Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet by Electronic Frontier Foundation (early reader chapter books .txt) 📕

You are now in channel 0, the “null” channel, in which you can look

up various help files, but not much else. As you can see, IRC takes over

your entire screen. The top of the screen is where messages will

appear. The last line is where you type IRC commands and messages. All

IRC commands begin with a /. The slash tells the computer you are about

to enter a command, rather than a message. To see what channels are

available, type

/list

and hit enter. You’ll get something like this:

Channel Users Topic

#Money 1 School CA$H (/msg SOS-AID help)

#Gone 1 ----->> Gone with the wind!!! ------>>>>>

#mee 1

#eclipse 1

#hiya 2

#saigon 4

#screwed 3

#z 2

#comix 1 LET’S TALK ‘BOUT COMIX!!!!!

#Drama 1

#RayTrace 1 Rendering to Reality and Back

#NeXT 1

#wicca 4 Mr. Potato Head, R. I. P.

#dde^mhe` 1 no’ng chay? mo*? ...ba` con o*iiii

#jgm 1

#ucd 1

#Maine 2

#Snuffland 1

#p/g! 4

#DragonSrv 1

Because IRC allows for a large number of channels, the list might

scroll off your screen, so you might want to turn on your computer’s

screen capture to capture the entire list. Note that the channels

always have names, instead of numbers. Each line in the listing tells

you the channel name, the number of people currently in it, and whether

there’s a specific topic for it. To switch to a particular channel,

type

/join #channel

where “#channel” is the channel name and hit enter. Some “public”

channels actually require an invitation from somebody already on it. To

request an invitation, type

/who #channel-name

where channel-name is the name of the channel, and hit enter. Then ask

someone with an @ next to their name if you can join in. Note that

whenever you enter a channel, you have to include the #. Choose one

with a number of users, so you can see IRC in action.

If it’s a busy channel, as soon as you join it, the top of your

screen will quickly be filled with messages. Each will start with a

person’s IRC nickname, followed by his message.

It may seem awfully confusing at first. There could be two or

three conversations going on at the same time and sometimes the

messages will come in so fast you’ll wonder how you can read them all.

Eventually, though, you’ll get into the rhythm of the channel and

things will begin to make more sense. You might even want to add your

two cents (in fact, don’t be surprised if a message to you shows up on

your screen right away; on some channels, newcomers are welcomed

immediately). To enter a public message, simply type it on that bottom

line (the computer knows it’s a message because you haven’t started the

line with a slash) and hit enter.

Public messages have a user’s nickname in brackets, like this:

If you receive a private message from somebody, his name will be

between asterisks, like this:

tomg

11.3 IRC COMMANDS

Note: Hit enter after each command.

/away When you’re called away to put out a grease fire

in the kitchen, issue this command to let others know

you’re still connected but just away from your terminal

or computer for awhile.

/help Brings up a list of commands for which there is a help

file. You will get a “topic:” prompt. Type in the

subject for which you want information and hit enter.

Hit enter by itself to exit help.

/invite Asks another IRC to join you in a conversation.

/invite fleepo