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by bengarrr 2915 days ago
But its not really a social network...BBSs were/are great too! Plus BBs let you actually manage content versus just chat and link. IRC is great and always will be but a social network it is not...and I doubt we are gonna see any real revival.
2 comments
j45 2915 days ago
Irc created more new social connections than many networks that came after. Same goes for bbs. We need to find the next thing that truly connects people.
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digi_owl 2915 days ago
"Locality"?

BBSs were more of the than not local, with some federation in that the operator or someone he trusted would exchange data between the local BBS and some distant BBS.

Similarly IRC used to house a high number of very local channels back when i first came online (and one tried to pick a server on the network that was in one's own nation or a neighboring one to avoid finding oneself on the wrong end of a net split).

Social networks offers much the same via various means (groups on facebook, sub-reddits on reddit, etc).

Honestly IMO, what killed IRC was IM and SMS. This because now the schoolyard cliques could once more ostracize.

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j45 2915 days ago
Locality, interesting. I'd agree on BBS'. My experience of IRC, thought on efnet was expanding past my local calling area.

IM definitely took the bite out of IRC because it was far better at creating beginners that never made it to IRC, and a lot of IRC users got pulled to IM. ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, MSN created a new type of connection.

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Mirioron 2914 days ago
IRC always felt to me more like a public forum, whereas IM was private conversation.
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coatmatter 2914 days ago
The best private conversations start by branching away from a public space. It's that juxtaposition that makes each half all the more special (think noisy club/bar vs outside). I think the biggest failing of IM is that it's easy to end up with a declining circle of people whom you communicate with. Without a public space to replenish ideas from, privacy becomes a curse. IRC allows both.
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Mirioron 2913 days ago
This is exactly why I loved IRC and continue to use it to this day.
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coatmatter 2914 days ago
What to you defines a social network?
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