slow rolling tragedy that is Reddit