I remember being contracted to build an XDCC search engine that would connect to IRC servers, get XDCC lists from bots and then put that list up on the web to make everything searchable in one place... it was my first "we don't host anything" defense and people did not know what to do with me
The real OGs did not use mIRC.
BitchX from a shell with a vanity hostname was a hard flex for sure
I had access to an invite only forum I don’t remember the name of but got access to it by word of mouth. It had Xbox games, movies, everything. No torrent, direct download. This was 2003-2004 timeframe. I eventually stopped using it but it was the best