The difference is that

* IRC is interoperable and easy to change servers, unlike apps with proprietary protocols. If Yahoo started doing horrible things with their email, then people who notice would switch to GMail or another host.

On a related note I wonder if many people ended up migrating to Discord instead of to another IRC network.

For example the SerenityOS project used to advertise on their site that they had a channel on freenode but now they link a Discord instead.

http://serenityos.org/

That’s a good point. Honestly, if I had a popular open source project right now, I would have matrix bridged to discord and maybe irc if people asked for it.

Not just "technical acumen" - the clients are designed to connect to multiple networks and treat them equally. Literally nothing about my user experience is different now that I'm no longer logged into Freenode.

Non-technical users have the same sort of experience e.g. switching cell phone providers (provided your area has number portability), switching between subreddits, etc., and those moves definitely happen.

Downvotes on HN are unpredictable at the best of times. This, however? Sure-fire way to get them.

Please don't do this here.