For the sake of historical disambiguity (since this issue has a tendency to pop up every decade or so) here is my take on the color format criticism, to put it into context.
While I was designing the color format, I discussed the issue with a fair number of people, including the authors of various IRC clients. There were already several proprietary color formats in use, none of which were compatible with each other. So there was no actual standard. Each IRC client author had created their own format and I had to decide whether to use one of the existing color formats or to come up with my own. Either way, I would have annoyed those clients that didn't use that particular format.
At the time, making mIRC as user-friendly as possible was my priority. So I decided to use a format that was simple. It didn't use hex and it didn't require any complex formatting. Any new or non-technical user could use it without thinking twice. I think it achieved that objective.
In retrospect, the design should have been more robust. And perhaps I should have separated the actual format from the input method. I could still have used a six digit hex format, to support a wide range of colors, while using a color input dialog for easy input (which was added to mIRC later, if I recall correctly).
Regarding my Wikipedia article: It does seem a little odd that the page was removed, it had been there for long time, perhaps years? But that is how Wikipedia works - it takes one person with an opinion to rewrite history. It's both worrying and refreshing at the same time!
