Sith... A familiar face I didn't know was around here. You joined during my hiatus. *waves*
My knowledge about IRC dates of a few years. Last time I hung on IRC for an extended time was almost 20 years ago. Last I downloaded mIRC, about 5 years ago, it looked like it offered the same options. I was never fond of it, I don't know how much of an upgrade it got in the last couple of years.
I suggested Discord because it's easy to set up a server, and easy to manage. Under the same servers, you can have categories, and multiple rooms available with just a click. It's easy to give people roles (groups) and even to set some rooms to be available only to some groups or make it so guests see only the "general" room, while verified members have access to everything. It has a NSFW setting that's appropriate for this place. There's a tag system that let's you know if someone wants you to pay mind to a comment in particular, even if said comment was done while you were offline. It shows images and gifs as more than just a link. It has voice chat, which could remove the need for mumble altogether. There's a friend list that makes private chat easier and lets you see who on there is online. There's a phone app that works decently well...
I'm sure I'm forgetting something...
