How to keep from getting kicked off IRC!

Our thanks to Patrick Rutledge, Warbeast, Meltdown and k1neTiK, who all provided invaluable information on the burning question of the IRC world: help, they're nuking meee...

 What's the big deal about IRC and hackers? Sheesh, IRC is sooo easy to use... until you get on a server where hacker wars reign. What the heck do you do to keep from getting clobbered over and over again?

 Of course you could just decide your enemies can go to heck. But let's say you'd rather hang in there. You may want to hang in there because if you want to make friends quickly in the hacker world, one of the best ways is over Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

 On IRC a group of people type messages back and forth on a screen in almost real time. It can be more fun than Usenet where it can take from minutes to hours for people's replies to turn up. And unlike Usenet, if you say something you regret, it's soon gone from the screen. Ahem. That is, it will soon be gone if no one is logging the session.

 In some ways IRC is like CB radio, with lots of folks flaming and making fools of themselves in unique and irritating ways. So don't expect to see timeless wisdom and wit scrolling down your computer screen. But because IRC is such an inexpensive way for people from all over the world to quickly exchange ideas, it is widely used by hackers. Also, given the wars you can fight for control of IRC channels, it can give you a good hacker workout.

 To get on IRC you need both an IRC client program and you need to connect to a Web site or Internet Service Provider (ISP) that is running an IRC server program.

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Newbie note: Any program that uses a resource is called a "client."  Any program that offers a resource is a "server."  Your IRC client program runs on either your home computer or shell account computer and connects you to an IRC server program which runs on a remote computer somewhere on the Internet.

IRC Servers | Flooding Attacks