Snak.pngLet's get old school geek here... IRC, yea, Internet Relay Chat, before instant messaging there was IRC. It was created in August 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen, as a replacement for another form of chat - but this one really took on. IRC is like AOL chat rooms but old school. There are ops (channel moderators) who help keep things in order.

I used IRC when I was a teenager, mostly because my brother Ronnie used it for programming help. But then when WebmasterRadio.FM opened an IRC channel, I decided to break back into IRC again. I am an op in that channel, where people come to get help and chat about search stuff. FYI, I heard WebmasterRadio accidently banned many of the users from the channel last night (ouch!).

For IRC, I use Snak (no I prefer not to use an IM client for IRC, because they are totally different. Snak is wonderful in that it allows me to customize the screens as well, has tabbed windows and much more. The one thing that bugs me is how PM (private messaging works), just doesn't work logically - but I hope future versions fix it. I keep the Snak application at the lower left of my screen during the work day, I often miss the conversation there, but sometimes, I'll peak over to see what is going on. During live podcasts, I keep an eye on the chat room, especially if I am doing the show.