Lately I've been going down a sort of "retro software" rabbit hole, and I remembered IRC was a thing.
I never used IRC very much, and found it quite hard to get into. But I really do want to give it a try.
Currently, my IRC client is Textual since it's a pretty good one for MacOS, though I want to use HexChat on my Steam Deck if possible.
So far I've met some pretty cool people, and I'm feeling motivated to keep returning! I hang out on Libera.chat, in ##chat.
I'm surprised by the amount of people who still use IRC. It makes me think: IRC will never truly die, will it? It's an open protocol. As long as computers and networks exist- IRC will always exist.
And that's fascinating.
IRC as a concept is just amazing to me. You can write your own IRC client in a 30-line bash script using netcat. That's just amazing. And no one person "owns" IRC-- it's completely decentralized!
I just wish more people used it. Hardly anyone knows what it is anymore.
If you wanna say hi, I can be found in ##chat in Libera.Chat under the Ratintosh nickname!
That's all I have for this post, it's a bit of a short one but I just wanted to let y'all know.
(c) 2026 Ratintosh