It's not really a matter of ability, rather a matter of focus.
You sure can maintain your own IRC server, the same way you can maintain your own Git server. But it's probably a waste of time when you know that you have free or cheap alternatives (Gmail, GitHub, Mailchimp): stuff breaks, and even if you can fix it doesn't mean you should.
I outsource stuff that I depend on and don't want to waste time maintaining: email, online storage, some collaboration tools...
Fair enough; outsourcing is not always an option (or convenient). I actually find GitLab pretty compelling.
If you're into mailpile, you should support them for the Knight Foundation News Challenge: https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/2014/feedback-review.... Personally, I assume that I wouldn't be able to do a better job at securing stuff up on my own, but it is an interesting project nonetheless.
You sure can maintain your own IRC server, the same way you can maintain your own Git server. But it's probably a waste of time when you know that you have free or cheap alternatives (Gmail, GitHub, Mailchimp): stuff breaks, and even if you can fix it doesn't mean you should.
I outsource stuff that I depend on and don't want to waste time maintaining: email, online storage, some collaboration tools...