IRC Help: F.A.Q.
(Frequently Asked Questions)
Here are answers to the questions we get most often. If you don't see your question listed here, contact us and we'll email you back and/or add your question to this page. Check back often for new information!
- What is IRC and how can I get it?
- How do I find a server?
- My IRC client is installed and I'm connected, but I don't see anyone here.
- I joined a channel, but why did they keep telling me I was shouting?
- Why do some people in the channel have a little "@" in front of their names?
- What does it mean to be a Channel Operator?
- I've seen some really neat hugs and such in the channel, how can I do that?
- How can I start my very own channel?
- How do I make someone in my channel an Op?
- How do I set or change my channel's topic?
- How do I change the channel's mode?
- How do people make those color pictures in the channels?
- How do I set up my browser to link to mIRC?
- How do I determine who can and cannot enter the channel?
- I see people playing sounds in the channel, how do I do that?
- Aren't there bots and scripts that can do all of this for me?
- Why are eggdrop and emech bots not allowed, but other bots are?
- What if I already know all this information?
Answers:
- What is IRC and how can I get it?
IRC, "Internet Relay Chat" is a multi-user chat system, where people can talk here and now (real-time), rather than waiting for the delays as in an email exchange. This form of communication is accomplished by using an IRC "client" program while online.
The user can get any one of a number of "client" programs from various sources. There are programs are available on websites all over the internet. We've put together a list of
client software and made it available to you right here on ChaTcIRCuiT.
You can also find a "client" program by using a Search Engine such as AltaVista or Excite. Just type in "irc client" and you'll get a list of sites so big you probably won't be able to visit them all.
You'll have many to choose from. Find one that sounds right for your computer. ie. PC vs Mac, download it, as well as any "unzipping" program you might need to expand the program, and follow the directions for installation that come with the program.
- How do I find a server?
There are lots of server list available on the net. The problem is finding one that lists servers either in your area or servers large enough to handle the traffic. Sometimes it's just a matter of trial and error. There is a comprehensive server list here at ChaTcIRCuiT (warning to slow connections, it's over 75 KB). And if you find yourself on ChaTcIRCuiT (irc.chatcircuit.com:6667,6668), stop by and see us in #Chatcircuit. We just love talking to our readers! &:-)
- My IRC client is installed and I'm connected, but I don't see anyone here.
One way to find out where all of these people are gathered is to type /list. This command will cause your client to get a list of all of the different groups, or "channels". Be patient, there are a lot of people on most networks and it can take a few seconds to get the list.
Warning: the list of channels on some of the bigger Networks is quite extensive and attempting to get the list can cause you to be knocked right off line. If this happens just re-connect and check the message that comes up when you get on. This is called the "motd" or "message of the day". Most servers list help channels and "newbie" channels right there in the message.
To join such a channel type /join and then the channel name. For example, to join a channel called "New2IRC", you would type the
command like this:
/join #Newbies
The "/join" part is the command, "#" indicates a channel, and "Newbies" is the channel name.
*Note the spacing. NO spaces between the "/" and "join", one between "join" and "#" and NONE between "#" and "Newbies".
Once you arrive in the channel, you'll see a list of names and some text appearing in the window. Someone may even greet you by the nick, or nickname you've logged on with. The best advice I can give you at this point, is to reply by typing a simple "hello", and wait to see what happens.
It's not necessary to reply to every greeting you see on the screen since some people set up their clients to greet everyone who enters the channel. Now if someone goes beyond the simple channel greeting, please be polite and respond. In some channels, just sitting there and watching the conversation is considered quite rude and the result can be getting kicked out of the channel for "lurking".
However, most help channels allow and even encourage the new user to just sit there for a few minutes and see what's going on. And sometimes you can even get a few answers by just watching.
- I joined a channel, but why did they keep telling me I was shouting?
You type a message, such as, "HELLO!" and the people in the channel ask you to stop shouting. The reason for this is that typing in all capital letters is considered shouting. All they want you to do is release the "Caps Lock". If this happens, just type a simple "oops!" or "Sorry" and usually all is forgiven. We all slip up and hit the wrong key once in a while. Just don't make a habit of it. It can get you kicked from a channel.
- Why do some people in the channel have a little "@" in front of their names?
Those are the channel operators, they are able to kick and ban people out of that particular channel, if they feel the need to do so.
- What does it mean to be a Channel Operator?
