Peak Oil Chat

Peak Oil Chat was created in late 2005. At that time, the only way to access the discussion was to download and install an internet relay chat, client such as mIRC. An idea was passed around, to offer a web-based interface as a means to allow easier access to those who would not otherwise join in the chat. Thus, peakoilchat.com was born.

During the first two years of the chat, there were only a few regular members, and it was generally very quiet. As time went on, more people found the chat, and have become regular members. As of 2010, at any given time there are on average 50 people in the channel.

The discussion itself takes place on an IRC server, irc.efnet.net. At any given time, there are approximately 60,000 users connected to the EFnet network, in rooms that are called channels. Each channel is prefixed with a pound symbol #. Hence, the people in #PeakOil are only a tiny fraction of the overall network.

IRC is a many-to-many, instant messaging discussion protocol. For comparison, Yahoo, ICQ and AIM messengers are all one-to-one instant messaging. Just imagine having 20 other people (or more!) in the chat with you.