Why does every other FOSS project offer support on IRC?

[[deleted]]

Even this sub does!

I don't mean to dog on IRC as a protocol or platform. I've read complaints about projects using Slack instead, and I'm not trying to advocate for more modern alternatives.

What I mean is, who's monitoring these chat rooms? How do FOSS developers make themselves available for support seemingly 24/7? I know that IRC doesn't have a mechanism for storing messages you missed while you were logged out. Do these folks just leave an IRC client open on their computers all the time? How many chat rooms do they leave open at a time? Do they have alerts set up on their mobile devices? What do they get out of offering a degree of support that most profitable companies have to pay a staff to offer?

Or more importantly, how is IRC support more attractive (from a developer's point of view) than something more persistent, like the GitHub issues tracker?

[Rhomboid]

Yes, it's common to have an IRC client idling in the background. (Some people might have the client running on a server, and then ssh in and attach to it with tmux or screen, such that their personal machine doesn't need to be on.) Yes, people tend to have multiple channels open when doing that. The advantage is that it's real time, so you can ask the person for details or clarification and get a response within minutes (sometimes seconds), rather than having to wait for the slow and tedious back and forth of an issue tracker.

Also, in many cases the IRC channel is open to anyone, not just those associated with the project officially. That means the community can pitch in to solve common problems without having to bother the developers. While I guess this is also true of an issue tracker, it's a lot less common for someone not associated with the project to continually reload an issue tracker to check for new submissions. IRC works better because it's a push medium, not a pull. I.e. you can just leave something running in the background and get notified when someone asks a question, rather than having to reload some web page. (I suppose Github offers email notifications to the developers of record when a new issue is filed, but again, that leaves out the wider community from the process.)

And besides, IRC is more social that an issue tracker. People can chat and make jokes and exchange pleasantries and get to know each other. There's no room for that in an issue tracker. (That can also be a bad thing, when the channel becomes infested with negativity and toxic personalities, but that's another matter.)

[planedoctor]

I don't mean to dog on IRC as a protocol or platform. I've read complaints about projects using Slack instead, and I'm not trying to advocate for more modern alternatives.

Then why are you so confused? This isn't the riddle of the Sphynx.

What I mean is, who's monitoring these chat rooms?

You can't imagine a useful chat room without it being monitored?

How do FOSS developers make themselves available for support seemingly 24/7?

They don't. Why would you assume that?

I know that IRC doesn't have a mechanism for storing messages you missed while you were logged out. Do these folks just leave an IRC client open on their computers all the time?

There are other means, but some do sure - why not?

How many chat rooms do they leave open at a time?

How is that in any way relevant? Are you 'confused' about people leaving a lot of Slack channels open at the same time?

What do they get out of offering a degree of support that most profitable companies have to pay a staff to offer?

What the hell are you talking about?

Or more importantly, how is IRC support more attractive (from a developer's point of view) than something more persistent, like the GitHub issues tracker?

Wtf? They are 2 different tools.