What is the most populated IRC network? reddit / irc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AllEncompassingThey · 2017-04-11 08:54 Just wondering. Latest list I can find is from 2015. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mquin · 2017-04-11 09:03 freenode http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/top10.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NervousEnergy · 2017-04-11 11:32 There's a big difference between "popular" and "active". You tend to find a lot of the older networks have stagnated somewhat and are full of idlers, with channels of hundreds of users with barely any activity. Snoonet, the unofficial Reddit network, is pretty active these days - though that's probably because its such a new network. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NeuroG · 2017-04-11 14:10 Yeah, amazing how many 500+ user channels you can find where no one ever says anything. Then you find a local channel on Rizon or even Snoonet with 5 people in it, but it's 24x7 chit-chat. I spend 99% of my time on one channel on Geekshed, which is actually fairly large, but only about 20 people actually constitute most of the conversation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess_Pwny · 2017-04-11 14:39 If we classify biggest irc network as most users connecting to an irc compatible network, it'd be [twitch.tv](https://www.twitch.tv/) for sure. If you are wondering why I say twitch, you can connect to their chat via an irc client. The servers themselves are not following the irc standard at all in many aspects though, so you can debate if it's really irc or irc-like. A twitch chat can have several hundred thousand people in a single channel. Any logged in users watching a stream are generally automatically in chat as a user. The network itself has dozens and dozens of servers. You can consider that the average user is using webchat of some sort. You could then argue that botnets using irc are also "Populated", at least with bots. Ignoring botnets and twitch, the rest of the thread is probably right. People just forget about twitch because it's not a traditional irc network. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AllEncompassingThey · 2017-04-11 16:27 I guess populated wasn't the right word - I was just wondering where to go to find people chatting. :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess_Pwny · 2017-04-11 16:38 Ahh, sometimes people ask out of curiosity, which is what my question answers. I guess the other answers will help you a lot better ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saber_UK · 2017-04-11 21:22 >You could then argue that botnets using irc are also "Populated", at least with bots. Most botnets have migrated away from using IRC for C&C (but that still doesn't stop ~~charlatans~~ antivirus vendors from shitlisting our Windows binaries). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gatewayy · 2017-04-12 01:10 Need any more ppl to chat? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MrKomputerKid · 2017-04-25 12:49 yeah, I'd agree that in many cases, the older a network is, the less active it is. I'm not on any major networks like freenode, but I'm on a network that has existed since 2010 with an average of 30 users, and it has it's spurts of activity but is pretty quiet most of the day. Then there's this net from a few months ago which is pretty active during the majority of the day. I blame it on users aging and having more responsibility, I myself work and go to school all 7 days of the week, and had my first true day off in months this last Sunday.