I just joined an IRC channel, is there any way to see messages from before I joined? reddit / irc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ExBritNStuff · 2020-12-19 15:46 Not through standard IRC means, no. Depending on the channel and the server it might be archived online somewhere. Maybe ask in the channel? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- snowice0 · 2020-12-19 15:50 znc or shell edit:eremm before you joined? no - but you can just not leave and always be joined ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mcpcpc · 2020-12-19 17:38 If you are on a Freenode server, you might want to see if the channel is monitored by logbot: [https://freenode.logbot.info](https://freenode.logbot.info) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2020-12-19 18:28 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IBNash · 2020-12-19 21:15 Yes, it requires the use of a bouncer like ZNC, which is basically an IRC proxy that your client can connect to (and read messages while you were disconencted) and disconnect at will. ZNC stays connected all the time, and this is why folks usually host it on something like a $5/month VM so its always up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DevelopedLogic · 2020-12-19 23:29 Before you came online? No, IRC is realtime. I personally use Quassel which comes in two parts. Core and Client. My core runs on my 24/7 server and actually runs the IRC connections, meaning I always appear online (but auto away when all clients disconnect from the core) and I have the client on my PC which I point to my server running the core. I also have a third party android app called quasseldroid which I love as I get push notifications any time my name is mentioned or a private message comes through. Uptime of about 6 months now, meaning I have 6 months of logs of every channel I'm in on every server, which means I can search for stuff and also I can scroll back a bit to get the context of conversations even those which occur with no clients connected to my core. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P4k3 · 2020-12-19 23:29 Might be possible with ircv3 later https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/chathistory ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ctm-8400 · 2020-12-21 19:09 Thanks for the answers! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Teratoph0bia · 2020-12-28 23:21 Yeah, if you want to guarantee that you'll see stuff from pre- connection, you're gonna want to use a bouncer of some sort as mentioned by other users in this thread. However, take note that in some IRC networks, the [\+H channel mode](https://wiki.zandronum.com/IRC:Channel_Modes) exists that can be set by half-ops or higher. (+h doesn't always exist such as on Freenode, but you get the gist.) That mode can be set with time- oriented parameters that will display the previous chatter up to a specified period of time before the user connected to the hypothetical channel in question. If possible, I absolutely suggest using something like ZNC. However, in the hypothetical instance where for whatever reason you cannot install and configure ZNC, there are web-based client services such as [IRCCloud](https://www.irccloud.com/), which yeah, web clients suck, especially if you're a *'power-user'* who uses IRC for scripting and all that jazz. But, in such a case, if you're fine with shelling out some money for a premium account, there, you'll have access to their bouncer which will allow you to connect to a specific network via a client of your choice, for example, something like HexChat or whatever you wish. Please be mindful that the latter should really only be used if for some reason you cannot get ZNC, but as long as you have the requisite components, following [the instructions](https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC) should be easy.