New to IRC - Here is a guide!

[JasonK75]

I know that for some folks who are new to IRC, or who have never used IRC, it can be a little confusing at first. The good news is that it doesn’t take long to become a pro at it! So I thought I would take the time to do a write up about it so that you all can join our channel and either get answers to your questions, talk about MIUI, or just hang out and make some new friends!

First you need to get to IRC. You can either use the Webchat on this site or you can download a IRC client like MIRC, XChat, or Trillian. I’m sure there are other out there, but those of the ones that I can think of off of the top of my head. I have tried all three and suggest Trilian since you can you it for your other IM (Google talk, yahoo, Facebook) and IRC. MIRC you have to pay for after the trial period, so that one is out. The other good one is XChat and you can find it here http://xchat.org/
If you want and IRC client for your Android phone there are some good ones on the market like AndChat, AndroChat, and yaaic.

After downloading your IRC client you want to select on freenode as the server. The address is irc.freenode.net and you can leave the port at 6667.

When setting up the client it is going to ask you what you want for your nickname, your real name, and your email address. It is good to do a real email address so that you can register your nickname for future use; you don’t want anyone to take your identiy.

I would also suggest doing a search in YouTube for the great videos out there to help out.

Here is a pretty good write up on setting up a IRC client:

http://www.ircbeginner.com/ircinfo/mirc.html
The channel you want to log into is #miui-us. You might have to do the following command if it does not automatically take you there:
/join #miui-us
When you’re in the room you will notice a list of all the people who are there to talk to. Those that have a + in front of their name are the founders and mods for the miui.us website. Those are ones there to help you or point you in the right direction. The + means voice, but we use it with freenodes practices to point people in the right direction.

Here is some great advice that EndlessDissent wrote up the other day about the IRC room.

Here are some tips to help you have the best IRC experience possible:

- Remember that not everyone in #miui-us has an the same phone as you do, so ask around!

- If you have a question, don't ask if you can ask it. Just take the time to write out your problem, being as specific and detailed as possible, just as if it were a forum post. That way, the people who are trying to help you can give you an answer right away instead of asking for each piece of information one at a time.

- Remember that the people in #miui-us are not tech support. While we will try our best to help you with your problem, everyone does have a life, and people are constantly entering and leaving the room. If your question gets lost in the shuffle, ask again when the activity dies down a bit.

- Feel free to stay and chat. Like I said, the channel is not a tech support room. We are there to talk and just generally hang out. A lot of us idle for minutes or even hours in between messages, but are always open to any conversation. You may even find yourself joining the channel for fun from time to time -- or if you're like most of us, every day.

Here are some commands to help you out as well:

/join
Type /join #channelname -- to join a channel of your choice
Example: /join #bossmom
What it looks like:

[18:44] *** Now talking in #beginner
--Op-- bossmom has joined the channel
[18:44] *** Topic is 'Beginner's Help/Chat Channel....All Are Welcome Here!! ®© [ENGLISH]'
[18:44] *** Set by X on Sun Jul 23 16:10:34

/me
The /me is an action message.
Type /me 'does anything'
Example: /me waves hello
What it looks like:
* bossmom waves hello

/msg
Type /msg nickname (message) to start a private chat.
Example: /msg puddytat Hey tat, how are you?
What it looks like:
-> *puddytat* Hey tat, how are you?

/nick
/nick changes your nickname
Example: type /nick newnickname (limit 9 characters)
What it looks like: I typed /nick luv2quilt
*** bossmom is now known as luv2quilt



Here are some great instructions on how to register your nick:


•
Why should I register my nick? Your nick is how people on freenode know you. If you register it, you'll be able to use the same nick over and over. If you don't register, someone else may end up registering the nick you want. If you register and use the same nick, people will begin to know you by reputation. If they're running IRC software which supports CAPAB IDENTIFY-MSG, they'll be able to tell when someone is spoofing your identity.

If a channel is set to mode +r, you won't be able to join it unless you are registered and identified to nickserv. If you try to join, you might be forwarded to a different channel. If a channel is set to mode +q $~a, you won't be able to speak while on that channel unless you are registered and identified. Both of these modes are used to reduce channel harassment and abuse.

For more information on how to set up a registered nick, take a look here:


• What is the recommended way to set up my IRC nickname?
Please follow these steps to set up your nick and configure your client. Check off each step to make sure it's been done:

1. Select a permanent, master nickname. If the nickname you want is registered but has expired, just ask a staffer and in most cases, we will be happy to drop it for you.

Please avoid using the name of a community project or trademarked entity, to avoid conflicts. Write down your password and be sure to keep the sheet of paper in a safe place.

