The scrap everything mod really did mean SCRAP *EVERYTHING* it seems

Big agree on that. Looking over it a bit it seems IRC is probably best for explicitly *text* while some versions of XMPP also utilize WebRTC which allows for audio/video calls so that may be the direction to go. Maybe even a mix of the two run through Pidgin/Finch.

Would you recommend IRC or XMPP?

This is my worst post yet someone must cut me down