How2IRC

So you may be wondering how to manage all the things going on in IRC. It's a little confusing at first as it's all command based so here's a quick primer on how to do it.

Usernames or "nicks":

A help list of any nick based command can be found by typing "/ns help" or "/msg nickserv help", "/ns" is a less verbose version of the latter so I recommend using that. Depending on your client this can either show up in your current window or the server status window. Here's a good list of ones that you should know and make use of:

• "/nick nickname" will set your nick to whatever you want. Keep in mind that nicknames are limited in what punctuation you can use and don't have an unlimited length. Generally you can only use a-z A-Z | [ ] { } - _ 0-9. That's not an exhaustive list but the majority of punctuation won't work. Also you can't have spaces.
• "/ns register password email". This registers the nickname you're currently using. You'll get an email after using it with a command you need to enter to finish the process. Once done you need to authenticate that nickname when you join the server or switch to it.
• "/ns identify password". This authenticates the nickname you're currently using so the server doesn't boot you off it.
• "/ns recover nickname password". This will kill any handle currently holding on to your nickname, whether it be an imposter or more usually a crashed IRC client.
• "/ns release nickname password". Similar to the above. Recover holds on to your nickname for an additional minute after use. If you still can't change back to it use release to kill any hold on it.

There's some more options like being able to turn the auto protect on your nickname off so you don't always have to identify but most of the advanced options can be found in "/ns help". As a tip any nickserv based commands where you type your password are best off done in the server status window so you don't accidentally reveal your password if you miss off the forward slash.

General stuff:

Here's some general commands that will come in handy.

• "/me text". Will perform an action. This is typically something along the lines of "Odin gives you a cookie"* and is shown in a different colour and formatted differently to normal chat.
• "/msg nickname". Sends a private message to a nickname and opens a private chat window with them.
• "/server servername" or "/s servername" joins a different IRC network. Note: If you use this it will kill your current connection. To open the network on a new connection put "-m" between "/s" and the network name. To join a specific channel upon connection add "-j channelnameI".
• "/join channelname" or "/j channelname" will join a specific channel. Unlike "/s" this will always open the channel in a new window.
• "/whois nickname" will give you more detailed info about a user.

* Note: Chances I will give you a cookie are slim to none.

At any rate this is by no means an exhaustive list but should help in getting started on IRC at the very least.