So you want to connect to the net? Chat to people around the world? Exchange files with other people quickly and convieniently? You've come to the right place - the Internet Relay Chat system.
1.1.0 What is IRC?
IRC is a worldwide system of machines (IRC 'servers') each with a number of users ('clients') connected to them. These machines pass along messages that the clients send them - over fast internet links - and so allow clients to talk to one another. The clients appear, for all intents and purposes, to be directly connected to each other - something I'm sure your Arc isn't quite up to over a 14k4 modem ...
So IRC allows you to chat to your friends around the world while only taking up a small amount of precious modem bandwidth. All you people with Ethernet can look smug at this point - we modem users have a raw deal with most worldwide connections.
You, as an IRC client, connect to a server which is fairly local to you - the majority of you will be using the server at Demon Internet Services Limited - irc.demon.co.uk. This means you will have a quick link to this machine and all those users logged on to it. Any messages to people on other servers will take slightly longer to reach their destination but this will be transparent to you.
1.1.1 Nicknames and channels
On IRC you must assume a handle, or IRC Nick, by which to call yourself. There is no way to reserve a nick so if someone else is using yours when you try to log on you will be prompted for another. I, for example, assume the nick of TheMoog. I've never had any problems with nick clashes - but then again TheMoog isn't an obvious nickname to choose. The moral is - choose a nick that is both original and easy-to-type! So, good nicks are :
Zorack, pixeleyes, RiscTaker, WildPoet, spoonman
Bad nicks are :
joe, _!@#$_, Pierre ... you get the idea, right?
On IRC you can send messages to other people directly (private messages) by referring to them by their nick. This is all well and dandy - but what about meeting new people or talking to more than one person at once?
IRC gets round this by having a 'channel' system. A user may join any number of channels (although the unregistered version of !IRClient deals with only one at a time). All users on a channel 'hear' what the other users on that channel are saying - kind of like a 'room'. Private messages remain private, however. Channels are usually topic-based - for example you will probably check out channel #acorn first! Channel names start with either a '#' or a '&' - those beginning with '&' are local channels to the server you're on.
So what channels are there? Well there are no 'set' channels at all - to make a new channel you simply join it! So if you are interested in fast cars - just go ahead and join a channel called #fastcars. If there are people already on that channel you can chat to them - otherwise a new channel is created and you become the only person on it - but anyone else may join at any time! It is possible (although silly) to list the current channels - usually more than 2000 at any one time.
Normally, you tend to guess the names of channels, or ask people on the channels you *do* know about. The other option is to be invited on to channels by other people. Some channels in fact can only be joined after you've been invited by someone already on it.
1.1.2 Who's in charge?
The simple answer is, like the internet, no-one really. There are 'superusers' on IRC - they are called IRC operators (IRCops) and they have the power to kick you off a server, and indeed kick servers off! However, most people never have to talk to them. If you are experiencing *really* bad problems from other users on IRC - terrible abuse or suchlike then try contacting an IRC operator - they tend to hang out on #Twilight_Zone and #EU_Opers I'm told. If you meet someone who claims to be an IRC operator then do a /WHOIS on them (see below) - if they are you will be told.
Well - they're the big boss people - but what about the rest of us? On each channel there are three levels of status - the usual 'bog-standard' status, a 'priveleged bog-standard' user, and a channel operator (chanop). The first person on a channel, ie the channel creator, becomes a chanop. Chanops have the ability to kick other users off the channel he is operator on, ban poeple from it, and change the channel 'mode'. Note that your user priveleges are different on different channels, so someone who is chanop on #acorn cannot kick someone off channel #TheMoog, unless they're a chanop on #TheMoog too. There can be many chanops on a channel - a chanop has the power to give and take chanop status from other people.
The mode of a channel reflects the status of the channel itself, for example the #acorn channel is normally found with the status '+nt': the 'n' means no-one outside of the channel can send messages to it, and the 't' means the topic of the channel cannot be changed by anyone except by chanops.
1.1.3 IRC netiquette
As on the rest of the 'net there is a way to behave on IRC so as to prevent yourself being spammed completely. Generally, if you behave politely and ask questions which you believe cannot be answered anywhere else then you can't go wrong. Remember that English is not the only language in the world, 90% of non-English and American people speak bewilderingly brilliant English though (eh, pixeleyes? :-)
Things that will get you kicked off (in general terms) are :
* Repeatedly asking 'dumb' questions - if no-one answers it the first couple of times then accept that no-one wants to answer it and politely give up.
* Spamming channels - sending huge amounts of data directly to the channel (IRClient doesn't support this yet...:-). So broadcasting the entire RiscOS PRM's to #windows95 will get you forcibly extracted and possibly you could find yourself with a few Gb of rubbish in your mailbox....
* Being downright obnoxious or rude - whether or not people put up with your language changes from channel to channel - you can't help but be a bit crude on #teenagesex for example. Channel #acorn tends to be farily liberal but don't push your luck.
Remember the basic net acronyms as if you are new to IRC most people's talk looks like gibberish! TTFN = ta-ta for now, BRB = be right back, AFAIK = as far as I know, ROFL = roll on the floor laughing etc etc. Also note that people try to show their emotions in different ways, eg smileys ( :-) :-( :D 8-) etc etc) and 'emotes' like *grin*, *sob* and so forth.
1.2.0 Setting up your default session
....AAAK! Run out of time - to be completed eventually
