Internet Relay Chat is another of the more popular services on the Internet. It is a place where you can chat (type back and forth) with other Internet users around the world. The IRC Network is a group of IRC servers all hooked together. In order to access one of these servers you need an IRC client program. Some of these are mIRC, Visual IRC and Pirch. MIRC is usually the client of choice because its features are quite extensive. Pirch and Visual IRC are a little nicer in the user-friendly department.

Any given IRC client will ask for the same basic setup information. Below is a capture of the mIRC setup screen:



Real Name:Your real name.
E-Mail Address:This is for your e-mail address, but some people don’t like their e-mail made public so a valid address is not required.
NickName:This is a name you will be known by on IRC such as "fred-g", "wizard" or "ircnut". Whatever you choose.
Alternate:This is an alternate nick name. If someone else on IRC is using the nick name you choose, this is used instead.
Server:A server address such as irc.durham.net.
Port:The port to connect to, almost always 6667.

There are hundreds of IRC servers but not all are public. Some are restricted to a close geographical area so their server(s) don’t get overloaded with users world wide. Every IRC client has a status window. This is for server messages. If you try to connect to an IRC server and have problems, the status window will tell you why, such as "No more connections" or "No Authorization". Try another server. What server? You can try irc.durham.net, irc.nwlink.com or irc.voicenet.com. One of these should let you in.

Now to complicate matters, there are several IRC networks (groups of servers hooked together). irc.durham.net is a member of DalNet. irc.io.org is a member of EFNet. UnderNet is another popular network, reachable through us.undernet.org or ca.undernet.org.

Each network offers identical features, just a different selection of chat rooms or "channels ". When you get connected to IRC, the status window will spit a blurb about the server you’re connected to. From then on you use IRC commands in the status window. All IRC commands start with a forward slash. So if in the status window you type "/list", it will give you a list of available channels you can join. This can take a few minutes to complete. The status window will say "Listing channels" as it lists, and "end of list" when done. The channel list will show the name of the channel, how many people are currently in it, and the topic of the channel if any. To join a channel you either double click on the name in the channel window or enter "/join #channelname" in the status window. (all channels start with a #)

WARNING: IRC is very content sensitive! Meaning, there is language and subject matter that is definitely not for children or the weak of heart. Even the channel listing is an adventure in perversion. However, IRC has many interesting channels for teens, adults, channels for Windows, games, and yes, pornographic material. Enter and use at your own risk!

Once you’ve joined a channel, you’ll see the other user’s nick names listed and the content of the channel. Text from other users appears in the channel as they enter it. You can, of course, enter text into the channel at any time for everyone else to see. Most channels also have one or more operators. Their nickname starts with an @ symbol. These operators have the ability to kick you out of the channel if you misbehave, or ban you from the channel so you can never join again. The general rule of thumb is just behave yourself. If you don’t like the pornographic channels, joining them and yelling at people will only get you banned, and they won’t listen to you anyway. However, everyone on IRC is there for the fun, and that’s what it’s meant to be, and usually is. Find a channel that interests you and enjoy.