Samus.co.uk's IRC Chatroom
As well as having the - extremely popular - forums we've been building up our online relay chat. It's a much
more instantaneous way of communicating and having a good laugh. It doesn't cost you a penny to join either!
Darth Nat has very kindly set up a mini-mIRC guide to get everyone
setup and running with the minimum of hassle (and it even taught me an mIRC nOOb a thing or two)...
A Beginner's Guide to Using the IRC Channel:
Everything You've Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask
The first thing you need to know about the IRC channel is how to get there. Of course, you'll need an IRC
client such as mIRC (found at MIRC.com and is 100% free). Once you have a client such as mIRC
downloaded, you can get to the channel in one of two ways. The first way is to click the following link
(which is also found on the samus.co.uk homepage): irc://espernet/samus.co.uk. This does not work for
everyone, and if it does not open up your client and establish contact with the server, then simply type
the following into a blank IRC window: /server irc.esper.net -j #samus.co.uk
.:Mac IRC Clients:.
:: Ircle
:: Colloquy
:: X-Chat Aqua
(Thanks goes to DJGrenola for many of the links to these clients).
.:Nicknames:.
Alright, now that you are at the channel, you probably want to register your nickname, right? Trust me, this
is a very good thing to do, since we have had a couple instances of other people registering people's nicks
just to annoy them. So, choose the nickname you want (you can easily change your current nickname with a
very simple command. Simply type /nick with a space followed by your desired nickname. Keep in mind that
nicks cannot have spaces or special characters other than underscores). Then, type the following, inserting
the information you want where it says "password": /msg nickserv register password. That's all there is too
it. Now, whenever you log onto the server, you will want to type /msg NickServ IDENTIFY password. There is
also a "ghost command" you can use to keep people from using your nick. Thanks are due to Aegis Runestone
who told me how to do this. Type: /msg nickserv ghost nick password. It still isn't used that often, though.
.:The "Ranks":.
Upon entering the channel, you will notice that some people have special symbols before their names, such as
an @ or a +. These indicate certain "ranks", so to speak. Some indicate ops (a fancy term for a chatroom
moderator) or give certain users special privaleges. The ranks and their significances are as follows:
IRCops: These are the most powerful guys on any IRC server. They can pretty much do anything, from op
themselves and others to glining (permanently banning someone from the server) people. Don't mess with
these guys. They have no symbol next to their name, but they will generally give themselves ops (@).
@nick: The @ indicates that this person is an op. They can kick, ban, and change the mode, but they can
have their powers stripped by other ops. There are quite a few ops in the Samus.co.uk channel: Andrew_Mills,
DarthNat, Monster, Moonlight_Sonata, PhazonEater, and RandomExtremity. There are also various others who
are given temporary ops when there are not many active permanent ops in the channel.
+nick: The + indicates that this person has "voice", meaning that they can talk if the channel is muted
(see the Channel Modes section for details) and can still talk after being banned. It has little
significance in a normal chat.
Please do not ask us for ops. You will not be given them. Thank you.
.:Basic IRC Commands:.
One of the coolest things about IRC is the ability to use special commands for various effects. Here are a
few of the most common and best commands (note that there is always a space following every command):
/me: If you type /me followed by text, it will place whatever you type after "*yournick" and put the text
in a different color. This is called Action Text, and basically serves the same function as putting text
between astericks (*'s) in a message board. For example, if I wanted to say "DarthNat destroys the world",
I would type "/me destroys the world".
/nick: This simple command simply changes your nickname. For example, if I wanted to be called "Poop", I
would type "/nick Poop".
/query: Type this command followed by someone's nickname to enter into a private conversation with them. It
works like a PM, basically.
/quit: This command does exactly what it sounds like: it quits IRC. You can also leave a little message for
the guys remaining in the channel by typing stuff after the command. For example, if I wanted to say "You
guys suck" when I leave, I would type "/quit You guys suck".
/part: This simply causes you to leave the current channel, but not close IRC.
/whois: Type this command followed by the nick of someone in the channel to see various information about
them. Quite useful for ops, not as much so for regular members.
/join: Type this followed by the name of a channel, such as #metroid, and you will join that channel.
/hop: This mode is kinda useful if you are given ops and want them to take effect immediately. It causes you
to leave the channel and immediately rejoin.
/clear: This clears the IRC window of all text. Useful if something is said that you don't want your parents
to see...
/help: This will bring up the help files.
.:Channel Modes:.
Channel modes define a channel. Various modes add or restrict certain options. Only ops may change the mode.
Here are basically the only modes we use in the Samus.co.uk chatroom:
+m: This mode mutes the channel. Only ops and members with voice will have their messages seen by others.
This is useful if there are some really obnoxious members in the chat who the ops don't want to listen too.
+r: This mode disables external messages. In other words, someone not in the channel can't send a message
into the channel. This mode is always set at the Samus.co.uk channel.
+t: This mode makes it to where only ops can change the topic (the message that you see when you first join
the channel). This is always on at the Samus.co.uk chatroom due to some guys changing the topic to say
things we don't like.
+n: This mode means that there are no external messages allowed in the channel. In other words, someone who
isn't in the channel can't randomly send a message into the channel. Don't ask me how it is done, I don't
know. This mode is always set at the Samus.co.uk chatroom as well.
+b: If you see this mode being set, followed by your IP address, it means you are being banned, you bad, bad
person.
+c: This mode eliminates the use of text colors. Quite useful if people are overusing them.
.:Script Abuse:.
Scripts are IRC programs that let you do specific things quickly and easily without typing something out.
The most popular example of a script is a simple Now Playing script. By a simple key combination, you can
display whatever you are listening to in Winamp. Another is what I call a "moo" script. This script displays
your computer specs when someone says a key word.
Now, scripts are find and dandy, and we allow them at #samus.co.uk, but scripts have been getting out of
hand lately. People will listen to many songs mere seconds after each other, flooding the channel with Now
Playing messages. "Moo" scripts are absolutely forbidden from now on. They serve no purpose but to take up a
lot of space. If the ops see a "moo" script being used, you will be kicked. You have been warned.
So, in short, you can use scripts, but use common sense. Don't flood the channel with script messages or
create annoying/useless scripts.
.:Trivia Bots:.
Trivia bots are IRC programs that start trivia games. They ask questions, and the IRC members try to answer
them. However, they, like scripts, have been getting out of hand lately. If you have a trivia bot, please do
not activate it in #samus.co.uk because we already have one. Let me repeat that: If you have a trivia bot,
do not activate it in #samus.co.uk. Only illy's bot will be allowed to run from now on. There is another
channel we have called #scutrivia. If you want to test out your bot, go there. Don't test it in the main
channel.
And there you have it, the basics to using IRC. I'm sure I'll think of something I should have added to
this topic that I will include later...
The Official Samus.co.uk mIRC Help Topic
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