IRC: a how-to guide for getting started.

Alright, many of you join us on a regular basis but have no idea how to download your own client and do some of the simple things like registering your nickname or how to use emotes; I'm going to help you out with this ongoing topic that will give you a general idea of how to join us and perhaps stay with us for the long haul.

edit: Just to clarify Jacob asked me to do this about a month ago, I'm simply a master procrastinator.

Let's start with the basics, what is IRC? Wikipedia defines it as "a form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfers via Direct Client-to-Client". All that jazz basically means that like Fakku it's a forum but in real time, communicate with a mass amount of users and receive replies instantly. On average #fakku will see around 60-65 people in our channel at any given time.

There are a few different levels of user that you will see:

base users who have no identifying marks
users with voice(will explain later) which are identified by a + in front of their name (for example +Tsujoi)
users with operator privileges which are identified by a @ in front of their name (for example @Mattarat)
users with overall operator privileges that can be identified by a & in front of their names (for example &Jacob)
and finally creator of the channel which is like a super operator and it identified by a ~ in front of their name (~Nikon is the man)

Now to explain what each level does:

Base users are able to communicate, emote, access bot commands, private message... pretty much the basic things you would expect.

Voiced users are the same as base users but are able to talk when one of the operators mutes the channel (rare and mostly used as a joke). You will see a +m and the only people who will be able to talk are users with voice/op or higher.

Overall Operators and Operators are the caretakers of the channel, they can kick or ban problem users, they can change the topic of the channel, they can give voice to users and they can mute/unmute the channel.

Channel Owner is all powerful, all hail Nikon.

I'm going to use this guide to introduce you to a Program called mIRC, it's the client I use to connect to #fakku and a few other channels that pique my interest.

Let's start with the basics, downloading mIRC: go to the mIRC download page and download the client, register if you wish but there is no real point and that step can be avoided. Follow the instructions and install the program on your computer.

[color=red]IMPORTANT:[/color]You will never have to pay for mIRC, even at the end of your evaluation period, you simply need to wait a few more seconds on start up and it will continue right through.
________________________________________________

Set up:
go into the options window.

under the connect tab ----- enter your name, e-mail, the user name you would like most, an alternate name which would also be suitable

select the server tab ----- select the option to add a server and title that new server Fakku - Rizon, add irc.rizon.net into the IRC server field, 6660-6669,7000 to the port field, and Rizon to the group field.

(optional) select the options tab ----- I have every option selected, they arent important but they facilitate connection. Now select the perform... button. (in here you have the client do things automatically so you don't have to every time you join)

this is what my log looks like


/nick waar
/nickserv identify PASSWORDHERE
/join #fakku


the /nick command will identify me as waar, the /nickserv identify command sends my password (as my name is password protected), and the join commands will have me join my preferred channels

(optional) select the IRC tab ----- select the options to rejoin channel on kick and connect, that should help you avoid pesky kicks from ops who like to play and to rejoin if you dc.


________________________________________________

this should set up your connections to the channel, and you're now ready to start chatting. Let me introduce you to registering your nickname so that you and you alone may use it in the future.

when you have your desired nickname (by using the /nick [insert nick here] command) you go to your rizon tab and type /nickserv REGISTER [password] [email], be sure to remember your password and remember that whether you choose upper or lower case DOES matter. The registration will last for about one month of inactivity before it returns to normal so if you plan on taking any trips and care about your nick you should get someone to help you out.

Here is an example of the code you'll need:

/nick jeff
nickserv REGISTER bob24 jeff@gmail.com

you will then receive and confirmation e-mail and you should be set. You can now set up your perform... button under the options tab.

Example:

/nick jeff
/nickserv identify bob24
/join #fakku

Now your name is registered, you should be alright but you may need to identify if you get disconnected at some point, at that point you will need to type in the /nickserv identify bob24 line.

[color=red]WARNING:[/color] DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REGISTER YOUR NICK WHILE INSIDE THE FAKKU CHANNEL WINDOW, IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY MAKE AN ERROR SOMEONE MAY REGISTER YOUr NICKNAME BEFORE YOU DO.

________________________________________________

Now, you're all set up, let's do some talking, I'm going to offer advice to the new users, but it's really only my opinion, feel free to ignore anything said in this section.

A fun command for people to use is the emote command, or /me: you will see pink text pop up and anything you type (in the 3rd person) will show as an emote(DO NOT OVER USE THIS).

Example: when you type /me likes lolis the channel will show a "waar likes lolis" comment.

At first you may want to get out that and talk as much as possible, and to make as many friends as possible but it's a good idea to lurk (sit in and observe) without talking too much, getting the lay of the lands will give you a general idea of what and what not to do.

We have rules at the site which are fairly important: be sure to read them when you first join by saying !rules in the channel, I will provide them in a spoiler tag at the bottom of this guide.

