IRC

Definitions

1. Short for Internet Relay Chat, an early protocol and ecosystem for real-time text chat organized around servers and channels. IRC played a major role in open source coordination, hacker culture, and early online communities before modern chat platforms took over.

   In plain English: An older internet chat system used for group conversations in channels.

   Example: "The project still keeps an IRC channel alive even though most contributors moved to Matrix."

Related Terms

• 1337
• AOSP
• Cathedral and the Bazaar
• Contributor Covenant
• Information Superhighway
• Matrix (chat)
• Open Source Governance
• Open Source Sustainability
• Slashdot
• Slashdot Effect
• The Cathedral
• JUXT