NEW USER INFORMATION FOR IRC
This file contains some caveats for people new to IRC. It is not a guide to commands for IRC. For a brief guide to commands for new users, see /help INTRO.
See /help ETIQUETTE for a guide to good manners on IRC.
IRC is an international network servicing 20 or more countries. There are over 10,000 registered users, and a similar number of regular unregistered users. Do not expect everybody to speak English.
The primary means of identification is currently by nickname. This can be modified with /nick, and registered with NickServ. (/msg NickServ HELP for information on NickServ). Note, however that some nicknames are duplicated, and since unique nicknames CANNOT BE ENFORCED it is common to find someone else using a registered nickname. If you have any doubts about the identity of somebody using a given nick, use /whois NickName to find out more. This gives detailed information on the person using the NickName. For example, if you are getting abusive messages from "Fred", type:
/WHOIS Fred
If the information displayed is not the same as that which you would expect for Fred, it is probably a case of impersonation.
Recently some users have been tricking others into allowing them to control their IRC sessions or damaging their files. If somebody asks you to type a command and you don't know what it does, use /HELP CommandName to find out more about it first. In particular, /ON has been used to cause trouble and is now initially disabled for new users. Additionally, /QUI is short for /QUIT and will terminate your IRC session. If you see any message asking you to type /QUI or /QUIT, ignore it.
Some new users have been baffled by "ctcp" messages appearing on the IRC session. These are messages from other users, asking your client to perform some service for them. They are generally generated by somebody typing in a ctcp command.
If you have not already done so, read the help files intro and etiquette.
See Also: ctcp