I'm not pretending the problem doesn't exist. I'm just asking if there is a problem in the first place.
So what's the problem exactly?
1) That people are moving from slack to irc? 2) That slack isn't open source? 3) That slack is easier to use and more fun than irc?
Lst's say all those are true. What damage does those things cause?
1) This will kill open source
I don't think so. Github is closed source, and people are developing all kinds of open source applications on it.
2. People will be less likely to use IRC
Yes, I believe this to be a true statement. But this has been true for a while since the days of ICQ.
3. This will kill IRC.
Perhaps. Maybe IRC should die if it can't adapt. Sent to the dustbin of history like NNTP.
4. People develop software around a closed platform.
Well, so MacOS is a closed platform. People still write software for it.
Centralization is a massive advantage in the UX area. Finding a way to achieve the same agility and coordination in decentralized systems is an open problem.
Pretending the problem does not exist is not how to solve it, nor is moralizing. (Not a response to you per se, just in general.)