IRC Information
This is just a general information page to
help people find out more about the IRC.
IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, it is a
really neat real time chat environment. You can wind up chatting to anyone in the world
with only a couple of seconds of lag. You don't need any extras from your ISP just a
client software program.
I use the IRC frequently and decided to share
what I know. It's not a lot but I do know the pages where the experts are. *grin*
First to use the IRC you need client software.
For the PC I recommend either Pirch,
or mIRC. Both are good programs available as shareware. I use Pirch mainly because you can set the desktop up with a background. For a Macintosh I'd recommened using either Conversation (already installed with OS X) or Colloquy (freeware).
Once you get your program up and running which
I found easy. All programs are self extracting. You need to join a server.
There are a lot out there. Undernet is good for starting out. If, like me, you want to
chat about a show, AKA Fandom then I'd look for the fan pages. Some list their servers,
chat rooms and times. You can also join an e-mail discussion list and ask.
Setup instructions can be found from the home pages for each program, or here is my own help pages for mIRC.
The IRC Help
Page also has a lot of information for starting out on the IRC and beyond.
**New Information**
WebTV users, you to can use the IRC. Phone the
WebTV service center at 1-800-469-3288, press option 1, and when you get through to a
service tech tell them you want to use the IRC. You can also access the information via
your WebTV browser, go to Using WebTV, then Instructions, then Chat.
OK now we have our client software, we've
found the server, and room. Lost yet? In the chat you may find people using abbreviations
and smileys that you've never seen. Never be afraid to ask what someone means. If you aren't sure ask *grin* Yeah, I have a story about that. There are some that are unique to a Fandom like for the show 'The Sentinel'. Tigg's page has a very
good list of these. Just follow the communication links there to find the IRC info.
I've put together a list of ones I use here.
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