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Comment by bsuvc | Hacker News Reader

I am sure IRC was good for some people, but I can say for me personally it was a net negative and real life was so, so much better. I wish I never used IRC.

I also personally witnessed multiple friends who dropped out of college due to IRC addiction in the early 1990s.

I am curious if anyone else has a similar memory of IRC.

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I met my wife on IRC and migrated to New Zealand as a result. Worked out pretty well for me/us, well over twenty years later.

QuakeNet in the 90s, I don't know what to say, thank you? It was high school for me, like, I got through high school, got into computers in high school, have great memories of that time: because of QuakeNet in the 90s. hackernews community is the closest things I've felt to that since then, but it's pretty hard to beat QuakenNet in the 90s.

Exactly the same.

I was also on some other servers, but QuakeNet felt special.

Depends a lot on where you were growing up, and what kind of community surrounded you. For me IRC and the internet at large was a salvation, but the 90s in my country of origin were... interesting times. Being on the internet was much healthier and much less hazardous than most of the things real life focused people in my age group were doing back then.

There are people on IRC who I've maintained contact with for longer than anyone I can think of off the top of my head aside from family members. Many now through other channels (thanks to the Discord wrecking ball), though some still on IRC.

Hard to say how many intellectual rabbit holes I've gone down as a result.

I can say for sure life would have looked very, very different without it.

> I also personally witnessed multiple friends who dropped out of college due to IRC addiction in the early 1990s.

I think there's always a segment of any population that will get addicted to anything, to the point of dropping family, friends, school, or work. Blame it on culture, nurture, genetics, unfulfillment, or simply lack of self control, but it always happens.

Blaming IRC, which is a pretty neutral outlet, is unfair. This is specially true today, as we have things designed and constantly honed to be as addictive as possible.

Perhaps it was the experience of irc which led you to appreciate real life so much more when you finally did engage in it

> irc addiction

How quaint

Touched a nerve I guess.

Care to elaborate?

I also knew people who had MUD addictions.

These were very similar to how in later years people became addicted to Second Life or EverQuest and essentially dropped out of society.

I don't know if there is a modern-day equivalent, to be honest.

Discord addicts?

League of legends and the likes today

Even though I really like irc because I can get answers really quickly from helpful people but it's a net negative I have felt if you linger on and listen to people conversing. IRC is good for short help needs but if you spend lot of time then it's net negative. I feel for the helpful ppl on various irc channels who are there to help out of their own goodness. They must be having a lot of net negative

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