How many years have you been on IRC?

SydneyFlirt · none Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 2

Hi All

I started chatting about 5-6 years ago when my sons were 1yr & 1month olds. I was just soo sick of baby talk I needed adult interaction.

I came looking for friends and ended up finding a husband

We both chat and love it, its a great way to make friends & keep in touch with people from other states.

Cya's
SydneyFlirt

Profound · none Joined: 18 Jan 2004 Posts: 4

I've been IRC'ing over 10 years... and I am only 20 years old! Very Happy

Been learning the ins and outs of IRCds/Services the last 5 or so.

Cheers,
Profound @ EYErc.net

Jedi Knight · none Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Posts: 8

I've stopped counting.... I was 12 when I started, and I am 19 pushing 20 now Razz

Doing the math I guess 7 years... I feel like a geezer...

Guest · Posted: Mar 15, 2004 8:24pm Post subject:

8 years for me .. and uhm .. I was WAY older than 8 or 9 <G>

Ib3N · Lurker Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 157 Location: ChatSpike

Born: 1981 (23yrs)
First comp: 1991 (14yrs)
First time in IRC: 1995 (9yrs) (dialup rawked!)

LindyM · none Joined: 16 Mar 2004 Posts: 2

Not really sure but guess I fall under the category of 3-5 years and really love it...

v0rtex · Lurker Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 108 Location: IRC

i think im getting on for 7 IRC yrs now

Proto · Lurker Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 150 Location: IRC

I started IRC in March of 1998.

null · none Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 26

november '99 here. gosta love the old days.

magpie · Idler Joined: 18 Jan 2004 Posts: 454 Location: Essex, UK

I've been using IRC for about 3 years, half of that time (latter half to current day) I've been involved with an IRC network.

w00t · Posted: Sep 25, 2004 5:18am Post subject:

I'd be... about 4-5 years now.

Jeez, that makes me ~12 when I started...

blueice · none Joined: 07 Oct 2003 Posts: 34

9 years now, and I was 33 when I started in 1995 (now talk about them ole geezers!).

When windows95 was released, I went online. I remember the uncounted horror nights, trying to make trumpet winsock work with one of the earliest isdn cards (BIG SIGH)...

Grabbed the first client I could find (mIRC, no colors, no sounds, no gimmicks) and stormed on Undernet. Got tired of the weirdos soon, stealing nicks or taking over channels (no registration was available back then), so I changed to DALnet in 1996.

Nickserv and Chanserv were heaven-sent!!! What a peaceful, safe and happy existence, compared to the daily massacre on Undernet. Ended up with my own server in 1999.

Oh, and we did not have flatrates back then, here in germany. Phone bills around $350 - $400 a month were usual. I can tell you, I am NOT missing those 'good old days' at all Wink

[edit]In 1995, there were 15.000 IRC users worldwide. Nowadays, this number increased by 100 times or so. Still I get the impression that the average percentage of weirdos and idiots keeps rising... or am I wrong?[/edit]

katsklaw · Guru Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 1048

damn blueice, that's my story almost exactly except I didn't have ISDN, $300 phone bills and I wasn't 33 .. I was 27.

Another difference is that I was on ChatNet not undernet and I was an oper on DALnet in 1997. I started my own network in 97-98 time frame. I believe there were more than 15k users on IRC world wide then, however, it's impossible to know exactly even today.

blueice · none Joined: 07 Oct 2003 Posts: 34

It's great to see another 'ole geezer' around, and it is great to see certain ppl still putting so much time and dedication and effort in it, after all those years.

With katsklaw and his merciless hair-pulling being the unquestioned #1 forum pest for many posters, esp bigmouths and megalomaniacs, it would sure be an honor for me to become considered a 2nd level or 'assistant pest' Wink

I have no idea about the real user numbers of course. I found my 'wisdom' on the efnet history page http://www.efnet.info/?module=docs&doc=22&type=html where the big Jarkko Oikarinen himself states that IRC hit 15k in october 1995.

Nowadays I believe we should have like 1.5 million daily users worldwide, and STILL I tend to believe the number (or absolute percentage) of idiots seems to be rising. Might be a wrong impression, but oh well it is my idea...

katsklaw · Guru Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 1048

well at the top of the SIRC home page there is a figure of user and channels that SIRC sees .. but since not every network is listed that number too is inaccurate at best.