<COMMENT>Magazine</COMMENT>
<P><DC=0,192,0><JC>---TECHNOLOGY TODAY---</JC>
<P><JC>IRC User Guide</JC>
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<P>There are two ways you can access Internet Relay Chat (IRC) from ForumPlanet: One requires a computer, the other makes use of the newfangled upgraded PM system. Here's a short introduction to either method.
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<P><B>Using a computer
<P>Using a PC to access IRC is arguably the most obvious choice, in large part because it was the only choice until recently. It's also very straight-forward, but not as straight-forward as you might be used to from mIRC or those crappy Java clients. The first thing you do is log onto your PC and open the Applications menu. If you're lucky, there's an IRC button. If there's not, find another computer.
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<P>When you click the IRC button, the client will launch. The client will immediately log onto the standard server and channel it's set up for. You can change servers or channels like you would in mIRC with some of the commands we'll list below. The client window itself is pretty simple: There's a text area where the chat is displayed, a user list to the right that shows all users online (if the list is too long you can use your mouse's scroll wheel to scroll the list), and there's an input console at the bottom that you can write in. Press Enter to send your message to the current channel.
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<P>The standard PC IRC client supports the following commands:
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<P>/nick - changes your nick name, pretty straight forward.
<P>/server - logs you off the current server and onto another.
<P>/msg - sends a message to a server, a channel, a user, whatever.
<P>/join - leaves the current channel and joins another on the same server.
<P>/me - turns your message into an action (remember to type in third person).
<P>/quit - leaves the current channel.
<P>/multijoin - joins another channel without leaving the current one.
<P>/multiswitch - chooses which channel you're talking in if you've joined more than one.
<P>/hop - leaves and rejoins the channel, usually so you can see the topic.