I.R.C.

	Sign In Sign-Up

I.R.C.

The wonderful world of The I.R.C. will seduce you. Let its addiction get to you, it won't hurt... It's the best thing that could happen to you. Just imagine a place where Age, Sex, Color and Origin don't matter. You can be anyone you want, do whatever you want, safely and without care. That's the Internet Relay Chat.
Apart from that, you can meet people from all around the globe, chat with them, exchange opinions and information which is very useful and generally have a good time. What makes I.R.C. so special is its capabilities. It's like an actual conversation without seeing the other person. You can exchange files though so you can send your photo to other people or your voice by using a sound file of various formats.

IRC is addictive so if you can't take the heat, stay out of the server ;-)

- How does I.R.C. work?

- What are those 'special signs' people use in there?

- Any 'special commands'?

- What about 'I.R.C. jargon'?

- Where can I get an I.R.C. Client?

- How does I.R.C. work?
-I.R.C. is not a place. It's a figurative word which represents many-many Networks. Each IRC Network has its own servers you can use to connect to it. The servers are connected to the Main Server and to each other. People log on those servers and all the users of a network can talk to each other and exchange both files and opinions. They can join Channels to talk or just use Private Messages and DCC-Chats. It's pretty simple and the programs you use to connect make it even simpler. Just type in the nickname you want to use and explore the amazing world of Internet Relay Chat.

- What are those 'special signs' people use in there?
-As I said before, you can't see the others' face, so when people want to express a feeling they would normally express using a smile or a frown, they just take ASCII characters and make them look like little faces if you look at them sidelong (also known as Emoticons). You can find a small list of the most useful right here.

:-)	Happy Face
:-(	Sad Face
:-\ :-/	Messed Faces
:-P	Tongue out!
:-))))))))	Laughing
:-*	Kissing

- Any 'special commands'?
-Well, apart from the usual commands (/join /part /topic /quit /help) there are things you can do that make I.R.C. look more "human". First of all, the use of the /me command (also known as Action) shows you doing something. For e.g.. let's say your nickname is John. If you type => /me says Hi then * John says Hi <= will appear on the screen. Imagine the things you can do with that command
(/me is happy, /me starts shouting, /me waves Hi, etc...)
You can also color your writings, make the letters Bold, Underlined or with Reversed-Background
To achieve this, you just have to push 2 buttons together and a will pop up

Ctrl+K	Colored Text
Ctrl+B	Bold Text
Ctrl+U	Underlined Text
Ctrl+R	Reversed Background

Just note that along with Ctrl+K's you must hit a number (the color you will use). mIRC pops up a small color index to remind you of the basic color numbers. All the other s are put before the text you want to change. For e.g.. if I type (Ctrl+B) Hi then Hi will appear at the screen. Play with it and make all the funny combinations you can imagine.

- What about 'I.R.C. jargon'?
-There are some terms you need to know before you enter The I.R.C. We use certain words or initials to express things we couldn't otherwise. Those words are:
Ping: it is the time needed for the data you're sending, to get to someone else's screen. We count Pings in seconds and to see someone's ping we type /ping nickname
Lag: when ping values are over 20 seconds, then we have 'lag', which means that data are very delayed when we see them on our computer screen. Lag doesn't last for long.
Netsplit: when two servers lose connection to each other, we call it a NetSplit. Netsplits don't last long and only cause frustration.
There are also some initials people on IRC use to quickly express feelings or situations. The most important are listed here:

brb	Be Right Back
bbl	Be Back Later
bbs	Be Back Soon
lol	Laughing Out Loud
rofl	Rolling On the Floor Laughing
wb	Welcome Back
thx	Thank you
np	No Problem

- Where can I get an I.R.C. Client?
-The most well known clients right now are mIRC and pIRCh. They are easy to use and full of add-ons & scripts to make your On-Line Life easier and better. Here are the links:

mIRC: http://www.mirc.co.uk
pIRCh: http://www.pirchat.com

Or you can download their latest versions from here:

mIRC 5.51 (for Windows 95/98)
pIRCh 98 (for Windows 95/98)

There are a lot more I.R.C. clients out there, just look! Also, search for scripts and add-ons that suit you. I'm sure that you'll find one you'll like. Why not Search Now?