All incoming IRC messages are like push notifications aren't they? Or do I have my webology terms confused? IRC clients can certainly pop up a notification or make a sound or blink an icon when they encounter certain messages (e.g., your nick is mentioned), if push notification now means a more intrusive type of alert.
Push notifications are a specific thing where your OS can briefly wake up, check for notifications for all services, and then sleep again. It’s how you can have 10 IM apps but still be notified of messages on all of them despite none of the apps actually running unless they are actively on the screen.
IRC is unable to do this because it requires a constant active connection which is something that was fine in the desktop era but is not usable on battery powered devices.
> Push notifications are a specific thing where your OS can briefly wake up, check for notifications for all services, and then sleep again. It’s how you can have 10 IM apps but still be notified of messages on all of them despite none of the apps actually running unless they are actively on the screen.
Ah, I didn't know that's what push notifications were. Sounds like a regular old pull aka refresh but I have no idea about web stuff.
> IRC is unable to do this because it requires a constant active connection which is something that was fine in the desktop era but is not usable on battery powered devices.
I think at the scale which devices are already waking up to check things, it's unlikely to be a problem for most. Phones don't actually sleep for hours (or probably even minutes.
That said, IRC's heavyweight connection does seem clunky, if your connection drops momentarily it's unlikely you wanted to lose track of conversations you were currently participating in. Although that can be solved with logs / archives pulling what you missed, it seems better solved at a core level (maybe it is, I haven't looked at IRC for a decade or more).
In particular frequent disconnect/reconnects seem to cause stress to others in IRC, sometimes even resulting in bans, when it ultimately just shouldn't matter.