As much fun as IRC can be we also have some rules of internet etiquette or netiquette which are like unwritten taboo; breaking them wont cause anything other than it may negatively affect your reputation with some users. One of which is the use or overuse of capital letters or mixing them into your text, when you force users to read EVERYTHING LIKE YOU'RE YELLING or LikE YOu aRe JUsT CHiLdISH it makes people not what to read what you have to say, thereby defeating the purpose of talking in IRC. Another example is using multiples bright colors in your text, it does nothing but aggravate users to have to highlight everything you type. There are many more internet etiquette rules that exist and you can attempt to look for them or try to determine what you can do on you own.

The most important part of IRC is having fun, if someone is trolling you and no one is doing anything about it(the staff cant be around 24 hours a day) then you should log off for a bit, come back when the troll is gone.

So I hope to see you in the near future and please don't hesitate to call on me if you need some support.

your friendly neighborhood Waar.

IRC Rules:

This should be stickied.

Cool guide Waar.

Also, I support this.

A nice guide, although the you seemed to have made it quite linear to your thought process, so it appears a bit disorganized to me.

I'll attempt to mitigate this a little with an image I created. This is an addition to waar's guide, not a replacement.



Labels and their meanings:

A - This indicates the name of the IRC network you are on. This is also known as the the IRC server. The name next to the name of the network is your current nickname.

B - The red text with a # in front of it indicates the IRC channel (or room) you are currently in. IRC channels are unique for each IRC network, which means you cannot join the same IRC channel from a different network. As you join more IRC networks and channels, the left sidebar of mIRC will populate.

C - This is the server window. It indicates any status of the server as well as your status with the server. Upon initial join there will be a lot of scrolling replies from the server, you can ignore this. Occasionally you will notice things like Memoserv[1], I will explain this in part D.

D - Your vhost, or virtual host, is a mask of your actual IP/hostmask. This is useful for hiding from prying eyes (other users) how your computer accesses the internet. To obtain a virtual host, you will need to type:
/hostserv request <yourvhosthere>
Note that my vhost is "delicious.chocolate.pencils", indicating that there is no requirement for you to utilize an actual or even realistic host. However, you will need at least one "." in your virtual host.
Vhosts take a little while be implemented, and when yours is ready to be used the server will notify you that you have "new messages". To access these, type:
/memoserv read <messagenumber> (Or in this case, 1)
The server should tell you that your vhost has been approved. To activate it, type:
/hostserv on

E - This is the topic of the IRC channel you are in. This can be set by anyone, unless +t is enabled. (It usually is.) If +t is enabled, only operators can change the topic. The topic will also appear in green in chat when you first join, or whenever it is changed.

F - This is the chat. It will retain all messages sent to the channel for a long period of time. (Maybe a couple of hours of frivolous chatting.) Topic changes, user joins, and user parts are by default in green. User quits are in blue, and indicate that the user has left the server, not just the channel. In order to timestamp your messages, you can go to Tools -> Options -> IRC -> Messages -> Check Timestamp events.

G - This is the channel founder and owner. As you can see, he/she is denoted by a "~" next to their name. The channel founder has full control over the channel. Most channels only have a single channel founder, but it is possible to set other users as "~", although they will lack the ability to delete the channel, among a few other restrictions.

H - These are channel operators, denoted by "@". Operators have power to kick and ban, as well as set other users as halfop or autovoice. Operators are normally delegated the responsibility of moderating an IRC channel.

I - This is a halfop, denoted by "%". Halfops can kick and ban, and give other users voice.

J - These are users with voice. This is denoted by "+". Voiced users can continue to chat after channel mode +m (moderated) has been enacted, and can use control codes (such as color) if channel mode +c is enabled.

K - These are normal users, with no power or special permissions. The bulk of a IRC channel userbase will be normal users.

Not listed: Superop, denoted by "&". A superop can setup any auto-status up to operator. They can also implement autokick, which automatically bans and kicks a user on the autokick list.

It should be noted that no user level can affect a user of the level above it. Ie. a @ user cannot affect a & user.
I hope this visual helped a little bit.

did say the guide would be ongoing... but i guess you missed that part.

Great compilation, IRC can always be a bit daunting for first time users. It's great to see that this site has a healthy and active channel.

I'd +rep you, but I'm still a few short on the post requirement yet.

This will definitely help me out.

Thanks for the tut Waar, never really knew how to work IRC and just chatted away being ignit to all the technicalities. +rep man.

*edit, whenever I can rep again.

Awesome post about IRC it took me a while to understand how it works but this greatly helped me now off to do some lurking.

Now that I notice the rules need to be updated, the first one is a bit contradictory lol

edit: this post was a joke but it seems with the recent changes made that it was of poor taste.

Speaking as one who has absolutely no experience with IRC but has heard it mentioned quite often on the internet, I must say this guide is most beneficial to me, thank you for posting it.

I remember back in the day when we used IRC as a P2P for porn.

It still is but its more than porn.

true this guide didnt help me much being a long time IRC user
it took me a while to figure out how to use the /server irc.rizon.net command but once i figured that out /join #fakku
and /join #anonsleepover and put them in my auto connect list I was good to go.