2. Register your IRC nick:
/msg nickserv register <password> <email>
Do NOT include the < or > around your password or email.

3. The email address that you select will not be given out by staff, and is mainly used to allow us to help you recover the account in the event that you forget your password. For this reason, you are required to use a real, non-disposable, email address. Upon registering, you will receive an email with a verification command that you will need to run to complete the registration process. Failure to verify the account will cause it to be automatically dropped after about 24 hours.

4. To keep your email address private, rather than displaying it publicly, mark it as hidden (which is done by default for new accounts):
/msg nickserv set hidemail on

5. It's useful, but not required, to have an alternate nick grouped to your account. For example, if your primary nick is foo:
/nick foo_
then identify to your primary account
/msg nickserv identify foo <password>
and finally, group the new nick to your account
/msg nickserv group

6. Configure your client to identify itself to nickserv automatically whenever it connects to freenode so that it's less likely you'll connect to the network without being identified to nickserv. The easiest approach is to specify your nickserv password as a server password:

If your client supports server password, please set this up as :<accountname> <password>. (Make sure to include the colon, and not the literal < and >.) This will allow you to identify to your services account on connect, regardless of the nickname you are using when you connect. For example:
/connect irc.freenode.net 6667 :mquin uwhY8wgzWw22-zXs.M39p

• What's the easiest way to identify to nickserv when I connect to freenode? Just plug your nickserv password into your client as a server password, to make this work when connecting from a different nick than the one you've got registered use ':nick password'. You'll be identified to nickserv automaticaly when you connect. In some cases, it's more convenient to configure your client to send the command
/msg nickserv identify <password>
to achieve the same effect.

We recommend you read and follow the steps of the canonical nickname setup to make sure your client identifies reliably to nickserv.

Hope this helps!

[rayfin]

You know what amazes me about IRC. When I was 15, I first found IRC. That was around 1995. I remember a guys quit message was always "Will IRC be around in 10 years?" Every time he quit, someone would always comment and say "NO WAY". Here we are 16 years later...so yes, IRC is here to stay :P

Jason, let me add this if you don't mind. Vanilla IRC clients are so...bland!

Once you feel comfortable with IRC, and I'll assume it won' take you long since you've figured out how to root your phone and install MIUI, you may want to use something a little more powerful (the same reasons you switched ROMs). The standard IRC client is well, standard. mIRC is a very powerful client. You can configure it to do almost anything you want. ircN is a very powerful and simple to use mIRC script. Think of it as a UI for mIRC. www.ircn.org. It's been around for over 10 years.

I use ircN now only because I lost my script about 8 years ago in a format

The above only applies to Windows users.

[itlnstln]

Ha! This kinda makes me feel old. IRC is one of the older uses of the internet. It's amazing that as contemporaries like AOL (as an ISP), CompuServe, etc. have faded away, IRC is still going strong. I guess it's like the telephone in that regard; it's really hard to replace or make much better.

-Sent via Mosaic 1.0

[JasonK75]

You know what amazes me about IRC. When I was 15, I first found IRC. That was around 1995. I remember a guys quit message was always "Will IRC be around in 10 years?" Every time he quit, someone would always comment and say "NO WAY". Here we are 16 years later...so yes, IRC is here to stay :P

Jason, let me add this if you don't mind. Vanilla IRC clients are so...bland!

Once you feel comfortable with IRC, and I'll assume it won' take you long since you've figured out how to root your phone and install MIUI, you may want to use something a little more powerful (the same reasons you switched ROMs). The standard IRC client is well, standard. mIRC is a very powerful client. You can configure it to do almost anything you want. ircN is a very powerful and simple to use mIRC script. Think of it as a UI for mIRC. www.ircn.org. It's been around for over 10 years.

I use ircN now only because I lost my script about 8 years ago in a format

The above only applies to Windows users.

Yeah, edit away what you thing will help! I get a chuckle thinking about how long IRC has been around too!

[tolymatev]

Glad you guys got this

[dungchao]

Is there have a chinese? I'from china!

[dungchao]

从中国来的，交个朋友！From china！My Email:dangtao2009@163.com MSN：dangtao2009@msn.cn

[Dana66]

Think of it as a UI for mIRC. www.ircn.org. It's been around for over 10 years.

[tattooguy21]

I would like to cancel/delete my account and yet there seems to be no simple way to do this. I've emailed my request but to no avail. Can someone help me delete my account.

[tattooguy21]

I would like to cancel/delete my account and yet there seems to be no simple way to do this. I've emailed my request but to no avail. Can someone help me delete my account.

i really like what that tattooguy21 had to say, i'd like to delete my account too, but no one will respond to my delete request? jeepers creepers.