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I use znc running on a slice. (http://en.znc.in/wiki/ZNC)

I've also heard of Bip (http://bip.t1r.net/), but I've never used it.

Thanks I started using ZNC since yesterday. Finding it awesome!

What exactly is "running on a slice"?

Slice = virtual server at http://www.slicehost.com/

exactly what wrs said.

I run znc on a small VPS instance that is always running, always up, so I don't have to worry about keeping my connection to an IRC server open. ZNC (the bouncer) keeps me logged in to the IRC server, and I connect to ZNC when I need to be in contact with others.

I use irssi-proxy, so I can both log in from SSH and write as well as connect via a local IRC client to it.

I personally use ZNC and I love it.

I'm using bip IRC proxy and I have no complaints. (couldn't get secure connection working with freenode the last time I tried it).