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Add to SafariWhen comparing IRC vs Ryver, the Slant community recommends IRC for most people. In the question“What is the best team chat software?” IRC is ranked 12th while Ryver is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose IRC is:
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.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
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
Pro Free
Pro Threaded conversations
Ryver has Facebook like "Posts" that allow for threaded conversations to occur among teams.
Pro Unlimited users
There is no limit to the amount of users you can invite to join your instance/account of Ryver.
Pro Upvote and Downvote
"Do you like this?" questions can easily be answered with up or down votes.
Pro Drag and drop file sharing
Start a new post, drag your file (photo, doc, pdf, etc. 100MB limit), and starting discussing.
Pro Fast
The app loads fast on start-up. Any new chats, comments, and posts show up instantly. Overall, the app just feels rather speedy.
Pro @mentions for users and teams
Get someone's attention with @mentions.
Pro Desktop and mobile apps
Apps work great on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Pro Free conference calling
Pro Can hide topics until new comment is received
You can remove a topic from your nav bar and have it reappear when new messages are sent in that topic.
Pro Hosted on Amazon
Hosted on Amazon cloud. Service is very reliable. Ryver has been unavailable maybe once or twice in the 6 month period.
Pro You can edit a chat message
With Ryver, you can edit chats that you've sent.
Cons
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.
Con Advanced functionality is client-dependant
Con Having Chat and Posts for Teams is confusing to some users
It takes some time to get accustomed to all the features of the program, like a separate chat and a feed for team posts.
Con Don't have "emoji reaction to message" feature
