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A few words about IRC

What is IRC?

Well you're maybe wondering what this IRC thing actually is, so i'll fill you in; IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, and it's a hell of a thing. IRC allows you to chat through your keyboard in real time with other people from all over the world over the Internet. Now it's true that IRC on it's own is purely a text based medium, and you'd think it would be difficult to get to know people without actually seeing them, and yes, i'll be quite honest, it is, but it isn't impossible. More of that later :)

How does it work?

Well you've obviously got access to the Internet in some way, or you couldn't be sitting here reading this. If you don't have IRC on your PC (i'll assume you're not a UNIX or Mac user, just to keep things simple), you could download the software, install it and be chatting with us within 30 minutes. Follow the link at the bottom of this page and go grab the software. It's very simple :)

There are a number of "IRC networks", but don't be confused by the term "network". In the context of IRC, a "network" is just a bunch of servers (big computers) connected together over the Internet. Lets take Undernet, since it's the IRC network I use most. There are some 20 plus servers connected to the Internet, all talking to each other. Once you set up your IRC software, you connect to an Undernet server, and you are then capable of chatting with anybody else connected to ANY Undernet server, whether it's the one you're on or not. You don't really have to do anything except say hello and type. Clever eh!

Well on a busy night on Undernet, that could be 11 or 12,000 people, so how do you decide who to talk to? Conveniently. each network is divided up into "channels", which are like "rooms" where people of similar interests gather and talk to each other. There may be a channel called, for example #gardening, where people interested in the subject can gather and share ideas. If there isn't one, you can start your own and wait for people to find it. Let's assume that in the channel #gardening, there is one person that shares your passion for lawn care, you can just ask them, "hey is it okay if we talk privately?" and if they agree, you can have a private conversation that only the two if you can see. Simple huh? Everybody mentioned on our homepage originally met in the channel #ircbar on Undernet, and we all still use it on a daily basis, either as normal "chatters" or helping in some way to run the channel. #ircbar isn't a specialist channel, it's just a place for people to come and meet, and chat about anything that takes their fancy.

#ircbar is still, and will always be for me, my first home on IRC - it's the best channel there is :))) Helene and I started #our_corner as a smaller, more intimate place where could figuratively "put our feet up" and chat with a few people without the screen whizzing past at a trazillion miles per hour :)

It wouldn't be fair if i didn't warn you, before you go further, that IRC is not moderated by anyone. The users themselves decide what they are happy talking about. There is no "policeman" standing watching what people say, warning them that something is not a suitable topic for discussion. What i'm telling you is, before you let your 9 year old go surfing around on IRC unsupervised, just be aware that it has it's fair share of rather sick people, the same as the real world does, so please be careful. Having said that, the horror stories relayed on TV shows like Oprah Winfrey are HUGELY exxagerated. I've met more than 20 people that i first got to know on IRC, and they've all been great !!!

All you need to do is download and install the software, decide what nickname you want to be known as once you've connected, and away you go.

So who are all these people?

Well as you'd expect, since the Internet is so popular (not to mention inexpensive) in North America, there is a large percentage of Americans and Canadians on IRC, but they're VERY far from being the only users. There are many Europeans, Asians, Australasians, South Americans, people from Africa and the Middle East, The Carribean, you name it. IRC attracts people from all walks of life, and the thing that binds the majority of them together is that they're NICE PEOPLE!!!!

I myself am English, but have previously lived in Belgium and Singapore. My good friends on Undernet include Americans, Canadians, other folks from the UK, Dutch, Germans, Australians, New Zealanders, Malays, Singaporeans, Philippinos, Scandinavians, Belgians, Spaniards, Argentinians, Swiss, and more. IRC knows no ethnic or class boundaries, other than the fact that you need to have some means of getting on the Internet to be able to join in. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to own your own PC, there are an increasing number of "Internet Cafes" springing up around the world where you can connect relatively inexpensively. English is the common language of IRC, but if you'd feel happier speaking, say, French, Spanish or Bahasa Malay, there are channels where you can do that too. There's something for everyone !

Can people really get romantically involved via a keyboard?

Gosh yes!. One of the hardest things to avoid on IRC is falling madly in love with eveyone you meet!!!!

People can be so nice, and the very fact that you can't see them generally means that you're unincumbered by the things that would normallly attract you to a person. It's so easy for people to reveal things about themselves on IRC that they would normally have a problem doing even to somebody they'd known personally for years. You can know somebody really quite intimately in such a short space of time, if of course, they're being honest with you. Clearly, since all you see is text, it's hard to know when people are outright lying, but after a while, you begin to figure out the signs. This may all seem weird and somehow unnatural to people who aren't yet initiated into it, but it's not THAT dissimilar to pen-pal relationships, except for the fact that it's happening in front of your eyes and not as a historical event in a letter.

I'll give you a few examples of situations that are current between friends of mine from IRC - even as I write:

Two friends of mine who met on here last year in #ircbar, and were a Continent apart at the time, married on Monday and now live together :))) (congrats to Gate and Snooze - I love you guys)

My best male friend from IRC, has recently moved to Australia to be with his IRC love :))) (it'll work out JC, we all know that)

Another great friend, who helped me stay sane during the worst moments of my marriage breakup in 1996 has now left Australia and is living with her IRC love in Vancouver. :))) (love ya Kiwi, keep him in line)

Another two friends in Michigan are now very much in love and planning a future together, and i've never seen either of them so happy :))) (told ya Shan !!)

I won't even mention myself. If you've prodded around the rest of our page, i expect by now you've formed your own impression *broad smile*

I'm not interested in meeting people for that !!!!!

Fine! I wasn't for my first 3 years on IRC either, and neither are MANY MANY other people! It's very adaptable that way, you can make of it what you will, if you just want it to pass the time, or to share information, or to just make new friends, that's fine! If it just gets too much, it has one HUGE advantage over normal interaction with people in your life, you can simply TURN IT OFF! Whether you're interested in romance or not, i'll guarantee it won't be long before you know the names of people's spouses, kids, cats, favourite musicians and the like, it's kind've unavoidable :)

In Summary -

IRC is an acquired taste, you may find it terribly confusing at first, or you may simply take to it like a duck to water. Either way, I guarantee it'll broaden your horizons, one way or another. Give it a shot, install the software, connect to an Undernet server and then type /join #our_corner and come chat to us :))))

By the way, if any of my friends are reading this an wondering how I had the time to sit down and write all this stuff, my phone is currently disconnected by British Telecom for non-payment of a bill they haven't even sent me yet - go figure *sigh* Just goes to prove that technology doesn't solve everything i guess.

Tempted yet? Give it a try!

mircnow

Click here to visit the home of mirc and grab the irc client software so you can come and chat to us