#BuickGN IRC Chat Homepage

IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988. Since starting in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries around the world. IRC is a multi-user chat system, where people meet on Channels (rooms, virtual places, usually with a certain topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion (unless a maximum is set by channel operators...we'll get to that shortly), or the number of channels that can be formed on IRC.

As a user you run a Client program which connects to a Server in an IRC network. All servers are interconnected and pass messages from user to user over the IRC network. One server can be connected to several other servers and up to hundreds of clients. Several larger and smaller IRC networks exist. The largest ones, called EFnet (Eris Free net), IRCnet, Undernet and Dalnet usually serve about 20000 users at any given moment. Lots of other ones are a little less populated but often offer more stability and convenience.

You can get an IRC client by anonymous ftp from several sites (use the one closest to you) If you are not familiar with anonymous ftp, ask your network provider for assistance. FTP sites are :

You can also visit the programs' World Wide Web pages to download the clients:

Besides running MS-Windows you need to have a properly installed WINSOCK. If you can use FTP, E-mail, News or other Internet programs from within Windows already, you can safely assume you have a winsock installed and it is working properly. If you do not have a properly working winsock installed on your PC you should install one first. Most Windows 3.1x users use the Trumpet winsock package. Windows95 users can use the Dial Up Networking module that is included in Windows95.

The first time you run your IRC client program you have to fill in some information about yourself, such as, your Internet address and the IRC server with which you want to connect. Your client may also have a section for you to specify the Port, Password, Real name, Email address, Nickname(s), IP address and Local Host name. These options are usually found under File/Setup/.

In general, the port number to use is 6667. Some, but not all, servers listen to other ports (most commonly in the 6665-6670 range). When in doubt, select port 6667. A port number should be seen as an entrance to a server. If you take the wrong entrance (port) the server will not understand what you are doing, and will disconnect you.

On IRC you are known to others by a nickname. You are free to choose any nickname you like, up to 9 characters long. Do not use spaces and avoid unusual ASCII characters in your nickname. It is very common to find people that use the same nickname and you may be asked or choose to switch nicknames to avoid confusion. Only on some IRC networks nicknames can be Owned. On Dalnet you can own your nickname. You register it by telling NICKSERV that you are you and you want to reserve this nick for yourself. You do this by typing /msg nickserv register <a password>. Then you identify by typing /msg nickserv identify <the password you used>. This must be done each time you sign on or nickserv will terminate your connection. The identify process can be automated through a script, or by modifying mIRC's settings in the "on connect-perform " tab.

Now that you're attached to a server, you'll want to join a channel. Namely #Buickgn if you're reading this. If you're using mIRC its easy, after you've connected, a JOIN box appears. There is a number of channels in the list you can join. From IRC help to knitting, to join #BuickGN, just type #BuickGN in the top entry box, then click join. If you want to be able to see #BuickGN in that list later you click add before you click join. Joining other channels is as simple as clicking the /j icon in the menubar and selecting the chanel you like. After you get comfortable with mIRC, you can start manually doing things, or creating alius' and using scripts to automate tasks. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. You just got here!! For those NOT using mIRC, after you've connected to the server, just type /join #BuickGN in the text area of the message box.

What do you do now ??? ENJOY You've taken the time to get in, you must be interested. Browse around...see whats on IRC. I must warn you, to be a successful part of #BuickGN you need to have a sense of humor! The people in there get quite cocky at times, and you may fall prey to a random kicking. A kicking is harmless and if you set your client to autorejoin on kick you'll be back before you even notice you were kicked. Unless you were being nasty or doing something grossly off color assume it was a newbie kick. Nothing personal. Heck, I've been an operator there (we'll get to that) for over a year and I still get kicked!!! Anyway, enjoy yourself. Become familiar with the guys.

The @ means that person is a channel operator. It is the operator's duty to keep the channel running smoothly be taking necessary action towards people causing problems. Being it a simple kick to wake them up to the fact they are doing something wrong, to a temporary or even permanent ban depending on the severity of the offense. The severity is up to the operator enforcing the rule, since judgements are not questioned except in special cases.

Thats pretty much all there is to it. Get on board and have fun!!

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This Turbo Regal Web Ring site
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