IRC is still around and nothing has really surpassed it yet imho. We keep re-inventing the wheel.
this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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Eh, everything that tries to "improve" on IRC makes everything more complicated. I have a thelounge installation running that's connected to our small IRC network. When I want people to chat I drop them a link to it (maybe with a room name) and it drops them right in. thelounge has some improvements to stock IRC (pictures, videos, and links visible in chat), but some of the more advanced functions still demand an account (e.g. there is an inbuilt persistent buffer, but that one is only visible to accounts). I have it running under thelounge.wilderland.ovh and it will drop by default into the #welcome channel.
We also are running our own videochat servers with galène (for ttrpgs), but those don't have a persistent text chat
That sounds amazing, but if I were to self-host it, I'm kinda worried about how it deals with private messages (I didn't find it mentioned in the docs) - I would like to not have access to private messages.
I have no idea how IRC deals with that stuff. Soulseek has an IRC-like chat (I'm not sure if it's IRC or something else they created) and private messages are stored locally instead of on the server, which seems ideal.
That 'not have access to private messages' is the complex thing that requires encryption done well. It is extremely complicated to make available to non technical people. No perfect solution presents itself.
There's no way a single one of my friends would try irc. They call me a crazy grandpa for using Firefox.
IRC still exists, the closest FOSS IRC client to mIRC is KVIrc.
The closest thing to a modernized IRC is Matrix.
Bitchat maybe? Or that one in js, I think meteorchat?
I gotta move out of lemmy.ml. It took me a while to understand it wasn't "removedat" but "bit chat" :P
Well thats a pretty unhelpful automatic replacement lol
Dear lord, it even alters the URL. That is so wildly unnecessary.
Please tell me ML has a whitelist for the obvious ones.
Scunthorpe?
Of course not xD
The devs:
Is this not clear enough? Slurs are against our code of conduct and the goals of this project. Go to voat or gab if you want to use racist or sexist slurs; we don’t allow them here.
If you dont like it, fork it. Stop bothering us about it, we will never fully remove the slur filter.
https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/622
Gladly they eventually allowed instances to choose if they want this beyond useless filter or not
Interesting detail - the word filter is a per-instance side thing. On a foreign instance I can see the original word.
(I don't have a problem with the intent of the filter but I kind of expected that the s-thorpe problem had been fixed by now)
Bitchat is BT only?
Yes, its a ble mesh. No network connection, user account, or central servers, just proximity required.
Pretty popular as a protest helper app as well.
Ironically something like zoom might be right.
I can't say for sure they have persistent chat, but maybe something like bigbluebutton could work?
irssi with bitlbee connected to your msn and xmpp
I'd all but forgotten my old stomping grounds.
Define "account"? You'll need some sort of identifier. How many people are in this chat?
SimpleX
Briar
Signal
Session
Mattermost
Quiet
Etc. etc.
Back in the day your identifier was whatever name you typed in. On IRC you could put a password on a name to claim it so long as you didn't go inactive for too long (and then it would be free for anyone to take), but you didn't have to, and on many web chats you didn't even have the option. It was very common for people to change names frequently for jokes, RP, or setting a status. You didn't have a profile picture or friends list or any of that.
Define “account”?
Anything that requires being verified. I guess I'm setting an IRC room for now to see how it's goes
Ah, Signal is the only one above that requires phone # verification.
PeerSuite doesn't require an account and optionally lets you save chat logs in an encrypted file.
discord can be used without an account - until they kick you out demanding your phone number.
on matrix too you can have a guest user that works somewhat similarly, but most rooms don't have that enabled I think. I am not too surprised about that, no idea how could that be effectively moderated. it also needs client support but element web supports it
Email is lowest common denominator ofc.
These are the things to study and learn. We are in a world where there are many mother tongues, moving to a world where there are many chat apps.
SimpleX
DeltaChat
Scuttlebutt
I assume everyone has a phone number, so services like Telegram, Whatsapp, Signal are something most people have and if not it's trivial to setup?
My two anecdotal stories, my improv group organises through WhatsApp, and that has a very diverse group of people, many ages, many backgrounds. My school also organises events through WhatsApp.