Reg wrote:
>Is irc a chat room? If it is there's one at the eGroup mother site that is easy to use but all I ever find is an empty room. Maybe it's the time difference or the season? It's winter here. Reg. http://www.egroups.com/
The chatrooms you see on pages such as egroups aren't really IRC. They are small, java driven applets which only apply to that particular page.
IRC itself is a much bigger, more complex thing. It is REAL chat, where anyone can get on there and talk about anything. It is run from various chat servers, which are world wide. Apparently there is a chatroom called #vocalist on Undernet. Personally, I never ever chat on Undernet, being a Starlink person myself, so I would never go there.
You need to link up to one of these servers first, and then join a group. The best way to do this is to get yourself some chat software. MIRC is undoubtedly the best (get it from http://www.mirc.com), but there is also PIRCH and VIRC, both of which are moderately popular.
To get to the Undernet chatroom:
1) Get yourself some MIRC 2) When you open it, you will get a page with the following fields:
a) Drop down list of IRC servers. Select anything that starts with undernet - I can't recommend a server, because, as I said, I always use Starlink b) Your full name. You CAN fill this in with your real real name, but most people put twaddle in here c) Your email address. See b) d) Your nickname. This is a way that people can identify you. This can be up to 10 characters long Generally (though not always), you are best off not going with your real name, as you may not always be able to get it. EG: If there are five Reg's who use underlink, it is first in best dressed, and you may only be able to use Reg some of the time, which will confuse the people you are talking to. There is also a netiquette thing which says "If someone has been coming to chat as that name for forever, don't use it". Stealing other peoples nicks is VERY VERY bad. So, slightly obscure is better. I am always on as dogmac, myself. d) Your alternative. This is another nick, for when your first one has been taken.
3) Click "Connect to IRC Server" This will then go and connect you up
Once you have done that, you will need to join the vocalist chat room. You do this by typing in "/join #vocalist" Voila! Hopefully you will find other people there to chat to. If you find yourself with an @ in front of your name, that means you are an operator of that channel, and have to keep everyone else well behaved.
Cheers
Di
PS Any other Starlink users out there? Want to start an alternative channel?
PPS For more info on IRC, go to the MIRC page. They have a very good intro there
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