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Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey
Internet Relay Chat turns 30—and we remember how it changed our lives
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) turned 30 this August.
The venerable text-only chat system was first developed in 1988 by a Finnish computer scientist named Jarkko Oikarinen. Oikarinen couldn't have known at the time just how his creation would affect the lives of people around the world, but it became one of the key early tools that kept Ars Technica running as a virtual workplace—it even lead to love and marriage.
To honor IRC's 30th birthday, we're foregoing the cake and flowers in favor of some memories. Three long-time Ars staffers share some of their earliest IRC interactions, which remind us that the Internet has always been simultaneously wonderful and kind of terrible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @01:12PM
naw, the people running and using IRC from the old times, fighting against "the man" have morphed into "the man".
IRC is now mostly run by "the man".
if you are careful to not upset "the man" running the #chan, then sometimes, in cracks or crevices you can discover the old spirit of
IRC but be very careful not to mention anything remotely connectable to "the man".
if you are lucky you get slapped with a "off topic" but mostly if that happens you're on the blacklist anyway and with all the MAN-datory registration, chances are slim to non that you'll get to grow roots in any IRC nowadays.
nothing lost, really, humor, which was the fertilizer of any good IRC chan (humor is never off topic) is in short supply anyways...