IRC is amazing but it's hard to have persistent login, sharing of pics, threads, etc. These days I'd recommend matrix for a non-geeky but self-hosting audience.

IRC is amazing but it's hard to have persistent login, sharing of pics, threads, etc. These days I'd recommend matrix for a non-geeky but self-hosting audience. Definitely not something like discord that constantly tries to datamine the hell out of you. For IRC I use Quassel which fills in all the missing gaps quite smoothly but it's on the user to set that up. Thus it's not for everyone. At work we used to have irc servers around though because it allowed us to speak freely without HR constantly looking over our shoulders. But sadly the cybersec team hates these with a passion.