It looks like a small IRC-like chat, not a replacement for a forum and not even for discord-as-a-forum

it’s the new name for freenode — so it is IRC and large (by IRC standards…)

Libera Chat is a fork of Freenode. The later still exist, but all communities I know moved to Libera.

unfortunately, irc is not a replacement for discord.

discord is just IRC in a trenchcoat. what’s to replace?

Voice chat, Video chat, emojis, embedded gifs, smart embeds of links.

also:

- edit/delete messages

- code highlight

- notifications

- fast search that works for everyone:

https://discord.com/blog/how-discord-stores-billions-of-mess...

most of these things are client-specific but available with IRC. (edits aren’t)

How long would it take to explain to someone who just wants to voice/video chat with their friends how they can set this functionality up with the same ease as discord? And how much will it cost for them to do that?

The missing feature of IRC is to be able to get all the messages even when you’re offline. V3 was as missed opportunity for that

You mean like you get if you run a BNC, or just run your irssi or weechat inside a screen session, or headless X session that you reattach remotely?

I've never understood people who log out of IRC.