When comparing Lemmy vs IRC, the Slant community recommends Lemmy for most people. In the question“What are the best social networks?” Lemmy is ranked 1st while IRC is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Lemmy is:
Anyone can self-host the software on their own server. Users can join an instance they like. You can view and comment on other servers (instances) as long as the instance you are on hasn't blocked the other instance.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Federated
Anyone can self-host the software on their own server. Users can join an instance they like.
You can view and comment on other servers (instances) as long as the instance you are on hasn't blocked the other instance.
Pro Simple and fast interface
Pro Open-source
Pro Shows both number of upvotes and number of downvotes, not just total
If someone has some unpopular opinion you can still see some people upvoted it and therefore appreciated it (so you can decide to read it).
Pro Problematic instances can be blocked
If the moderation of a certain instance is not good, other instances can block it.
Pro A rich ecosystem of third party clients and software
See the awesome lemmy github repo.
Pro Open protocol
The IRC protocol is public and open, it is mature and stable, and has been implemented in numerous projects. This means that it can be used freely, for both open-source and commercial projects.
Pro Versatile
IRC offers choice. Choice in clients (mobile, desktop, web), in scripts those clients run, in servers and features those servers have. You can even set up your own server.
Pro Less distracting
Compared to other common solutions, IRC can be ignored when you are occupied doing something else. Most clients don't pester you with sounds or distracting visuals.
Pro Mentions
Every notable IRC client supports mentions - notifying you when your name is mentioned in the chat. The mentions in IRC are comparably better than Discord. Mentions used in Discord are easily abused; this doesn't happen in IRC. If someone's talking about you, you get a notification in IRC. This doesn't happen in something like Discord.
Pro Hundreds of avaliable clients
IRC has been around since 1988, so there is a ton of existing software to work with it. Everything from clients, to chat bots, to bouncers is already built.
Pro IRC networks are not centralized
You can choose your favorite server for an IRC network.
Pro No account necessary
No need to sign up for access, confirm your e-mail address. Just choose a nickname and you're done.
Pro User-friendly
IRC is user friendly if you use something like hexchat or kiwi webchat.
Pro DCC
Direct Client-to-Client allows users to share files in a similar way to torrenting.
Pro Great historic importance
Twitter hashtags came from IRC channel names.
Pro Upcoming IRCv3 will provide missing features
Cons
Con Pro-CCP, Chinese censorship and concentration camp deniers
Con Complicated to use
Some find it quite difficult to use. As each instance is seperate, it take a lot to get used to using it.
Con Slow and unreliable
Con A community of leftist privacy and FOSS enthusiasts, run by Lemmy’s developers
Politically biased platform, that they seem to be proud of.
Con Complex and not user friendly
Con Assumes some level of prior knowledge
The features are not discoverable the way they are in other apps and services.
Con You have to "idle" to see what's going on
You will see a blank chat screen at first because there is no recent history kept on servers.
Con Can be addictive
Con Poor multimedia support
Sending anything besides text is not easy or intuitive and depends on the client.