What is IRC—and Why It Still Matters

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It is a protocol that allows an unlimited number of people to gather in a text based virtual room. IRC was created in 1973 and later developed further for universities and (D)ARPANET. In 1988 IRC came to the modern internet. Because IRC is text based and has no media payloads, it is extremely fast and reliable. If the internet becomes spotty, unreliable, and slow, IRC Chat is most likely to survive the interruptions.

IRC servers and networks are federated, not centralized. IRC one of the only chat systems that is and will always remain free. Connecting to an IRC network is anonymous. The servers themselves encrypt the connections and any evidence of where you’re connecting from. If you want more privacy, you can connect using TOR which bounces your traffic all over the world and masks your IP and location.

With Telegram, Discord, TikTok, and all of the others, if the feds want your data, they will get it. IRC servers don’t keep your history. It is possible to register a nickname, and the network will remember that for next time, but registering a nickname is not required. It simply reserves your nickname for you only to use.

There are many ways to connect to an IRC network and server.

Use the #Collapse web client to chat within a browser
Use an IRC client. These are similar to dedicated Apps.

Here’s a few of the IRC clients that you can download and install to connect to IRC networks:

HexChat (Linux, Windows)
Konversation (Linux, Windows)
KVIrc (Multi-platform)
irssi (Linux)

Each IRC client (App) has its own way of connecting to IRC networks – different things to click on, and so forth. Basically, you’ll want to connect to the Libera.Chat network and join chat room #Collapse. If you have any issues connecting, just use the browser-based webchat client to join #Collapse and we’ll help you out. Also, you can check out the network’s help page right here.

Once in a chat room (like the #Collapse chat room), you can use several commands. All commands in an IRC chat room start with a /

/join – Joins an additional chat room
/part – Leaves a chat room
/me – Prints whatever you type with emphasis
/help – Lists all of the / commands
/away – Marks you as away from the keyboard

This chat room is very new, and it will take months for it to gain traction. Be patient; feel free to idle; feel free to post news; feel free to invite others.