I still have a very soft spot for the IRC, particularly, EFnet. I still remember channel takeovers, eggdrop bots, DCC, and all the great friends I made. Most of them have disappeared over the years. It truly was the "Second Life" of the early to mid 90's.
Yea, IRC and EFnet were my first introduction to chatting back around 1995. Channel takeovers were especially amusing. I downloaded mIRC a couple years ago just for old times sake but none of the channels I chatted in were there. Definitely brings back some fond memories. I miss the chat room style as opposed to just IMs.