homehome Home chatchat Notifications


The Internet Relay Chat (IRC) turned 30 -- and it probably changed our lives

Remember the good old days?

Mihai Andrei
November 9, 2018 @ 4:30 pm

share Share

In the late 1980s, a Finnish computer scientist by the name of Jarkko Oikarinen had a really interesting idea: what if, using this thing called internet, people could write real-time messages to each other? Sure, we take that for granted nowadays, and it even sounds rudimentary (no video? no sound?), but back in the day, it was amazing. Oikarinen developed the venerable text-only solution in 1988 — and the world never looked back.

mIRC, the most popular IRC client — still available today, if you’re feeling nostalgic.

The first time I went online was 19 years ago. I went to a LAN cafe, the likes of which are long gone from most parts of the world, with my dad. I got the chance to witness the internet directly, for the first time, and my dad set up an email address for me (I still have it). I went on the Cartoon Network website as it was pretty much the only one I knew. But as I returned to the LAN cafe more and more, and ultimately had internet installed in our house, I found more and more things to do online.

Among them, I quite enjoyed something called the Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, and its probably most famous software client, mIRC. You could go to different chatrooms and talk to all sorts of people, which at the time was just awesome to me. Some rooms were geographical, like “London” or “Ireland”, others were themed like “gaming” or “sex” (which I may have just visited once or twice); some were crazy fun, others were downright weird. You could play games like trivia, leave messages, send files to your friends — in a way, IRC is the forefather of today’s Messenger. As it happens, the IRC turned 30 recently, cementing its status as a true internet legend.

[panel style=”panel-default” title=”Internet history” footer=””]IRC is an open protocol based on the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and, optionally, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. An IRC server can connect to other IRC servers to expand the IRC network. People could also use it to share files peer-to-peer.[/panel]

Thirty years is a long time for technology, and age certainly hasn’t been kind to the IRC. If you talk to someone who’s half its age, you’d probably struggle to explain just why it was a thing — but IRC is still very much alive. While your favorite channel might not be around, a surprisingly high number of servers and channels are still up.

But IRC’s golden days are almost certainly behind it.

Unsurprisingly, its userbase has been steadily decreasing for years. As of April 2011, the top 100 IRC networks served more than half a million users at a time. IRC usage has been declining steadily since 2003, losing 60% of its users (from 1 million to about 400,000 in 2012) and half of its channels (from half a million in 2003).

The IRC is, without a doubt a piece of modern and living history.

share Share

Streaming services are being overrun by AI-generated music

You've probably listened to AI music and not even realized it.

New Nanoparticle Vaccine Clears Pancreatic Cancer in Over Half of Preclinical Models

The pancreatic cancer vaccine seems to work so well it's even surprising its creators

Coffee Could Help You Live Longer — But Only If You Have it Black

Drinking plain coffee may reduce the risk of death — unless you sweeten it.

The Real Singularity: AI Memes Are Now Funnier, On Average, Than Human Ones

People still make the funniest memes but AI is catching up fast.

Scientists Turn Timber Into SuperWood: 50% Stronger Than Steel and 90% More Environmentally Friendly

This isn’t your average timber.

A Provocative Theory by NASA Scientists Asks: What If We Weren't the First Advanced Civilization on Earth?

The Silurian Hypothesis asks whether signs of truly ancient past civilizations would even be recognisable today.

Scientists Created an STD Fungus That Kills Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes After Sex

Researchers engineer a fungus that kills mosquitoes during mating, halting malaria in its tracks

From peasant fodder to posh fare: how snails and oysters became luxury foods

Oysters and escargot are recognised as luxury foods around the world – but they were once valued by the lower classes as cheap sources of protein.

This 200-year-old-condom in "mint condition" features erotic art and a striking message

This museum exhibit is a reflection of a turbulent part of European history.

Rare, black iceberg spotted off the coast of Labrador could be 100,000 years old

Not all icebergs are white.