At least then when someone was considered a nuissance they got kickbaned instead of their account deleted because someone somewhere somehow got offended. Thicker skin crowd i guess, did allow for more discourse.
In IRC’s heyday online communication was mostly centered in groups (the channels) rather than 1:1. In the age of whatsapp 1:1 is king, kinda sad. It’s my perception at least.
I still do think XMPP is a better IRC though, more modern.