Interesting IRC Changes and Tools

Textual5

In the last few months there seems to have been a lot of changes in the IRC world. Freenode had what has been called a hostile takeover by some, and a good number of high-profile projects left that network and went to Libera, which was started by some ex-Freenode folks. All this was probably a lot more traumatic for those immediately involved, and I feel for them. It also meant that for the IRC channels and projects I do follow, it meant that many went dark for a bit.

It happens. We adapt.

When the projects popped up on Libera, I was able to get on there, and see that they were as popular and active as ever. Sure, it's a little more diffuse than before because some didn't move, but my IRC Client on macOS - Textual, allows for multiple server connections, so that I can have Freenode and Libera connected, and the side-bar has all the channels - some on Freenode, some on Libera, and it works just fine.

I never expected that it had multiple server connections - I just never needed them... until I did. And when I did, I was so very glad that it handled it as nicely as it did.

In the end, to me, it looks very much like nothing changed, but I know quite a lot did.