Cmonkey's guide to chatting on #spongebob: Part 1

Its all you need to know to be an IRCer, sort of.

The underlying technology of it is IRC, or Internet Relay Chat. Its been used for a long time by a lot of people for a good reason. Its quick, easy, and fun. When you click on the link, It'll ask you for a username, enter whatever you want. Then click login. It'll then connect to the server (could take a few seconds depending on how many people are on it). You'll automatically join the channel (fancy talk for a chat room), which is #spongebob. You'll see something similar to this:

*** SZVisit7 [[email protected]] has joined #spongebob This says you joined the channel
*** Topic is: Patchy the Pirate says | Visit http://www.spongezone.net This is the topic of the channel
*** Topic set by CompBrain [Mon Mar 17 02:33:35 2003] Who set the topic and when
*** SZVisit7 @EvlKraker @cmonkey @SpongeBot @CompBrain @Squidward @linuxman4 @xcore @netc0re @Osir1s @Crackrock The users that are on the channel
*** Channel created on Wed May 22 16:11:54 2002 When the channel was started

On the right side of the screen is the list of users on the channel. The first few people on the list have a colored @ to the left of thier name (called a nick in IRC). That means they are the operators (commonly called ops) of the channel. They have the power to kick, ban, op, voice, deop and devoice people as well as changing the topic and channel modes. The people after that have a colored + to the left of the nick. That means they have voice. They don't have any real power. The rest of the people are plain old users. Don't ask to be oped or voiced, we'll do it when we think its a good idea.

*** mode/#SpongeBob [-o SpongeBot] by cmonkey -o means deop.
*** mode/#SpongeBob [+o SpongeBot] by cmonkey +o means op
*** mode/#SpongeBob [-v SpongeBot] by cmonkey -v means devoice
*** mode/#SpongeBob [+v SpongeBot] by cmonkey +v means voice
*** mode/#SpongeBob [-o+v SpongeBot SpongeBot] by cmonkey Commands can be combined. In this, I deoped and voiced Spongebot.
*** mode/#SpongeBob [+oooo SpongeBot Sandy Squidward SZVisit98] Up to 4 commands can be used at the same time.

The final lesson in IRC is about bots. Bots are programs that are setup to manage the channel. They hold and protect it, sort of like some kind of army, only not really an army since its a program :-p. There are about 9 or 10 bots in the channel at all times. Most are just sitting there, but some are actually doing stuff. One does weather (like some kind of weather forcaster, only not because its a program :-p. To get the weather for your zipcode type .wz 11111 [whatever your zipcode is] in the channel.), one keeps stats, and one of them even does games like hangman and trivia. Thats right, you can play trivia against other people, its loads of fun!. Be nice to the bots, and they will be nice to you (I learned that lesson, Compbrain ;-)

Theres a lot more stuff to learn about it. You can check a place like www.mirc.com for even more advanced information, or you can ask someone on the channel like me or Compbrain.

One closing remark: IRC is loads of fun, but don't let it take over your life. Go outside, breathe the fresh air, and eat some pizza.