Why IRC?

IRC is, admittedly, really really old. So old, in fact, that it predates a lot of our Seals! Surely, you might tell yourself, unarguably there must be something in this modern world of today that would antiquate this old, old standard? Surely I don't have to go back to the glory days of dialup when TCP/IP was brand new and HTML3 ruled the world? Why would you switch off of the holy grail of chat, Discord?

Well, surprisingly, you'd be wrong.

That was the reaction that our Cyberseals had when we ran down our options for what chat software to use. We had seen the systems in place by our friends, the Fuel Rats, and really liked them. But undoubtedly, we thought, there undeniably was something that would perform better or something that facilitate our needs but with a modern standard. We sunk research into IRC-like alternatives, Discord, Rocket.chat, matrix.org, and others. And we came to the conclusion that Steve Jobs put so eloquently back in 2011.

The Hull Seals had a few basic requirements for any chat solution we chose to use.

• Full Control of User Data
       Including full management of the user, and all the information that comes with them
• Ability to have guest access
       You should never have to register for an account to use our services.
• Push Notifications/Word Highlighting/Role Notifications
• Authentication of restricted usernames/accounts
• Guest access must be repeatable with the same name

These, among other requirements, quickly culled the field of possible alternatives until we came to the inevitable conclusion - the same reason that IRC is still used by the military and other groups across the world. IRC is the best solution for our needs.

Of course, the Seals will always be keeping our eyes out and looking for the next and greatest, or perhaps something that comes down the pipe that improves upon our services and systems. But, for the time being, the Seals will be sticking with IRC.