SA Course: IRC Basics and Operators

IRC Basics

Introduction

This course seeks to establish for you the basic understanding required to use IRC. IRC is a legacy platform used as a primary form of communication between members due to the ubiquity of its clients and the stability of its service. This course will primarily focus on IRC Terminology and basic commands.

What is IRC?

IRC, which stands for Internet Relay Chat, is a type of real time messaging and discussion forum used as one of the primary forms of communication by the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Much like what other instant messaging services offer, IRC allows its users to instant message with individuals and share files, but with the exception of also having chatrooms in the form of “channels”. Therefore a user could log onto the network, and begin messaging other known users or at the same time join a channel to speak with the group of users in that channel.

For the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, IRC offers our club an important aspect as you can use IRC to chat individually AND with other members of your house, clan, or the DJB in a group discussion where other programs are limiting on one or both of these components. Furthermore, this provides an important connection for the various types of members of our club since writers would not have access to in-game communication that the gamers would.

How does someone connect to IRC?

There are a number of options available to IRC users on how to connect, but they are divided into two specific categories:

• Program-based IRC
• Web-based IRC

A Program-based IRC means the user downloads a specific program designed to access the IRC system. However, these program vary due to operating systems, user interface design, programming language, and whether they are offer free or at a cost. This course will teach you how to use mIRC as it covers most of the operating systems in use.

• Other courses are available in the Communications Department that discuss what programs members can use based on their operating system. Furthermore, they detail the benefits and negatives of each program and discuss installation & setup.*

Web-based IRC is the other category. It groups a series of java-based programs that run through your internet browser. Rather than installing one of the IRC programs, a user only has to go to the URL location and can log into the server through one of their browser programs and it will connect them to the network. However, this does have the downside of lack of customization and may be blocked by personal firewalls. A number of Undernet servers and the Dark Jedi Brotherhood itself offer java-based programs for your use.

You can find some of the web-based IRC servers here:

• Bucharest
• Budapest
• Mesa
• Tampa
• IX

mIRC

The suggested program that most Windows users prefer is mIRC. It is the most stable and reliable windows based IRC program, and still receives regular updates. It can be found here.

When using mIRC, it will prompt you to donate in order to buy your license, we recommend this as it helps support the client and also helps to keep it up to date. Once you have clicked through, you will need to setup your Login.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot1-login.png

As you will note, mine is rather short. The login has to be unique to you, so many common ones are already taken. Your user name cannot have ' or @ in it. So think wisely when creating it. It is not permanent, and can be altered as you wish. Mine has a ` in it in order to achieve the effect of a '.

Now for your servers. Select Servers under Connect.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot2-servers.png

As you can see, my server list is out of date. However, one of the benefits of using mIRC with Undernet is the ability to select the Random EU or US server. This pings Undernet for the most reliable server attached to that continent and then connects you to it. I strongly suggest selecting the random, as it allows you to not have to keep your servers manually up to date.

Highlight the random server and click Select. Left click on Connect, then click on the Connect button.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot3-statusscreen.png

Once you have clicked Connect, you will get your status screen. When it has completed the login process, it will look like the above screenshot. As you can see, Undernet actually selected a variant of the IX Undernet server for me, and connected me on my first attempt.

From here, you may execute the basic IRC commands to join #DB or your unit channel. MIRC supports favorites, so you can automate that if you wish.

Mibbit

On the DJB Website we have a Mibbit client installed for you to use so that if you do not wish to install a client, or if you are using a Mac or Linux computer, you can still interact with others on IRC. Here you can find the link to it.

• It functions exactly the same, only it is all automated. Type in your preferred username and click connect and then it looks like this.*

File:IRCBascis-screenshot4-mibbit.png

What does the DJB use?

While there are many Networks available to connect to on the IRC system, not all of them are public or available to the club. Furthermore, an individual on one network would not be able to communicate with another user on a different network - much the same as if you were on different “gaming servers”. Therefore it is very important that when attempting to connect with other members of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood that we all use the same network; Undernet has been selected for our club to use.

As part of the Undernet network, there are a number of servers available to connect based out of different locations around the world. While any server will connect you, so long as you are using an Undernet server, you may wish to use one that is closer to your location so you have a better connection to the network.

Some example servers:

File:IRCBascis-screenshot5-servers2.png

Once a user is connected to an Undernet server, they can then being messaging other users on the network or they can then join a *Channel* for group discussion. In the Dark Jedi Brotherhood there are a number of channels available for use ranging from our main club channel to unit or society channels. A list of currently active DJB channels can be found below:

To join any of these, just enter: ~/join #channelname~

For example: ~/join #db~

File:IRCBascis-screenshot6-join.png

How to talk?

So you have joined the network & server, now what? No matter which IRC device you are using the same commands are available:

In channel

File:IRCBascis-screenshot7-channel.png

~/join #channelname~ will open up a new window with the channel you have decided to join. Typically, on the left you will see the chat window, which upon entry will announce: you are now in the channel, what is the channel topic (if there is one, sometimes netsplits reset the channel topic) and when it was last set & by whom. On the right side of the screen, you will see a list of users in the same channel as you. To begin chatting with them, click on the text box at the bottom of the chat window, write your message, and press enter to send it to the channel.

Private Messaging

Should you know of an individuals nickname, which is their user name, you direct message them using the command: ~/msg nick message~

For example: ~/msg Solari Hi buddy, how are you today?~

This is useful for chatting with individuals outside of the group channels, which you can also access by right clicking their name, selecting message from the menu, and then typing your text. Depending on your program settings your individuals will either open a new chat window or will show in your current window. The default is a new window.

Basic Commands

There are a number of other commands that you may wish to use. Below is a list of several commons commons but note that it is not a complete list of available commands.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot8-commands.png

What does the + and @ mean?

When you join a channel, you may notice that some users have a symbol in front of their names and are listed at the top of the channel. What this denotes is that these users have additional rights in the channel:

+Username (for example, +Solari): These users have the right to speak in the channel when it is moderated (locked). Most DJB channels are kept open except when meetings are happening or trivia events have reach the tie-breaker round and only a select few are able to add to the chat.

@Username (for example, @Solari): These users are the Operators of the channel. A brief bit on them has been included from the old IRC course.

Operators are gods, they can determine everything in the channel. When an operator asks you to do or cease something, you comply or risk being kicked out of the channel. Operators can be recognized in the right-hand user listing by the "@" in front of their nicks (or screen names, though this term generally applies to individual chat programs like AIM).

Code of Conduct

The Dark Covenant acts as the legal manifesto of the club. It not only details the rights that members have in our club but also touches on specific articles of conduct that are deemed unacceptable. While it is highly recommended that you take the time to read the Dark Covenant, below are some excerpts from it on unacceptable conduct.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot9-Conduct.png

excerpt from the Dark Covenant

Aside from the Covenant, there is also a certain expectation of users in an official Dark Jedi Brotherhood channel and these have been listed below. It should be pointed out though that while these expectations below are for main club channels, Clan and Independent House channels are allowed to operate on their own expectations so long as they do not conflict with the Covenant rules above.

File:IRCBascis-screenshot10-Expectations.png

More information on the Code of Conduct for users using DJB communications (specifically IRC) can be found in the IRC Guidelines.

Conclusion

This course has covered what IRC is, how to use it both as an installed program and from the web, and the conduct you are expected to observe while using it. Further knowledge awaits you in the IRC Operators course, which you will need to be come an Operator for your House or Clan.