So how come that alot of people are using MSN/Yahoo chat instead of IRC (mIRC?) :-)
I don't think I have seen a IRC or a mIRC commercial advertisement on TV, maybe thats part of what is percieved as a drop in IRC use, I have seen Yahooo advertised and MSN too.
As a side note, usenet is on the decline largly because ISPs are not hosting the news aervers, i asked mine why they dont, "no one asks for it" Of course they dont, they dont know to ask.