[cbm-vic-20]

IRC is still hanging in there. You can get a taste by using the web UI, no registration required.

1) Go to https://webchat.freenode.net/ 2) Type something into the "Nick" box. 3) Solve the CAPTCHA 4) Hit Start.

Freenode has thousands of channels, there's a bot called "alis" that can help you find something interesting. To do that:

5) type "/msg alis list python -min 50", which will open a chat with alis, which will then show the channels with "python" in the name that have at least 50 users. 6) type "/join #python" to join the channel

Some channels require you to register before you can chat, for that, see https://freenode.net/kb/answer/registration