How to define IRC well, in basic terms, IRC stands for Internet-Relay-Chat... most people that have been anywhere near the internet, know this anyway. IRC is basically like a huge text based party line... where people from all over the world culminate together into different servers to discuss everything from philosophy, to how bad the weather is in Sydney, to how old their Aunt Francis in El Salvador is... basically, anything goes... The main aim of IRC is entertainment, although programs like ICQ (I-Seek-You) offer more business based relationships within a chatting environment.

Getting connected these days, is becoming easier and easier... with two main programs leading the way in IRC chatting, it's becoming quite simple to just download a chat program and jump on a server straight away. The two main clients are mIRC and Pirch...

Version 5.51 for Windows 95/98/NT

Version 98 for Windows 95/98

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SETTING UP MIRC

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mIRC can be setup by the following, the server must be selected from the list that is displayed. To get to the server section, press 'alt-e' and a window like below should appear. The server that is wanted in this case is below.

The next step is to set your 'identd' or username. This is done by clicking the identd tab, and in the space provided, put your User ID, or everything before the @ of your email address, for instance, [email protected] then your User ID is 'wildfm'. After that, Click the 'Connect' tab again then click 'Connect to IRC server!' Then you are able to join Channel WildFM by typing '/Join #WildFM' That Simple. !!Make sure you dont forget to fill out the Information.. Full Name, Email, NickName and Alternative Nick!!

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SETTING UP PIRCH

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Pirch can be set up by clicking the 'Login' button in the main screen, then select the 'Edit Server List' bar, after that click the 'Add Network' Tab type in 'OZORG' Like Below.

Once Added Click OZORG and then click the 'Add Server' tab type under Name: 'AU, Sydney', Address: 'mpx.sydney.oz.org' and Ports: '6667' Like Below.

Once you have done all this, Select the server under IRC Network it should look something like below, then hit 'Connect'. !!Make sure you dont forget to fill out the Information.. Name, Username (Email), NickName and Alternative Nick!!

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FINISHED SETTING UP

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When You've got your client set up, and your connected to the right server, all you have to do now, is join the channel WildFM by typing '/join #WildFM' - This is the Offical WildFM Channel.

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RULES OF IRC

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A few rules that should be followed while IRC'ing are below...

Please follow your server's rules (they are displayed in your Status box on connection), trust me the consequences of going against these rules can be severe and annoying.

Don't beg for 'ops' in a channel/room, as this not only annoys the channel operators, it can result with you being kicked out of that channel. (nb: 'ops' = being a channel operator, when given ops you will see mode +o and @ appear next to your nick)

If you do happen to be given 'op' status, don't abuse it, cause just as easily as you were given ops, you can lose ops !! As a channel operator you are capable of kicking, banning, unbanning, opping, deopping and changing the channel topic.

When your channel surfiing on IRC (oz.org servers), you might notice that alot of channels have an op called Z in them, well Z is a channel service provided by oz.org (The Internet Relay Chat Australia Organisation) and yes the reason why Z never speaks is because Z is a bot (Channel Service).

But don't stress, IRC is alot of fun and extremely addictive... so enjoy it :)

If you run into any problems and are in need of help email iLLUSi0N