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Introduction To IRCWhat is IRC - IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988. Since starting in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries around the world. It was designed as a replacement for the "talk" program but has become much, much more than that. IRC is a multi-user chat system, where people meet on "channels" to talk in groups, or privately. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion, or the number of channels that can be formed on IRC. All servers are interconnected and pass messages from user to user over the IRC network. One server can be connected to several other servers and up to hundreds of clients. Several larger and smaller IRC networks exist. On IRC several people can join the same channel and see each other. Depending on its topic and time of the day a channel can be VERY crowded. Channels can also be quite chaotic, or calm. Channels can be open to everyone but also closed and private and only open to friends. On the large IRC networks (EFnet) as many as 3000 channels can exist, on smaller networks there will be fewer channels. Channels on IRC are dynamic in the sense that anyone can create a new channel, and a channel disappears when the last person on it leaves. Language - The most widely understood and spoken language on IRC is English. However, as IRC is used in many different countries, English is by no means the only language. If you want to speak some language other than English, (for example with your friends), go to a separate channel and set the topic to indicate that. Similarly, you should check the topic when you join a channel to see if there are any restrictions about language. On a non-restricted channel, please speak a language everybody can understand. If you want to do otherwise, change channels and set the topic accordingly. Greeting - It is not necessary to greet everybody on a channel personally. Usually one "Hello!" or equivalent is enough. Also, don't expect everybody to greet you back. On a channel with 20 people that would mean one screenful of hellos. It makes sense not to greet everyone, in order not to be rude to the rest of the channel. If you must say hello to somebody you know, do it with a private message. The same applies to good-byes. Also note that using your client's facilities to automatically say hello or good-bye to people is extremely poor etiquette. Nobody wants to receive autogreets. They are not only obviously automatic, but while you may think you are being polite, you are actually conveying yourself as insincere. If some body wants to be autogreeted when they join a channel, they will autogreet themselves. Behaviour - Remember, people on IRC form their opinions about you only by your actions, writings and comments, so think before you type. If you use offensive words, you'll be frowned upon. Do not "dump" (send large amounts of unwanted information) to a channel or user. This is likely to get you kicked off the channel or killed from IRC. Dumping causes network "burps", causing connections to go down because servers cannot handle the large amount of traffic. Other prohibited actions include: * Harassing another user. Harassment is defined as behavior towards another user with the purpose of annoying them. * Annoying a channel with constant beeping. (Therefore most clients cannot beep at all) * Any behavior reducing the functionality of IRC as a CHAT medium. How to join IRC - The first time you run mIRC you have to fill in some information about yourself (your real name, email address, nickname, IP address and Local Host name) under File/Setup/IRC_Servers and Local_Info, as well as the IRC server with which you want to connect. It's usually best to connect to a geographically close server. When you're new to IRC just pick a server from the prefab list. On IRC you are known to others by a nickname. You are free to choose any nickname you like, up to 9 characters long. Do not use spaces and avoid unusual ASCII characters in your nickname. It is possible you find people that use the same nickname and you may be asked to switch nicknames to avoid confusion. Getting started - To join conversations, send private messages, and to handle and control mIRC you need to learn some simple commands. All commands start with a forward slash, the "/". Anything that does not begin with "/" is assumed to be a message to someone and will be sent to your current channel, or to the person you are chatting with in a private chat (see below). A list with the most used commands on IRC is given in the mIRC help file. Finding your way on IRC - To join a channel, type /join #channelname. Try "/join #irchelp" or "/join #mirc" to give it a try... That's it! Once you get to the channel, you will see people talking. It will probably look like this: {John} Hello Pat, are you new to IRC too ? {Jake} I dont agree there :-( {East-r} Can sb give me that too ?? I couldnt find it before * East-r smiles {Pat} Nope, I just have a simple question... I think... Note that you will often come in during the *middle* of a conversation. Unless you're familiar with the channel you may want to sit and watch it for a minute or two to see what the conversation is about. Often the channel name (for instance, #Twilight_Zone) has nothing to do with what conversation goes on on the channel (#Twilight_Zone does *not* have discussion about the TV show "Twilight Zone"). So if you join #baseball, don't be surprised if you hear about the SuperBowl picks or even the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Museum! To start talking, just type! And when you're done saying what you have to say, just hit the [return] key. You can start with something simple like "hello!". You don't have to type hello! because IRC will insert before all of your channel messages. In the channel's title bar you will see the channel's name and perhaps its topic. If you choose to leave a channel, just type /part #channelname In the channel window that opens once you join a channel you'll see an alphabetical list of people that are on the channel on the right side of the window. Some of them have a @ in front of their name to point out they are the channel operators. A Channel Operator is someone who has control over a specific channel. A Channel Operator can also decide if control is shared or not. The first person to join the channel automatically receives Channel Operator status. Channel operators are the 'rulers' of a particular channel. This means they can kick you out of their channel for any reason. If you don't like this, you complain to them or start your own channel and become a channel operator there yourself. Read the help - As soon as you joined your first channels and spent some time on IRC you will see there are a lot more commands and possibilities for you to discover on IRC. Copyright © 2000 Stewart Addley. All rights reserved |