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Why IRC is better than Real Life (2000)

I am sure IRC was good for some people, but I can say for me personally it was a net negative and real life was so, so much better. I wish I never used IRC.

I also personally witnessed multiple friends who dropped out of college due to IRC addiction in the early 1990s.

I am curious if anyone else has a similar memory of IRC.

2 hours agobsuvc

I met my wife on IRC and migrated to New Zealand as a result. Worked out pretty well for me/us, well over twenty years later.

an hour agosquidsoup

QuakeNet in the 90s, I don't know what to say, thank you? It was high school for me, like, I got through high school, got into computers in high school, have great memories of that time: because of QuakeNet in the 90s. hackernews community is the closest things I've felt to that since then, but it's pretty hard to beat QuakenNet in the 90s.

an hour agoneom

> irc addiction

How quaint

2 hours agoObscurity4340

Touched a nerve I guess.

Care to elaborate?

I also knew people who had MUD addictions.

These were very similar to how in later years people became addicted to Second Life or EverQuest and essentially dropped out of society.

I don't know if there is a modern-day equivalent, to be honest.

2 hours agobsuvc
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2 hours ago

League of legends and the likes today

2 hours agodmbche
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an hour ago

Discord addicts?

2 hours agoJCharante

Even though I really like irc because I can get answers really quickly from helpful people but it's a net negative I have felt if you linger on and listen to people conversing. IRC is good for short help needs but if you spend lot of time then it's net negative. I feel for the helpful ppl on various irc channels who are there to help out of their own goodness. They must be having a lot of net negative

an hour agoGuestmodinfo

Perhaps it was the experience of irc which led you to appreciate real life so much more when you finally did engage in it

2 hours agocorndoge
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2 hours ago

Most of the real life friends that I still have today I met on IRC.

2 hours agogoshx

can't ride a netsplit to takeover and +m a huge channel IRL

2 hours agolacunary

This made me feel so nostalgic. I haven’t heard the term "netsplit" in probably 25 years. It’s amazing how things that once seemed so important get relegated not just to history, but sometimes to total oblivion.

Well, almost. Apparently, it has its own wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsplit

an hour agoboca_honey

Or CTCP PING users with cheap modems with +++ATH0

2 hours agobigfatkitten

damn right

2 hours ago_neil

This made me really nostalgic about mIRC. I miss Dalnet. The colors of IRC. How fast and reliable it was. The rankings of members and trying to build credibility with the community to move up in the channel.

Fun times.

an hour agoblondie9x

I had the same feeling and I had the same experience on DALnet.

an hour agobrandon272
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