Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

The Basics
IRC is the network of servers that coordinates real-time text-based conversations world-wide. There are actually several IRC networks: EFnet, UnderNet, DALNet, etc. . Any person connected to any server on any one of the networks can talk to any other person connected to any server on that same network.

How It Works
Once you are connected to an IRC server, you are available to any other person on the network the server belongs to. However, if all these people were just talking, it would get hectic (there are roughly 20-30,000 people on EFnet during peak hours). Therefore, channels (designated by the pound sign [#]) are created that people can join to discuss anything. People who run the channels are known as channel operators, or ops, and they can do things like kick people out, ban people from the channel, and op other people. When you join IRC, you will be asked to specify a nickname. This will be the handle that people can refer to you by. Every person must have a unique IRC nickname. You can privately message other people by using their nickname, or you can talk to them publicly in the channel.

Commands
All IRC commands begin with the forward slash (/). Below is a list of some basic commands and what they do.

       /server <server name>
Makes you join the server specified by server name.

       /join <channel name>
Makes you join the channel specified by channel name. Remember that all channel names begin with the pound sign (#).

       /leave <channel name>
Makes you leave the channel specified by channel name. The default is the channel you are currently talking to.

       /msg <nick> <message>
Privately messages the nick specified by nick with the message text specified by message.

       /quit
Makes you quit IRC.

What You Need
To IRC, you must have an IRC client. This will translate the commands sent to you by the IRC server into the text that you read, etc. For Windows 3.x/95/NT customers, the most popular client is mIRC, which is free for you to download and use. For Macintosh customers, IRCle and Homer are the two most popular clients which you can download. In addition to these clients, numerous scripts can be added to them to enhance their usability.

IRC Abuse
As with all media of mass-communication, people try to abuse IRC. Most of the time, this is limited to flooding other people with large amounts of data to make them drop their connection or change their nick. Sometimes, this method is used to take over other channels. Another form of abuse is the IRC bot, which is script that simply imitates a real user autonomously. Typically, these are used to run channels, which isn't bad unless it is done on a server that forbids bots. However, some bots are actively used to flood people and make life hard for regular chatters.