[carrozo]

Perhaps only of passing interest to others here but in 1990s Portugal, IRC was the only way for gay people to chat and meet up outside of bars, before sites like Gaydar took hold and then of course apps like Grindr. I feel like something was lost along the way in the move to dating sites and apps; a general forum (channels) to participate in, rather than just one-to-one messaging which doubled down on the meat market aspects at the expense of any attempt at community building.

[fimdomeio]

Last time I checked ptnet (a few years ago) I think it was still one of the few channels with some people in it.

I was very much on local and punk channels. I guess at some point half the people I knew / hangout with in meat space were from IRC.

Also had one of my most successful websites at that time (2001)... I guess only 3 years ago starting working on something with as many pageviews.