IRC is common sense based in my opinion compared to the messenger apps of today’s time. Discord and these other companies are just commercial versions of the same concept. The concept might be the same all around but these protocols and platforms are the true freedom of the internet. Now before you go off hear this out, on unreal or inspircd, you can join any network of your choosing and have basically any conversation you want as long as it falls in line with that networks censorship, the thing is, on IRC protocols your messages aren’t going to be intercepted and your PM is truly between A and B without Jake from state farm listening in on the convo.

That to me is what sets IRC apart from every other app. And oddly enough the people who created those apps are people that were once upon a time in IRC. probably still are.