Once your new channel is open and you have that little "@" beside your nick, your job, as a channel operator begins. The channel op has control over the channel. This means that you:
Make other users ops in your channel
Determine or change the channel's topic
Change the channel's mode to suit your needs
Determine who can and cannot enter the channel
- I've seen some really neat hugs and such in the channel, how can I do that?
mIRC allows you to create custom popup menus for the status window, query/chat windows, channel windows, the channel nickname listbox, and main menubar. To create these you must know how to use Basic IRC commands, how to create Aliases, and how to use Identifiers and Variables.
If you click the right mouse-button in a window, the popup menu for that window will appear and you can select menu items which you have defined to perform certain tasks, such as giving a user channel operator status or joining a channel.
Examples Popup menu definitions use the format:
<menuitem>:<commands>
Get Help:/join #irchelp
The words before the ":" colon are the name of the menuitem. The words after the ":" colon are the commands that are to be performed. In this case, the menuitem you would see is "Get Help". The command that would be performed if you select this menuitem would be "/join #irchelp", as if you had typed it.
The format of the commands follows precisely the same as those in normal aliases. See the aliases help section to understand how to write an alias.
To create a Submenu, use a "." fullstop.
Join a Channel
.Get IRC help!:/join #irchelp
.Visit the folks at #friendly:/join #friendly
.Who shall we join?:/join $?
In this case, the name of the submenu is "Join a Channel". All the commands following it beginning with a "." are part of this submenu.
To create menus within a submenu, you just add more fullstops:
Channels
.Help
..irchelp:/join #irchelp
..mIRC:/join #mirc
..newbies:/join #newbies
.Other Channels
..Visit #friendly:/join #friendly
..Wibble Wobble:/join #wibble
.Join?:/join #$$?="Enter a channel name:"
To separate menu items, you can use a single "-" dash on a line by itself.
whois ?:/whois $?
-
Misc
.Edit Temp:/run notepad.exe temp.txt
.say?: /say $?
.action?:/me $?
Names
.#irchelp: /names #irchelp
.#friendly: /names #friendly
.names ?:/names $?
-
channel list:/list
-
Join a Channel
.Get IRC help!:/join #irchelp
.Visit the folks at #friendly:/join #friendly
.Who shall we join?:/join $?
To use the popup menu for a channel nickname listbox, you need to select a nickname before the menu will pop up. Here is a simple nickname listbox popup menu:
Who Is?:/whois $1
-
Modes
.Op:/mode # +o $1
.Deop:/mode # -o $1
.Kick, Ban:/kick # $1 | /ban $1
-
DCC Send:/dcc send $1
DCC Chat:/dcc chat $1
-
Slap!:/me slaps $1 around a bit with a large trout
Query:/query $1 Hey you! hello? are you there...?
The popup menus for the Query/Chat and the MenuBar work the same way as the channel listbox popup menu.
*Information taken directly from the mIRC Help File
Now that you know how it works, here are a few of the many hugs I've seen in IRC. Feel free to copy and paste them into your query and or channel names list popup menu. Give them what ever name you think will help you to recognize them.
Once you're comfortable with the way they work, get creative and make a few of your own.
/me sends hugs and kisses to <~*~*~*~ $$1 *~*~*~*> $$1 <~*~*~*~ $$1 *~*~*~*>
/me says "bye bye" , hope to see ya'll again REAL soon in $channel, ((((((*BIG HUG*)))))))
/say ¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡. $$1 ¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.¡.*°*.
/me hugs (¯(_(¯(_(¯(_(¯(_(¯(_( $$1 )¯)_)¯)_)¯)_)¯)_)¯)
/say «¤ H ¤»«¤ U ¤»«¤ G ¤» $$1 $+ ! «¤ H ¤»«¤ U ¤»«¤ G ¤»
/me hugs !°¡°!°¡°!°¡°!°¡°! * $$1 * !°¡°!°¡°!°¡°!°¡°!
/say hugs «ºôº» «ºôº»| $$1 |«ºôº» «ºôº»
/say hugs »»»---(¯`°´¯)-(¯`°´¯)---» $$1 «---(¯`°´¯)-(¯`°´¯)---«««
/say (¯`'·.¸(¯`'·.¸ $$1 ¸.·'´¯)¸.·'´¯) | /say (_¸.·'´(_¸.·'´ $$1 `'·.¸_)`'·.¸_)
/say hugs =o) =o) (( $$1 )) =o) =o)
/say hugggggs! )'@'( )'@'( $$1 )'@'( )'@'(
- How can I start my very own channel?
To start you own channel, you need to register it with ChanServ first, by typing the following command:
/msg chanserv register #CHANNELNAME PASSWORD DESCRIPTION
The description may contain more than one word.
- How do I make someone in my channel an Op?
