I’m talking about GNU here.
I just can’t seem to figure out on how to use either of them to communicate. IRCs don’t save older messages, but instead logs them. And I guess for the same reason, it is impossible to discuss anything in depth.
Mailing list is really hard to read, as it is nowhere similar to forum or tree-style comments. I can’t figure out what mailing list to message to.
No? This will search the logfiles (if irssi is configured to create those at all) for a pattern. This still requires that you had to have an irssi client running and connected to the server/channel in question, during the time the user is afk. Which is why others recommend e.g. setting up ZNC.