# What about IRC (in relation to Matrix)?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/what-about-irc-in-relation-to-matrix/6140>\
**Category:** Project Discussions\
**Tags:** community, community-meeting, community-wg, irc\
**Created:** [June 3, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/what-about-irc-in-relation-to-matrix/6140 "2024-06-03T17:04:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 14

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gwmngilfen](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gwmngilfen/32/6_2.png) [@gwmngilfen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gwmngilfen)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/what-about-irc-in-relation-to-matrix/6140/14 "2024-06-27T13:33:45Z")

</div>

So, I promised some data, and here it is.

 ![unique-users-per-week](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/1/1459032c1136233a3e25362e19773ec21e2742d0.png)

For context, this is:

1. Matrix data direct from the REST API
2. IRC data courtesy of @gundalow who maintains a bouncer
3. Forum data from, well, here 😛 3.

We’re comparing like-for-like engagement here:

1. Matrix users who posted some message
2. IRC users who posted some message
3. Forum users who posted _or_ liked something (i.e. engagement)

Two things jump out at me. First, Matrix overtook IRC _before_ the bridge broke. So I think the choice there is pretty clear, and I won’t rehash what I said above.

Second, though, the forum has **already** overtaken both! And notable, it overtook IRC (a decade-old known channel) pretty much from day 1 in Sept 2023 (yes, there was a spike on launch day, but the smoothed line is higher). I said there was appetite for this tool - my interpretation of this data is that I was right.

So, if I were to pick _one_ place to direct users, to put in our READMEs, to write in our docs, and to send people to from meetings/conferences - it’s **here** , not to chat. By all means, lets have room details in our [Working Group pages](https://forum.ansible.com/g), and lets have more meeting details in #Events so people can find them. But the era of “chat as the primary communication” is _over_, according to this. And having the whole community _here_ has enormous value.

---

_[View the full topic](https://forum.ansible.com/t/what-about-irc-in-relation-to-matrix/6140)._