In sharing channel ops with others you are giving them control over your channel. They will be able to do everything on the channel that you can do. Be very sure you know who you're dealing with before you make another user in your channel and op. They can even take away your op status and kick and ban you from your own channel. To some people it's an amusing game to come in and gain ops and then take over your channel.
To "op" or give someone ops in your channel, you use the mode command.
/mode #yourchannelname +o usernick
Take away ops or "de-op" them like this:
/mode #yourchannelname -o usernick
You can op or de-op up to 3 people at a time using the mode command this way:
/mode #yourchannelname +ooo usernick usernick usernick
/mode #yourchannelname -ooo usernick usernick usernick
Just make sure that the number of "o's" you use matches the number of nicks to op.
- How do I set or change my channel's topic?
One of the commands available to you as a channel op is the topic command. It is used to add or change the topic of the channel to the title bar of the window. That way it appears in the channel list. Now others searching for a channel with your topic will know where to find you.
The basic command is written like this:
/topic # your topic
You've probably seen some fancy ones in other channels or on the channel list. That's not as hard as it looks. You can make yours fancy too. Try one of these, if you'd like... they're some of my favorites.
/topic # -=[«<>»]=- your topic -=[«<>»]=-
/topic # ©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º© your topic ©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©
/topic # [_]0~ Coffee's Hot... come wake yourself up! ~0[_]
/topic # -=[]=- Welcome! -=[]=-
/topic # @}}--`--,-- your topic --,--`--{{@
You'll probably want to experiment a little. Just have fun with it. Try different combinations of letters and symbols until you find the one that's just right for you.
- How do I change the channel's mode?
Modes define the parameters of the channel, they determine what can and can't be done within the channel.
The mode command is used like this:
/mode # +initial of mode to add
/mode # -initial of mode to drop
To take care of setting the channel modes all at once, you can combine the mode commands.
/mode # +int
This setting makes the channel "invite only", keeps notices from being sent to the channel from the outside and makes it so that only the channel ops can change the topic.
Modes available to you:
+n = "no notices". This will keep other users from sending notices or msgs to the channel from outside. It's a good practice to keep your channel +n at all times.
+t = "topic". Once you set this one, only a channel op can change the topic of the channel. It helps keep trouble makers from messing with your topic line.
+i = "invite only". Use this one only when you want total control over who joins the channel. Each user has to be invited into the channel by a channel op.
+p = "private". This will keep other users from knowing just who is in your channel using the /whois or the /names # commands. If someone in the channel checks, the other users of the channel will be revealed, otherwise the information is suppressed.
+s = "secret". If your channel mode is set to secret, then your channel will not appear on the list of channels. Only someone in the channel has access to that information.
+k = "keyword". A keyword is required for entry into this channel. To set the keyword for your channel use the mode command like this:
/mode # +k mykeyword
+m = "moderated". When set to +m, only channel operators or people who have been given a "voice" (+v) can talk in the channel.
+l = "limit". This allows you to limit the number of people that can join the channel.
- How do people make those color pictures in the channels?
You can use the following key combinations to insert control codes in text:
Control-B for bold text
Control-U for underlined text
Control-R for reverse text
Control-K for coloured text
Control-O for plain text
Examples
To underline a single word in a sentence:
1.Type Control-U
2.Type in the word
3.Type Control-U again
Only the text that is enclosed by the start and end codes will be affected. You can use this method with all of the other control codes.
The Control-K control code is slightly different because it allows you to specify a colour number. To colour a single word in a sentence:
1.Type Control-K
2.Type a number between 0 and 15
3.Type the word
4.Type Control-K again
If you also want to change the background colour of a word, you would need to type two numbers separated by a comma instead of just one number. The first number is the text colour, the second number is the background colour. The colours range from 0 to 15, and the indexes are:
0 white 8 yellow
1 black 9 lightgreen
2 blue 10 cyan
3 green 11 lightcyan
4 lightred 12 lightblue
5 brown 13 pink
6 purple 14 grey
7 orange 15 lightgrey
If you want to enclose existing text in control codes, just select the text with your cursor, and then type the Control code. This will insert both starting and ending control codes around the text you selected.
You can enclose text in multiple control codes, so for example you could have a bold, underlined, and coloured word.
If you want to strip out control codes that other people send you in private or channel messages, you can either change the strip settings in the IRC Switches dialog, or you can use the /strip command.
*Information taken directly from the mIRC Help File
Ok, that's how you get color in mIRC. Now, to make some of those fancy color pictures you often see in channels you're going to need to be very patient and very creative. Either design your own pictures or borrow some from ASCII art news groups, or web pages. (Please remember to give credit where credit is due.)
