Products · Product
IRC
Raised as a usability problem by 137 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 97 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Client drops connection on laptop sleep, so messages are missedUnreviewed
20092026- Loses context after disconnects; user misses what happened while away2026-02-06
- After dropping connection, users must ask others to repeat missed messages2023-07-29
- Doesn't show missed messages or notify you while offline, so you lose conversation context2020-12-20
Bouncers are hard to set up, blocking new usersUnreviewed
20092026- New users must pick a client from many outdated options and set up a bouncer to see missed messages2024-07-12
- Struggles to set up bouncers and authentication, so they use a Discord bridge instead2023-09-12
- Setting up and maintaining a bouncer is too hard for ordinary users2023-07-29
Joining channels requires convoluted directories, bots and loginsUnreviewed
20092026- Joining channels requires a confusing mix of directory lookups, bot appeasement, and login steps2023-06-06
- Joining channels requires a convoluted dance of directories, bots, and login steps2023-06-05
- New users struggle to connect, so people need to be shown how to join2017-04-11
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- IRC's interface is horrible, deterring people from joining2026-06-13
- Can't drag and drop images; must host files on third-party sites and link them2026-02-10
- Loses context after disconnects; user misses what happened while away2026-02-06
- People find it hard to set up an IRC client instead of using a browser2026-01-19
- IRC is a mess to use, poor usability for newcomers2026-01-19
- Newcomers join a channel, see no history, and assume it is dead2025-07-18
- IRC's UX is poor and getting started has too much friction2025-02-06
- Must set up a ZNC bouncer to see messages on multiple devices2024-08-09
- Cannot clearly separate multiple conversations in a channel; forces awkward workarounds2024-08-09
- New users must pick a client from many outdated options and set up a bouncer to see missed messages2024-07-12
- IRC's setup and client UI is too hard for non-technical users to adopt2024-06-27
- Permissions are lost on rejoin and must be manually regranted by another user2024-06-27
- Connection is killed when switching apps or locking the screen, making it impractical on mobile2024-04-12
- Registration requires an email and blocks Tor/VPN users, making joining hard2024-04-02
- Registration is confusing, and channel flag management is hard for modern users2024-03-13
- Family members keep creating new accounts in the web UI instead of using the assigned login2024-02-06
- Non-technical family must have an admin set up accounts, rooms and passwords before chatting2024-02-06
- No syncing or multi-device support; must re-login after restarts or switching devices2024-02-06
- Struggles to set up bouncers and authentication, so they use a Discord bridge instead2023-09-12
- After dropping connection, users must ask others to repeat missed messages2023-07-29
- Setting up and maintaining a bouncer is too hard for ordinary users2023-07-29
- Cannot search message history in IRC; clients are terrible and ZNC integration is weird2023-07-29
- Requires NickServ rituals on each network, making setup tedious for users2023-07-17
- Hard to set up and log into, even for tech-savvy users2023-07-04
- UI elements overlap and text wrapping breaks on a phone, making it nearly unusable2023-06-30
- IRC is hard to administer and use, and poorly supported on phones2023-06-18
- Can't see history after reconnecting, so missed replies go unseen2023-06-14
- Joining channels requires a confusing mix of directory lookups, bot appeasement, and login steps2023-06-06
- Joining channels requires a convoluted dance of directories, bots, and login steps2023-06-05
- Hard to keep a consistent username and avoid missing messages without extra setup2022-08-03
- Typing status messages pull attention away from the chat log2022-07-07
- Sharing a few lines of code requires an external pastebin, which is inconvenient2022-07-06
- Editing sent messages in real-time chat causes confusion and lets people gaslight others2022-06-22
- Commenter found IRC extremely frustrating to use, with no specific problem named2022-05-17
- Feels nearly unusable because it lacks embedded media and phone-friendly chat2022-05-01
- No chat history, can't see missed messages, and can't edit or delete sent messages2022-04-11
- Commenter finds IRC annoying to use, unchanged since the 1990s2022-02-14
- Clients with GUIs still force users to drop to the command line occasionally2022-01-27
- Bouncers keep users listed as online when they are not really present, so no one can tell who is around2022-01-09
- Using IRC requires signing up for a third-party service first2022-01-09
- Lacks seamless multi-device sync, needing a bouncer and shell account2022-01-08
- Setting up your own IRC server is confusing for average users2021-12-05
- Must add a separate server with separate login for each channel group, ending up with 4-5 servers2021-11-30
- On mobile, hard to see more than the last few messages, making conversations hard to follow2021-11-18
- IRC's mobile user experience is awful, pushing people toward workarounds2021-06-14
- Getting push notifications and multi-device sync requires tmux, shell accounts and Pushbullet, too much friction2021-05-27
- New users face confusing choice of client and server and limited CLI-style interface2021-05-26
- No easy one-click way to quote older messages or handle mentions2021-05-26
- IRC is awkward on phones, needing znc or tmux setups for notifications2021-05-26
- Sending and receiving messages on mobile is close to impossible without third-party bridges2021-01-23