IRC Tutorial – by doofus123; reviewed by rile.inc

Brief Introduction: IRC stands for ; it is considered the grandfather of all chat rooms and instant messengers where people connect to a server, join a channel and communicate with one another. IRC is designed for group conversation; however, one-on-one private chat is also possible.

Brief History of IRC (from Wikipedia.org): IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen (nickname "WiZ") in late August 1988 to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser talk) on a BBS called OuluBox in Finland. Oikarinen found inspiration in Bitnet Relay Chat which operated on the Bitnet network. IRC gained prominence when it was used to report on the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 throughout a media blackout. It was previously used in a similar fashion by Kuwaitis during the Iraqi invasion. Relevant logs are available from ibiblio archive.

Getting Started: In order to connect to an IRC network, you will need an IRC client. There are several clients available on the Internet free of charge for Microsoft Windows, Mac, and unix- based operation systems. Notable ones such as HydraIRC and IceChat are popular among the community because of their ease of use and the ability to customize themselves. (Please note that mIRC, despite its popularity, is a shareware, meaning that you must register and pay for it after 30 days of free trial; the two clients mentioned above are free.) See Wikipedia’s list of IRC clients: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients

From this point on, I will base the tutorial solely upon HydraIRC because I am most familiar with this client; however most commands and features are common among the various clients available out there.

Once it has been installed, you will need to establish and save an identity within the client. The identity helps the client and server identify who is using and trying to connect. You don’t have to put your real name on this part of the set up; in fact, it is best to stay anonymous when interacting with strangers. In HydraIRC, you can go into “Options” and “Prefs” to add, edit, or delete existing identities.

Connecting to a server: When you launch HydraIRC, you will see a message box titled “unknown.” That’s because you are not connected to any server yet. Now let’s assume your goal is to connect to Ecchi-Haven’s IRC channel and download your favorite loli-wallie pack. How do you know what channel and server Ecchi-Haven belongs to? It is labeled on the front page of www.ecchi-haven.net, in the News Flash box where it says “Hey guys! Dont forget to visit us on IRC. You can download ENTIRE packs there!” followed by “irc.immortal-anime.net” and “#ecchi-haven.” What does this mean? “irc.immortal-anime.net” is the server where channel “ecchi-haven” is located. In other words, if you want to join channel “ecchi-haven,” you must first connect to “irc.immortal-anime.net.” Once you know where you’re going, it is easy from this point forth. In order to execute an action, you must enter a command. All commands in the IRC begin with the slash sign “/”. The syntax to connect to a server is “/server [server_name]” (excluding the square brackets and quote signs; do not omit spaces or replace them with underscores). In our case, we want to connect to “irc.immortal-anime.net,” so type in:

/server irc.immortal-anime.net

This command connects you to the server “immortal-anime.net.” You will see a bunch of messages flash by, don’t worry, they’re simply rules and other miscellaneous tips regarding the server. You can scroll up to read through them when you have time, for the time being, just ignore them. You could try connecting to prominent networks such as EFnet and . Each network contains a number of servers, and the servers contain various channels.

So now you’re connected to the right server, and the channel is right around the corner. The syntax to join a channel is “/join [#channel_name]”. All channel names have a number sign prefix to begin with; for example, channel ecchi-haven is “#ecchi-haven.” Type in:

/join #ecchi-haven

A new window will pop up; this is the message box where you could chat with other members who are also online. Now you’ve joined channel Ecchi-Haven. Welcome aboard! Once again, you will see flashy messages fly by; they’re rules regarding the channel and other random messages with the topic set on the top. In HydraIRC You should see a user list to the right of the channel window with Anime-Addict listed under the Owner category and other users in various categories. I won’t explain the meaning of each title because this is not the purpose of this tutorial. However, be warned that if you spam, piss, or annoy an Owner, Admin, or an Op off, you will be kicked or banned from the channel; so, behave yourself and be courteous of others.

We’re one step away from achieving your loli dreams. Before advancing, I should explain what “bots” are for later reference. A bot can be treated like a file server where you could request a file to be sent to you. They appear like another user on the list; however, they’re not actual human users. [XDCC]Miharu is the bot on ecchi-haven. Please visit www.ecchi-haven.net and click on “XDCC List” just below the “Forum” button on the left side menu. This page contains the list of ecchi packs Miharu has and the trigger. A trigger is a command to a channel or a user that will cause a reaction when entered; in this case, the reaction is to send you the file. Let’s say you want to download “Loli_Wallie_pack_04.rar.” It is number 14 on the page, so you type in

/msg [XDCC]Miharu send #14 This means that you send a message to [XDCC]Miharu for an XDCC file transfer, and you’re asking for file number 14. Since Miharu is a bot, it will respond automatically with the file requested and you can either accept or reject.

To accept files for HydraIRC, go the bottom left-hand corner and click on the “Transfer” tab. This tab shows all incoming/outgoing and pending file transfers currently in queue. Right click on the pending file and choose “accept.” The default incoming folder is c:\Program Files\HydraIRC\downloads. You can change this in “Pref” under “Options.”

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Please PM me for any incorrect information, grammatical error, and typos and you will be properly accredited.

For more in-depth information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat