Enter: IRC, Internet Relay Chat.

I had my first experience with IRC sometime in 2020 or 2021. I forget exactly how I had heard about it to be honest, but I do remember freenode being the first server I joined (and Weechat, a TUI IRC client, being my client of choice :P). I had a ton of fun and actually made friends?? Sadly I happened to join just months before everything fell apart though, LOL. I stopped using IRC when freenode went offline.

Around the time Discord made their age verfication announcement, I was reminded of IRC’s existence when @whitequark@treehouse.systems posted about IRCv3 on Mastodon, and thought I’d give it another go. I connected to Libera.Chat, joined a few channels, and…

…it is awesome.

Let’s mark today - Nov 8, 2026 - as the day that I felt old on the internet as someone discovered IRC in “2020 or 2021.”

However, all I want to say is - Welcome!

And now your watch begins!

Source: vulpine.zone