I was exploring an obscure Linux distro when I noticed they’re contact page had an IRC client. You can connect to the IRC via Matrix, but the people there prefer pure IRC.

My question is do other programmers use IRC? Also why?

  •  Actual   ( @actual_patience@programming.dev ) OPEnglish
    2•11 months ago

    I’ll throw in an argument:

    Any company owned alternative can be seen as a bad idea. But what about open source alternatives?

    Unless you’re using a “bells and whistles” irc client, you probably don’t have chat logging. Replying to older messages isn’t really an implemented feature either. People just say the name of the person they’re responding to, but unless you have the chat history, you will be out of the loop.

    Compare that to Matrix which has all of this functionality. They’re close to Discord in design, but open source. A lot more features are built-in the software, server side. All the while not carrying the proprietary baggage of Discord.

    These features are not “necessary” for communication, but I find them pretty darn useful. So I’m just stunned that other people are okay not having these features.