1. But isn't that sort of the point? IRC as an ecosystem has had years to get its act together. Like many corners of the tech ecosystem, perverse incentives have frozen IRC's progress. The very things that Slack, Hipchat and others have exploited are the things the old guard IRC users love. Opacity, terminal interfaces and a total lack of accountability are exactly what many IRC users find alluring.
2. Using cloud services in exchange for contributing to aggregate data seems like a pretty clear understanding of personal value.
2. Using cloud services in exchange for contributing to aggregate data seems like a pretty clear understanding of personal value.