RIGHT OK looks like this forum is in need of an IRC guide! Time to actually contribute to the site hahaha
(I'm using mIRC, so if you're using something else your client might have the options I mention in different places. Just look around the options and all and you should be able to find something similar to what I mention here ^^)
If you don't know, IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat!
Basically its like multiplayer notepad (it doesn't have any of those fancy avatars or profiles or any web 2.0 things you can think of) and its a really great way to chat with people!! Neocodex has its own little IRC channel! One of the fastest ways you can get to it if you're new to this is by hovering over the Community button at the top of the page and pressing the Chat option! All you have to do is type in the captcha and connect and you'll automatically connect and get sent to #neocodex, using your forum username. Once you get in the channel you're all set to go and start chatting! But if you've never used IRC before it can be a bit confusing, and even once you've gotten used to it there are a load of ways to improve your experience! Which is why I'm making this guide~
Now in IRC you can do all sorts of cool extra stuff using commands! These are done by typing a / followed by the command you want to do. Here are some basic ones you should know!
/nick (nickname)
This allows you to change your nickname! You might want to do this should your nick change to Guest### all by itself. I'll get to why it does this in a little bit. So for example:
Note that some characters like spaces, !, *, &, (), #, characters with accents such as ñ/å/etc can't be used in nicks. Don't forget that IRC is really basic!! Also, if a nickname is already being used then you won't be allowed to use it, so that's why if you try changing your nick nothing happens. If it doesn't work try putting yournickname_ or yournickname` instead ^^
To check and see if anyone's using the nick you want, use the command /whois (nickname)!! It'll show if the person is online or not!!
/join #(channel)
You can join other channels by doing this! If you're using a standalone client you'll need to use this to get in #neocodex. Like this!
You'll see that at the top of the window there are three little tabs, the one saying freenode Registeel, #neocodex and #neopetsisgay. This is where you switch between channels and other things! You can also cycle through them using ctrl+tab. So if someone sends you a PM, their name will appear at the top too. And if your nick changes to a Guest one, then it might be worth looking in the first freenode tab to see why it happened ^^ The information is usually posted there!!
/msg (nick) (message) OR /query (nick) then type your message
This is how you send personal messages to other people on the network! Also, if you start typing in a person's name, you can just press the Tab button on your keyboard and it'll complete the name for you!! ^^
To prevent people from taking your nickname and using it themselves, you have to register it! To do this just type in:
/msg nickserv register (password) (email-address)
Just remember that it only registers the nickname you're currently using, and it won't work for nicknames that have already been registered!
Once you've registered it, you'll need to use this command to login when you come back on IRC:
/ns identify (your Freenode nick's password)
You don't absolutely have to do it, but I always do it just because. With the program mIRC you can add this to a list of commands that run automatically when you connect to Freenode ^^ If you go to Options, connect -> options, the press the perform button, you'll be able to add commands there! Here's an example!!
It's really handy, especially if you forget your password a lot or you're really lazy like me!!
/quit
This is pretty straightforward, this disconnects you from the network~ If you're using a webclient like the one onsite, closing the tab doooesn't instantly take you off the network, and instead you idle on there until it automatically disconnects you (usually it times out after around 250 seconds).
In case you were wondering, people can't see your commands! They just see what happens from the commands if that makes sense. So if you typed /ns identify (password) in a channel, it won't appear in the channel for others to see! But they'll see that your nick changed. No one will know if you /whois them or someone else either :3
Now you might get disconnected without wanting to! Like let's say your client decides to crap out or your internet starts acting up. Your nick will still be online when you get back on, and if you want to kick it off without waiting for the timeout to happen you can just do this! Your nick will need to be registered to do this though.
/ns release (nick) (password)
/ns ghost
You miiight need to release it again after ghosting, Freenode can be a bit silly sometimes. But once you've done this you can just change your nick to what it normally is and identify again!
There are a bunch of different IRC clients by the way! The one used onsite is called Qchat, and it's a web client. There's also Mibbit (doesn't work with Freenode) but web clients are awful!! They're so limited and buggy and I would recommend staying away from them if you can.