Once you have a Picture you like, start playing with the color codes and testing it in mIRC until you're satisfied with the results. Save it somewhere in a sub directory of your IRC directory (so you know where it is) with a file extension that allows you to recognize the ASCII files from the regular text files. (I use *.asc.)
How to play your artwork in the channel.
If you paste the following line into your channel popups menu, you'll be able to find and play all of your creations any time you wish.
Play Ascii :/play $file="Give name of file to play" c:\mirc50\ascii\*.asc 1500
- How do I set up my browser to link to mIRC?
Configuring your WWW browser to work with mIRCLinks.
To enter a channel and/or server on IRC from a Web page, you just need to have your Web browser set up to use the mIRCLink helper application. This page will tell you how to correctly set up this program with some of the most popular browsers. Once you tested it on the examples provided on these pages you can explore the WWW and try the mIRCLinks others offer. The mIRCLink helper application is included for free in the mIRC package.
Configuring Netscape to understand chat files. mIRC supports all popular chat file systems, you just have to configure Netscape to launch the mIRCLink helper application for the .cha and .chat files of the GlobalChat type and the .nsc NetscapeChat files. First you have to start both Netscape and mIRC.. In Netscape go to the "Options" pull-down menu and select "General Preferences.." In the list of TABs at the top, select "Helpers" To be safe, scroll through the list of File types looking for "application/x-chat" and "application/x-nschat" in the leftmost column. If you can find one or both of these lines, then your copy of Netscape has already been set up to work with some chat application. This can be mIRC of course but also any other chat client. In this case you might only have to check if the "Launch the Application" option is set to launch the mIRCLink helper for both lines, and you are done. For both lines select the 'Browse..' button and select the mlink.exe or mlink32.exe found in the mIRC directory. If no chat application was already configured to work with mIRC you can easily get mIRCLink to work. Select the 'Create New Type..' button and fill in:
Mime Type : application Mime SubType : x-chat File Extension : chat,cha (to assure proper use of local files) Action : Launch the application : c:\mirc_directory\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe
Do the same for the
Mime Type : application Mime SubType : x-nschat (see the difference?) File Extension : nsc (to assure proper use of local files) Action : Launch the application : c:\mirc_directory\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe
Now that you have set Netscape to start the mIRCLink helper application with the GlobalChat and NetscapeChat chat file types you can click OK. You're done now, Go ahead and explore the mIRCLinks on the WWW!
Configuring MS Internet Explorer to understand chat files. Similar to Netscape you have to set up MS-IE to understand what to do with the chat files that contain the mIRCLink info. First you have to start both mIRC and MS-IE. In MS-IE go to the "View" pull-down menu and select "Options.." In the list of TABs at the top, select "File Types". To be safe, scroll through the list of File types looking for "Chat Files". If you find an item like this then your copy of MS-IE has already been set up to work with some chat application. This can be mIRC of course but also any other chat client. In this case you just have to make sure that the "File Type Details" are set to Extension: .cha .chat Content Type: application/x-chat Open with: c:\path\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe Extension: .nsc Content Type: application/x-nschat Open with: c:\path\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe If no chat application was already configured to work with mIRC you can easily get mIRCLink to work. Select the 'Add..' button and fill in : Description : Chat Files Mime Type : application/x-chat Suffixes : .chat .cha (to assure proper use of local files) Encoding : Text Helper Application : c:\mirc_directory\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe Do the same for the Description : NetscapeChat Files Mime Type : application/x-nschat (mind the difference) File Extension : .nsc (to assure proper use of local files) Encoding : Text Action : Launch the application : c:\mirc_directory\mlink.exe or mlink32.exe Now that you have instructed MS-IE to start the mIRCLink helper application with the GlobalChat and NetscapeChat file types you can click OK and have fun with the mIRCLinks.
Configuring other browsers. You could just click on a mIRCLink in one of the lists above. The first time you click on a mIRCLink your browser will come with an error message like "Unknown MIME type..." and ask you to configure a helper application or viewer. Select the 'Configure External Viewer' option and browse to the directory where mIRC and the mIRCLink helper application are found. Select the mlink.exe or mlink32.exe file and press OK. That should do the trick :-) Please note that not all Web browsers offer the capability to launch helper applications. The Netcom Netcruiser Web browser is known to not support this feature.
Troubleshooting mIRCLinks.
If the above mIRCLinks fail to work you can safely assume your WWW browser is configured wrong or not at all yet. If you for instance just get a page with 3-4 short lines of text, or some error message from your WWW browser then you just need (once only) to configure your copy of Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, or other browser to use the mIRCLinks helper application. In these cases the browser you use doesn't recognize the MIME type associated to the chat files (correctly) and you just need to check your settings against the setup info given above.
