IRC still popular?

[jennybrew]

Is IRC still popular?
Given Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, etc, etc, does anyone still use IRC?
I was quite surprised to see my boyfriend has a client installed on
his laptop and on his desktop machine too.
I thought it had almost died the death just a few old school hackers still using it.
Anyone here use it?

[nice_like_rice]

Yes! I would say it's still very popular! It's a completely different experience to the other instant messengers. And it's awesome :)

[Paqman]

You'll find a ridiculously disproportionate usage of it amongst open source geeks. Amongst the general computer-using public most probably haven't even heard of it.

[CharlesA]

You'll find a ridiculously disproportionate usage of it amongst open source geeks. Amongst the general computer-using public most probably haven't even heard of it.
^ What they said.

[mips]

^ What they said.

+1

I don't have a computer without X-Chat installed.

[madjr]

Is IRC still popular?
Given Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, etc, etc, does anyone still use IRC?
I was quite surprised to see my boyfriend has a client installed on
his laptop and on his desktop machine too.
I thought it had almost died the death just a few old school hackers still using it.
Anyone here use it?

well, where else will you find good real time chatrooms? those other chats are definitely not...

maybe there will be a good substitute one day, some have tried and failed (like those flash based resource hogs..), so for now, hmm.

i think one major reason it's popularity went down is because people get their mp3s by other means...

well before they were used for everything, even more than the web

[uRock]

+1 more to Paqman's response. The IRC is sometimes a great option if you want help immediately with a common issue.

As for Yahoo and MSN chat, I have not used either of them in years. The spam they get is ridiculous.

[Grenage]

Is IRC still popular?
Given Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, etc, etc, does anyone still use IRC?
I was quite surprised to see my boyfriend has a client installed on
his laptop and on his desktop machine too.
I thought it had almost died the death just a few old school hackers still using it.
Anyone here use it?

I rarely use it these days, but that's only because I don't have the same amount of free time to idle around chatting. It's a good medium for sharing files and leaving messages with people.

[Bölvaður]

I would say it's not popular. But I do have xchat installed and had to use it when I was looking for practice wars in Call of Duty 4, or when I was playing in some cups I had to go to a special irc channel to talk to admins and the enemy team before a match.

But yes, the IRC is dead. When I was using it around 200 there would be so many people on all types of chatrooms, but now when I go onto the same channels they are either dead or with very few people.... but active people that seem to know each other pretty well by hanging out there.

[gnomeuser]

I use IRC every day, primarily because it is a great center for the Banshee community but since it is open, why not also chat for fun.

[Johnsie]

I used to use IRC to help me when I was learning Ubuntu. I don't really have much use for it now that I'm a bit of a veteran. I also used it in the 1990's. Before all the instant messengers came out that was one of the few ways to talk live to people. I would consider myself to be an internet hermit now. I make a few posts on this forum and then usually spend the rest of my computer time working on programming projects. I think Ajax has pretty much ruled out the need for irc.

[nothingspecial]

I'm logged into #ubuntu and other channels 24 hours, but I probably spend 5 mins a day checking for messages and I'll probably answer one question. That's it.

[jennybrew]

So its mainly used for technical questions etc ?
I hardly ever use any social networks now as its got ever so boring.
When we were at school everyone used MSN every night but I think you grow out of that stuff.
Then it was sending millions of texts to each other ..but you grow out of that too.
Maybe Ive turned into a hermit too. :)

[Random_Dude]

I used to go there in the very early 2000s, but soon after people start changing to MSN.
I loged on one or two times recently just to get the experience, don't use it anymore.

However, I find the cult around IRC very interesting. It reminds me of the days when you had a dial-up connection and everyboady complained when you were on-line because they wanted to make a phone call. :D

I wish it was as popular as it once was. :(

Cheers :cool:

[scouser73]

Yes, IRC is popular....well among the people I know who use it and that's quite a few.

[lisati]

+1 more to Paqman's response. The IRC is sometimes a great option if you want help immediately with a common issue.

As for Yahoo and MSN chat, I have not used either of them in years. The spam they get is ridiculous.

Agreed. On the rare occasions I log into Yahoo's webmail these days, there's often messenger spam that needs to be deleted.

[wojox]

This is just #ubuntu