
Ask HN: IRC channels you frequent? - kernelhax
What are the best IRC channels for programming, reverse engineering, networking? I&#x27;m specifically interested in networking&#x2F;hosting related channels, the channels I&#x27;ve joined are dead.
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fundamental
Just check out popular IRC servers (e.g. Freenode), search for keywords and
start joining some channels. Lurk for a while to see the tone and then get to
know people.

If you want particular recommendations from HN, it would seem beneficial to
search through prior posts since this topic has come up before. If you want
the best options for your specific domain though, it's likely going to involve
some investigation from your end to see which channels and which individuals
mesh well with what you're looking for.

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kawfey
IRC has, for all intents and purposes, been replaced by Discord. In other
words, a large number of communities I frequented have re-formed in Discord,
and are much more active.

There's still a few holdouts, but it's usually just 3 or 4 good-ol-boys who
haven't left the server for 12 years.

It's interesting to watch contenders like gitter, slack, mattermost,
riot/matrix, etc, falling to the rise of Discord, which was for gaming
communities but now it's like the reddit of chat servers.

~~~
ronsor
Discord is proprietary; and developers like IRC

~~~
akulbe
I'm a developer. IRC is _still_ the best to me, after all these years.

Social networks come and go. IRC is _FOREVER_. ;)

I've been on IRC for just shy of 20 years. It is still the network that
provides the most value and help, BY FAR.

~~~
zemnl
Relevant XKCD: [https://xkcd.com/1782/](https://xkcd.com/1782/)

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mindcrime
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17874061](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17874061)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479863)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17454009](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17454009)

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xelxebar
Freenode has a service that lets you search channel names:

    
    
        /msg alis help
    

for details. I used this to find all sorts of gems:

* ##binutils for linker/loader stuff,

* ##math usually has meaty content and knowlegdeable users,

* #ircdocs is great for irc spec and implementation stuff,

* #spacex and #nasa, just because, and

* ##kernel, ##physics, ##prolog along with many others.

Happy IRCing!

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lrhlrhlrh
#LRH on irc.efnet.org is easily the best IRC channel around

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elasticventures
Stopped using IRC as a place to hangout when I was 17. I'm 42 now.

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knolax
On tangential note, this post reminds me of a bizarre project by London Trust
Media[0]

[0][http://irc.com/](http://irc.com/)

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KiDD
I hang out in a ton of Freenode channels...

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webmaven
This should be an "Ask HN:" post.

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NinjaX
#python #pocoo #startups

