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> Why do people prefer Discord to IRC when the latter is free, open source, and indexable? I am an IRC lover, it's a classic platform. But my classic IRC plat
by michaelt 2y ago
> Why do people prefer Discord to IRC when the latter is free, open source, and indexable?
I am an IRC lover, it's a classic platform.
But my classic IRC platform needs someone to host the server.
And it needs NickServ to add on the missing persistent usernames.
And it needs ChanServ to ensure opers don't lose control of the channel.
And it needs a bot so you can leave messages for offline users.
And it needs some sort of third-party image hosting and file hosting.
And you need something like irssi+screen if you want to see messages that arrived while you were away.
And you need to rename yourself to michaelt_afk when you're away.
And you need some way to block spammers and other unwanted bots.
And if your channel wants a browser-based option, someone's going to have to figure that out.
And you've got to take care not to reveal your IP address for DDOS by griefers.
And of course the normal ports might be blocked at work/school/college, maybe you'll need a workaround for that.
IRC has solutions for all these problems, but not particularly easy solutions. Discord/Slack/Microsoft Teams have succeeded by fixing all the weaknesses of IRC that we IRC lovers have been working around for decades.