IRC or Internet Relay Chat has earned itself quite a dichotomous reputation. On the plus side, it has been used to share knowledge between experts and the up-to-date exchange of news in times of crisis or breaking news. However, with the popularization of the internet, many people believe that IRC has degraded itself into a cyberspace meat market, with lonely males in search of the elusive female.
The first step in searching for information in IRC was finding a good channel. No channels had 'virtual' or 'virtual reality' in their names or description, so an arbitrary science channel was chosen. Unfortunately, in all of the science channels, there was nobody present. The next step was to try some of the general discussion channels. It was in these general discussion groups that the less intellectual side of IRC showed itself.
It can not be said that nothing was learned in these explorations.
While IRC may have lost its original course for the most part, it still has a place on the internet for informal, semi-anonymous exchange of ideas and other things.