I spend some time on Freenode as it has many useful channels and people that can help you.

I use Textual IRC client and I use ZNC network bouncer (via LunarBNC) to always keep me logged in to the servers as well as it keeping history logs when I am away.

Here are IRC channels I frequent:

IRC commands

Textual keeps a command reference here.

• /list - Open channel list.

• /msg *nickserv set <yourNSpassword> - Lets Nickserv autologin you. Can then run /nick <your-nick> to login.

Notes

• If I ever get issues with logging in and me being Guest. I can:

  • /msg NickServ RELEASE <nickname> <password>

  • /nick nikivi my nick

Links

• ​IRC Gitter - Connect to Gitter with Textual.

• ​BotBot - IRC logs.

• ​WhatsApp web <-> IRC gateway​

• ​picobounce - IRC bouncer that does just what I want and no more.

• ​Irssi - Modular chat client that is most commonly known for its text mode user interface, but 80% of the code isn't text mode specific.

• ​Pounce - Multi-client, TLS-only IRC bouncer. (Lobsters)

• ​HN: Many IRC servers (2020)​

• ​RobustIRC - IRC without netsplits.

• ​Oragono - Modern IRC server written in Go. (HN)

• ​Synchronous Text (2019)​

• ​Convos - Simplest way to use IRC in your browser. (Code)

• ​Modern IRC Client Protocol (Code)

• ​Quassel IRC - Modern, cross-platform, distributed IRC client. (Web)

• ​Why IRC is Still Good (2020) (Lobsters)

• ​BitlBee - IRC to other chat networks gateway. (Web)

• ​Kirc - Tiny IRC client written in POSIX C99. (HN)