Q. How do I connect to the chat?

A. You have two options. The chat is an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel (room). You must use an IRC client to connect. Some popular IRC clients include mIRC, Trillian, and IceChat (my favorite). IRChelp.org is a great resource that will answer all your questions; they have a very clear beginner's guide that explains IRC and lists all the important commands and how to use them.

Server: irc.shadowfire.org
Channel: #bettas

Q. What do the “@”, “&” and “~” symbols next to people’s names mean?

A. Those are the admin and mods of the channel. They posess the power to change the topic, boot and ban people from the room, and otherwise take care of things in the channel. It is their job to enforce the rules, so please listen to them. In some IRC clients you will only see the “@” for all admin and mods. In other clients, “@” denotes an Op (Operator), “&” denotes a Super Op, and “~” is the channel’s founder. Other clients may use their own symbols.

Q. How do I register my nickname?

A. You may wish to register your nickname so other people can’t use it and pretend to be you. To do so, type the following in any IRC window:

/msg nickserv register [password] [e-mail]

Replace “password” with your chosen password, and make sure you write it down. Replace “e-mail” with a valid e-mail address. If you do not log in for a period of time, your registration will expire.

Q. How do I send a private message to someone?

A. Type:

/msg [nickname] [message you wish to send]

In many IRC clients, it will automatically open a new window. Alternately, it may be displayed within the channel you are chatting in with *YourNick* preceding it, and if another person sends you a private message, it will have -> before it.

Q. How do I make my chat text show up as an action?

A. Type:

/me [action you wish to perform]
e.g. /me jumps down from a rock ledge.

This will send the message:

Nickname jumps down from a rock ledge.

Q. Someone is bothering me, or I don’t like what they’re saying. What do I do?

A. If they are breaking the rules in the chat room, /msg an admin or mod (someone with an “@”, “&” or “~” in front of their name). If they are not breaking the rules but you are still uncomfortable with them talking to you, or seeing what they’re saying in chat, you can ignore them. In any window, type:

/whois [nickname]

This will return their information (sometimes in your channel window, sometimes in the server window, depending on your client and settings). It will look something like this:

Guilder is Guilder@something.something.provider.com (Gryphon Guilder)

Armed with this information, you now type:

/ignore [< nickname>|< user@host> [[-]< message type>]]

For example, to block all messages from the person above, you would type:

/ignore guilder@something.something.provider.com ALL

If they change their nickname or are getting around the ignore, you can ignore the provider itself using wildcards, such as:

/ignore *@*.something.provider.com ALL

This will ignore everyone who is using something.provider.com.

To unignore someone type:

/ignore [< nickname>|< user@host>] NONE