Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwawaycuriou | Hacker News Reader

Official motivation/anti-motivation: 'Conversations can have an increased sense of immediacy when participants are aware that others are in the process of replying.' https://ircv3.net/specs/client-tags/typing#motivation ... I need less 'sense of immediacy' in my life.

View on HN

Yeah one of the best things about IRC is that immediate replies are not expected. It has little immediacy and I like that.

Except for the noobs that plonk down a question and leave a minute later.

Hi cbm-vic-20

Same. I'm concerned that a leading IRC client that for its own growth reasons doesn't allow opting out of sending the beacon. Then you're left with an otherwise inferior client in order to participate. Or worse, a server that kicks you out if your client doesn't send the beacon.

Are you always connected? If not how do you receive the answer?

Yes, you just stay connected for a long time (idling). I run a bouncer (forward proxy for IRC, basically) on a server so I effectively stay connected 24/7 to all the channels I'm in, so asking a question, waiting a few minutes to see if someone answers immediately, and then leaving and coming back an hour or two later is totally normal (you could of course just keep your client connected, but my internet's not quite that reliable).

I'm the parent and yes like the other reply here I do the same. I keep a bouncer (Quassel in my case) connected 24/7 on a VPS.

Quassel is really nice, it's got infinite scrollback, multi-network, GUI configuration that is stored on the server, logs go into a database, and the desktop and mobile clients (QuasselDroid!) are really good. It brings IRC into this century without giving up what makes it so good. Unlike Matrix which is aiming more at the Whatsapp/Telegram/Discord community.

I use both mind you, but I don't integrate IRC into Matrix for this reason. I use Matrix just for the individual and small group chats and Quassel for IRC. Matrix gets too messy when you're on tens of different group chats.

Hm, I have the opposite experience of IRC. The thing I dislike about it is how urgent it feels. I prefer mediums with threaded conversations.

Don't your threads get lost by the channel's activity?

I really like Discord's implementation of threads as ad-hoc lightweight temporary channels. Putting them in the sidebar is a great idea, at least for how we use them.

They do but that's why people use highlights. Most good IRC clients have tickmarks in the scrollbar.

Ahh yes... was like xmass every morning when you first looked at your irc client !

Reply on news.ycombinator.com