Like I'm not sure if this bug is still around since I haven't used Qchat in I don't know, four/five years? But it really likes randomly disconnecting you from the network without actually making it obvious, so you just think that no one's talking and if you post no one is going to see it. And the only way to fix this is to refresh the page and rejoin. And the onsite client forces you to join with your forum nickname which might be already registered or in use when you join (this normally happens with common nicks like common names/popular character names/etc). Not to mention there's hardly any customisation! Which is why it's a lot better to use a standalone client! There's so much more freedom with them. And there are a bunch to choose from! Like you can keep chatlogs, use custom scripts and all sorts of cool stuff.
There's mIRC which in my opinion is the best Windows client, IRSSI, xchat, Chatzilla is handy if your main browser is Firefox and god knows how many more. Just have a look around and try some of them out until you find one you like!!
When you're setting everything up, remember that we're #neocodex @ chat.freenode.net! #neocodex on Rizon or Quakenet or any other network isn't the same channel and it'll more than likely be empty.
There's a pretty handy script that you can use so if someone mentions your name in a channel, a little box will appear and let you know someone's mentioning you! The pop up is small and it appears in the same corner as your time/date in your taskbar ^^ It looks like this!
And here's the script!
http://pastebin.com/ADZZPq6G
If you're using mIRC, press alt+r (so in the Remote tab) then just paste it in there then press Okay then you'll be all set!
Speaking of pop ups, there's a thing you can enable where it gives you a similar pop up when you receive a PM! If you go to options, display -> options, then press tips, you'll see a little box which allows you to customise what sort of pop ups you see!! To make the one for PMs to happen, just tick the message box under Private tips. Just so you know, the nickalerts one is separate from this ^^
Once you've registered your nick, and let's say its a common name and you don't want someone else using it while you're offline, there's a command you can set so then the nickname changes to guest automatically if the person doesn't identify right away. This is why my nick changed from Ivysaur to guest earlier on! This is optional, but the command to turn this on is:
/ns set enforce ON
You might want to add /ns identify (password) to your perform list so you don't have to worry about typing everything out in a short amount of time :3
Hhhmmm... That should be about it for now! Of course there are a bunch of other things you can do, like setting up your own channel, but if you're just gonna be going in channels that are already set up you won't need to know this ^^ And everything is on your search engine of choice if you get curious, or just play around in the settings and discover things yourself~
Just letting you know now that idling is an IRC pastime and so even though there are people in the channel, they're probably doing other things and won't see you come in. Which is why it's best to say hi when you join and wait for a while! Joining, saying hi or not saying anything then leaving after like 20 seconds isn't any good hahaha. It doesn't give us enough time to open up the client or go to the channel's tab and type up a response to ya
Sorry if this all seems like a lot of work! It isn't really!! Most of the time you'll just be chatting anyways.
You should totally come and visit us in there sometime! We don't bite~ ^^ <3
How could I forget!! There's a fun little command you can use to make it look like you're doing an action! You can do this by typing
/me (action)
So you'll do something that looks like this!
It's really fun!! Thanks Sweeney for reminding me!! :3
And then Tailwind suggested that I added how to get a vhost!! A vhost/cloak (they use cloaks on Freenode but its ultimately the same thing) is something that you can use to hide your IP address since its visible to everyone ^^ It takes a bit of time to get it but its worth it!!
I've seen different sites mentioning that your nick has to be at least two weeks old, so before doing this make sure it is!! You can check your nick's age by using the command /ns info. Once you've done that, just go in Freenode's #help channel and nicely ask a staff member (they all have voice! Voice is the little + next to someone's name in a channel!!) if you can have one :3 I'm pretty sure you can only use letters, numbers, dashes and periods in these. So something.like.this would be a vhost ^^ Make sure you don't use anything which would offend anyone either since you more than likely will get told you can't use that, and you can't use urls either!!
(Disclaimer: I only have a vhost on Rizon so I don't know how the process works on Freenode :x If getting it to work fully takes more than just this please let me know so I can add it here!!)
So once that's all set up you're ready to go!! ヽ(' ▽' )ノ !
Great job @
