For sure! You could use something like IRCCloud to achieve the same thing, but as a tinkerer I wanted a solution that lets me own my data and is easier to use t

For sure! You could use something like IRCCloud to achieve the same thing, but as a tinkerer I wanted a solution that lets me own my data and is easier to use than an IRC bouncer. And I can provision new accounts to friends/family. But only my software dev friends took on that offer since Freenode/Libera is really the only reason to use IRC in 2024, and their channels are generally all programming-focused.