I wanted to ask the same question too, excepted I managed to get on the mIRC thing.
The old classic "irc.dclone.org" channel only has 5 ppl there when I connected, don't know if there is still any private walk, but to the public I think it's basically dead now.
Also tried the "irc.d2jsp.org", no DC named channels found. All channels are empty and irrelevant channels like guild channels, except the main channel (which had around 40 ppl there), but it says I have to get an invite to join.
Don't know why the 10 years old sticky is still there telling ppl to do that, I basically wasted half an hour on it.
My guess (correct me if wrong), paying sojs for a private walk is the only way to go now. And according to forum info, Blizz has separated ladder and nl IPs, which will probably make those Hot IPs more private.
Even if you somehow find a current Hot IP, DC will probably walked already before you get the chance to join one. After all, private walks won't last long, they are private and not meant for you.
This post was edited by minsky on Jun 14 2017 05:11am