Messaging and Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

There are many programs available that allow you to communicate, in real time, with people from all over the world. Whereas most of these programs are free, some are supported by advertising, and others have a cost. Chatting is one of the most fun and useful qualities of the Internet.

There are many "instant messaging" applications available to the Internet user. With the availability of wireless hardware that is capable of sending and receiving messages from these services, they are becoming increasingly popular. Some of the most popular instant messaging clients are AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) provides a way of communicating in real-time with people from all over the world. It consists of various separate networks (or "nets") of IRC servers; machines that allow users to connect to IRC. The largest nets are: EFNet (the original IRC net, often having more than 15,000 people at once), UnderNet, IRCnet, DalNet, and NewNet.

Once connected to an IRC net, you will usually join one or more "channels" and converse with others there. On EFnet, there often are more than 5,000 channels, but only a few are mentioned here (enough to start with). Conversations may be public (where everyone in a channel can see what you type) or private (messages between only two people, who may or may not be on the same channel). IRC is not a "game", and it is highly recommended that you treat people you meet on IRC with the same courtesy as if you were talking in person.

In order to connect to IRC, the user runs a program (called a "client") to connect to a server on one of the IRC nets. The server relays information to and from other servers on the same net. Some recommended clients are mIRC for Windows, IRCle for the Mac, and IRCII for Unix.

The major IRC networks are really just collections of servers, or machines in various places, dedicated to the use of IRC. These different machines are then linked together to form the various different networks. However, servers on one network can not talk to servers on another network. For instance, if you were on a server on EFNet, and your friend was on a server on DalNet, you would not be able to communicate with each other. One of you would have to change to the other network in order to communicate. IRC servers are looked after by IRC operators, or "IRC ops". IRC ops manage the servers themselves, and do not get involved in personal arguments on channels, etc. They are not "IRC cops."

Channels are areas for group discussions. People can congregate in channel rooms and talk about topics in a wide audience. This allows people to focus on a particular topic and discuss it in a group oriented forum.

Channel names usually begin with a #, as in #irchelp. The same channels are shared among all IRC servers on the same network, so you do not have to be on the same IRC server as your friends. However, different networks have different channels.

Each user is known on IRC by a "nick", such as smartgal or funguy. It is best to use a nick that is not too common, to avoid conflicts with other users. For example, "john" is usually a poor choice for a nick. On most nets (DALnet is an exception), nicks do not belong to anyone, nor do channels. This can lead to conflict, so, if you feel strongly about ownership of such things, you may prefer DALnet to EFnet.

Channels do have moderators (called channel operators, or just "ops" for short), who can control the channel by choosing who may join (by "banning" some users), who must leave (by "kicking" them out), and even who may speak! Channel ops have complete control over the channel, and their decisions are final. If you are banned from a channel, send a /msg to a channel op and ask nicely to be let in (see the /who command in the next section to learn how to find ops). If they do not allow you to return, there isn't much you can do. You can, however, start your own channel!

Commands and text are typed in the same place. By default, commands begin with the "/" character. If you have a graphical client, like mIRC, many commands can be executed by clicking icons with the mouse pointer. It is, however, highly recommended that you learn to type in the basic IRC commands first. When entering commands, pay close attention to spacing and capitalization. The basic commands work on almost every client.

For a list of useful IRC Commands, click here.