BitchX isn't that hard, it's got all the ircII stuff plus a few changes to how you do a few things. I used graphical IRC clients for years until I started working more and switched around devices too much. I'm not a fan of ZNC/BNC, so now I have a few VPS's for plex and storage that I just have irssi running inside of a screen and it works great.

I stopped using BX after a few IRC friends badgered me into switching to irssi and I haven't looked back. I'm on IRC every day and the VPS -> screen -> irssi config has worked for years, so I'm sticking to it.

> seriously though, not really, I could never figure out how to actually use that client

Wait, what?

That was what everyone in my 'hood was using, back in the golden age of IRC.