I love the simplicity of IRC, and I'd use it every day if I found a community. The only places that I can find that are active are programming related (I am not a programmer) or piracy related.

Matrix, meanwhile, is complex in some places and simple in others all in the wrong ways. For all of its features, all major clients still lack the capability for video previews from links, something that has been a feature in forums for as long as I can remember now.