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Basic IRC
What is IRC? How can I get to the chat rooms and #BDSM_Vancouver? What do I do when I get there? Why should I bother? These questions and more will be answered here. We're even planning to include a section for people having problems with their IRC fun, from reference on how to get things done, to what to do about people hassling you online. The original "IRC FAQ" defines IRC in the following words: "IRC is Internet Relay Chat. It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen (jto@tolsun.oulu.fi) 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 convene on "channels" (a virtual place, usually with a topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately." IRC is an excellent way to meet new people in a non-threatening, fairly private way without having to leave the house. IRC, if set up correctly, can protect your true identity, allowing you to talk with people about just about anything without fear that they'll show up at your door. Many people find they can open up much more on IRC than they can in person because of this. Be warned, though. IRC is addictive. You may find yourself sitting in front of the computer more often than not, trying to keep up with the relationships of the people you've come to know there. The first thing you will need is an IRC "client." RFC 1459 - the "Request for Comments" for the IRC protocol - defines a client in the following words: "A client is anything connecting to a server that is not another server. Each client is distinguished from other clients by a unique nickname having a maximum length of nine (9) characters. See the protocol grammar rules for what may and may not be used in a nickname. In addition to the nickname, all servers must have the following information about all clients: the real name of the host that the client is running on, the username of the client on that host, and the server to which the client is connected." What that means, in plain English, is that the client is basically the software you use to connect to an IRC network, like Undernet and BDSMNet. When you use this software, you can connect to an IRC server. An IRC server is defined by the IRC RFC as follows: "The server forms the backbone of IRC, providing a point to which clients may connect to to talk to each other, and a point for other servers to connect to, forming an IRC network." This means that in order to connect your client with the clients of others, thus enabling you to chat with other people, you need to connect your client to a server. This does not mean that you will only be able to talk with people connected to the server you connect to. If that server is connected to other servers, that server is part of a network...like Undernet or BDSMNet. Connecting to that server gives you the opportunity to talk with others on the server you connect your client to - and to other people who have connected their clients to other servers that are part of that network. Servers are run and maintained by server Administrators (or "admins") and Operators (or "opers")." When you connect to the network using your client, you will be recognized by a nickname which you can choose...and by an address which shows your ident@hostname (your "hostmask"). To choose a client, you will need to know what OS (operating system) you are using. There are several IRC clients available to the general public. Each of these clients only works with a certain OS...or specific OS's as decided by the author of the client. Once you know what your OS is, you can select a client below that supports your OS. If you would like to see a screenshot of what IRC looks like, we have one of mIRC running on a Windows NT 4.0 system here.
One you have the IRC client, you'll want to connect to an IRC network. Notice that there is more than one server listed for many of the IRC networks like Undernet, EFNet, DALNet, etc. Some IRC networks are larger than others. If you're trying to get to #BDSM_Vancouver, you can connect to any of the servers on Undernet or BDSMNet. Note that the IRC networks are separate. If you're on Undernet, you can't talk to people on DALNet or any other IRC network without loading a second instance of your IRC client and making two different connections to different networks. BDSMNet may not be listed in your IRC server listings. That's\ because BDSMNet is small and very specific. There are a number of small networks like that. Most IRC clients only list the bigger networks. You can find the server names for BDSMNet and how to connect to them in the "IRC Servers" section. After you've got an IRC client, selected a nickname, and connected to an IRC server, what do you do now? If you don't already know someone to whom you can send a private message (e.g. /msg nickname hi!) - you probably want to join a channel. The IRC RFC (that same source mentioned earlier) defines a channel in the following words: "A channel is a named group of one or more clients which will all receive messages addressed to that channel." Your client probably has a "list" command. This is a very good starting point. The "list" command allows you to see a complete list of available channels, which is not advised because there are typically thousands. However, there are also ways of using "variables" to narrow your search for a channel. The basic command to list channels according to a specific word is: /list *word* To list the channels with a minimum number of users, you can do something like this: /list -min 25 The command example given above with allow you to see a list of all of the channels with a minimum of 25 people...or "users." The command and variables you use may differ according to the client you are using. If you really want to see the entire list of channels, simply type "list" by itself, as shown: /list You can also join a channel without doing a list at all. If you know the name of the channel you want to join (like, say...Oh...#BDSM_Vancouver, for example), you use the "join" command, like this: /join #BDSM_Vancouver Note that channel names always have a # symbol before the name. Every channel will have the same # symbol as the first character.
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