Some folks who have been around awhile will remember that folks used to gather and chat on IRC. We're back! Please come join us!

What is IRC?

IRC is Internet Relay Chat, a way to connect to a server network to chat with other people. There are now a lot of forms of chat, mostly basically the same thing with slight variations in features. To learn more than you could imagine about IRC, go here:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat>

How do you find us?

The important thing with a small community is to get everyone going to the same place, so that we can find each other. We're gathering at #amputee_devotee
on EFNet. EFNet is a group of machines running IRC and connected together, one of the top six largest networks. If you connect to another IRC network, or use another type of chat, you will not find us.

To learn more that you could imagine about EFNet, go here (but you mostly don't care):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFnet

The Quickest Ways

It is possible that you could use this URL to find us:

irc://irc.efnet.org/#amputee_devotee

You can also go to http://www.efnet.org/ and use the "Webchat Login" by typing a nickname and #amputee_devotee or #ascotworld_chat

You can visit http://www.mibbit.com, click on "Launch App" under "Want to try Mibbit without an account?", pick EFNET, a nickname and type #ascotworld_chat or #amputee_devotee

More about IRC clients

To connect to IRC, you need a "client" that knows how to speak
IRC. These clients vary greatly in how they do their extras, but they all resemble each other. Some also know how to do other types of chat, in case you're on other networks.

That all means that your favorite client is probably not the same as mine, and that when you wonder how to do something, it's important to say what client you're using when you ask.

Networks and connections

Some IRC clients know about the big networks, and some do not. If your client knows about EFNet, all you really have to do is:

- start your client
- say you want EFNet
- type in a nickname
- type in #amputee_devotee



If your client does not know about the big networks, you will need to type in a server which is on EFNet. Known servers on EFNet include:

irc.efnet.org
irc.he.net
irc.umich.edu
irc.mzima.net
efnet.port80.se
irc.prison.net

Picking the right IRC client for you

IRC is mature, so a heck of a lot of programs know how to talk IRC.  There are web-based clients that present the chat as a web page and can be used from anywhere, and custom clients that can also talk other chat protocols like AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo. There is also a lot of variation depending on what operating system you use. For a longer list, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Clients.

I will list a couple of known-good favorites for each OS here:

Web-based: Mibbit (www.mibbit.com), WebIRC
Add-ons: Firefox+Chatzilla, Opera
Windows: mIRC, XChat
Unix and Linux: XChat, Pidgin
Mac OS X: Colloquy
iPad/iPhone: Colloquy, Mango IRC
Android: androIRC, Andchat

About Nicknames

Your nickname is how people see you online, and must be unique on the network. You should pick a nickname well and try not to change it much so that people can figure out you're who they talked to yesterday. If you do have to change your nick, you can type this:

/nick newname

This is best done to go from 'jama' to 'jama_tv' to show what you're doing.

Server commands

Above, the "/nick" is sent to the server as a command, not sent to all IRC users, and the server acts on it.

Other useful server commands that should always work are

Ping? Pong!