💾 Archived View for gem.saayaa.space › gemlog › 2024-07-26-irc.gmi captured on 2024-08-24 at 23:58:38. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-08-18)
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I've never used IRC before and constantly reading about it here and on the fediverse has me itching to check it out. I grew up in the MSN Messenger era, however, my parents wouldn't let me use it until it was on the tail-end of it's popularity.
I have my own XMPP server and account but I have no one to talk to on it. I also have a Matrix account to talk to some people I met online, but it's like 1 or 2 people and not very often.
My IRL circle of people are very normie and not at all interested in the things I'm interested in. I got them all onto Signal the years, and I think that's as far as they'll go with me.
I might explore IRC as a lurker for a bit just to see what kinds of conversations are going on over there and if I would fit in.
I've been thinking about IRC more as I've been watching more Twitch as of late. All these content creators have Discord servers that they use to interact with fans. I'm sure Discord has a number of features and benefits for these creators, but I'm always thinking about whether there is a FOSS alternative that can used. Matrix seems like the closest close 1-to-1 option in terms of features, but from what I've read about trying to run a server it seems like a massive headache.
That's where IRC has kinda joined the fray in my mind. Where a lot of interaction is simply text-based, why can't a content creator use IRC as the meeting place for fans? From what I've read you can create rooms and there are a number of operations and bots you can use to control things. I'll definitely get a better feel for whether this is even feasible after using it myself, but I'm hopeful.
The biggest problem, like most things, is getting people to use something they're not used to. All I know is if I decided to become a part-time content creator and by some miracle I had people following me, I'd probably look at IRC as the place to create that community.
Like they say, be the change you want to see.