[plorkyeran]

In a 1:1 chat or small group chat you can get away with typing slowly, but in a busy chat room full of people who type quickly you simply can’t participate in a conversation if you’re constantly lagging behind. I think the “typing…” indicator in more modern chat clients means people are more likely to pause to see what you’re trying to say, but IRC is often very much about getting your words into the channel as quickly as possible before things have moved on from the message you’re replying to.

[titusjohnson]

There was certainly an art to being able to get your jokes in at just the right time. A few seconds(messages) later and it's just not funny, so type fast!