If the mIRCLinks start some other chat application instead of mIRC you just need to reconfigure the setup of helper applications in your WWW browser. Just setting the associated helper application to be the mIRCLink program will help.
*Information taken directly from the mIRC Home Page
- How do I determine who can and cannot enter the channel?
There is another way to keep certain people from your channel. It's called a "ban". This is especially good when you've had a troublemaker in your channel. Setting a ban keeps them from returning. The only problem is, you're going to need some information on the troublemaker. It's best to set something up with the other ops in your channel so that one person keeps the troublemaker busy while another uses the whois command to get the information on the troublemaker. Once you have certain info on him/her you can use it to set the ban.
If you only have the user's nick you can use the nick ban. This one is effective only while that user keeps the nick. Once he changes nick's you have to start all over again.
This is a nick ban
/mode # +b nick!*@*
This next one is called a site ban and it bans everyone from a particular domain or machine, no matter who they are, or what nick they use. The problem here is that it could also ban some of your channel regulars if they use the same domain.
This is a site ban
/mode #+b *!*@*host.suffix
An IP address ban is very specific, but, only works as long as the person to be banned has the same IP address each time they log on.
This is an IP address ban
/mode # +b *!*whoever*@123.4.56.7
Set your bans carefully and make sure that you don't have too many set at the same time. If you have too many set at the same time, then adding a new one simply won't work. You'll have to remove one or more and try again.
- I see people playing sounds in the channel, how do I do that?
Sound requests allow users to share the experience of playing sounds together. When someone uses the /sound command on a channel, all users on the channel who have that same sound will hear it play.
Accept sound requests If this option is turned on, mIRC will listen for /sound requests from other users.
On Sound Request... If a sound is already playing and a new sound request is received, you can either have mIRC halt the currently playing sound and play the new sound, or you can choose to have mIRC ignore the new sound.
mIRC can also warn you if a user has requested a sound that you don't have so that you can then ask the user for that sound.
Listen for "!nick file" get requests If this is turned on mIRC will listen for requests from other users who don't have your sound and want to DCC Get it from you. The request must be of the form !yournickname filename, where filename is a .wav or .mid file that you have. mIRC will DCC Send the requested sound to the user automatically.
Send "!nick file" as private message If this is turned on, then whenever you use the !nick file format to DCC Get a file from another user, mIRC will send the request as a private message instead of as a channel message. The purpose of this is to prevent such messages from cluttering the channel.
Location of wave/midi files Whenever a sound is requested, mIRC will look in these directories and all of their subdirectories for it. These directories are also searched when you use the /splay command.
The /sound command You can send a sound request to another user using the /sound command.
/sound [on|off|nick/channel] <file.wav|file.mid> <message>
If a nick/channel is not specified, the message is sent to the current channel or query window.
The sound file must end in .wav or .mid, and may be located in the default sounds directory or in any of the subdirectories in the sounds directory. You do not need to specify a directory for the filename unless the file is not in the sounds directory.
The message is optional, if you do provide one it appears exactly like an action command.
*Information taken directly from the mIRC Help File
- Aren't there bots and scripts that can do all of this for me?
Yes there are. Tons of them. And most of them are quite good... as long as you know how to control them. If you don't know how they work then having them can blow up in your face. Remember that many networks do not allow "bots" at all, and most of them require that you register your bot before you use it. If you really want to know more about them I suggest you look around. Do a web search on IRC scripts and find the right one for your client and for your own needs.
- Why are eggdrop and emech bots not allowed, but other bots are?
Eggdrop and emech contain functions within the default installation that violate server policies. These functions are seldom changed by addon scripts and not easy to modify by your normal everyday user, so we thought it best to not allow them altogether.
- What if I already know all this information?
Ok, you've been around for a while... you know most of the ins and outs of IRC and are pretty comfortable with it... now what? Don't you think it's time to lend a hand to the newest batch of newbies? If we'd each take the opportunity to answer one question a week, we'd be working more like a community. Go to one of the Usenet Groups like alt.irc or alt.irc.questions, pick a letter and answer that person's question. If you have a few minutes, drop in on a help channel and field some of the "basic" questions so that the OPs on that channel can concentrate on other questions. Take the time to welcome a newbie into your channel and answer a question of two. Become part of your IRC community. Perhaps if someone had taken the time to answer our questions, we wouldn't be so hard on the new crop of "newbies". Or if you have some tips you'd like to share with the new users,
send them to us, we'll pass the information along.
