IRC is Back: Heres Your Starter Guide

In HexChat, all I have to do is specify a comma-delimited list of my channels in the "Favorite channels" field for the network and when I connect, I get auto-joined:

#bocoup,#cordova,#css,#emberjs,#grunt,#html5,#inimino,##javascript,#jquery,#node.js,#requirejs,#rubyonrails,#webgl,#whatwg,#yeoman

Much easier.

Getting Your Own Nick

When you join a network, you're going to have to identify yourself using a nickname, commonly referred to as a “nick.” It's really no different than creating a username on your favorite site, and helps people to get to know you as you participate in discussions. I recommend not only getting a nick, but password protecting it so that someone else won't take it from you (accidentally or purposefully) later on.

Setting up a nick is really simple. First, you specify the nickname that you'd like to use, and then connect to Freenode. Once you've connected to the network, you'll use the following command to create your password and associate your email address to your nickname:

/msg NickServ REGISTER password [email protected]

You would substitute "password" with your password and "[email protected]" with the email you'd like to associate to your nick. You'll then get the following message in your IRC client (I've blocked out my password for obvious reasons):

You're not done, as Freenode will send you an email with an activation command. Here's what I got:

/msg NickServ VERIFY REGISTER bangoboom cikdmbzhrflr

I put that into the Freenode IRC command line, which returned the following message:

The last sentence reinforces what I noted earlier:

"You have taken steps in ensuring that your registrations are not exploited."

Your nick is your identity on IRC, and you should protect it as best as possible.

Common Commands You Should Know

Once you're in the mix and chatting away, there are some commands that will make your life easier. I'll list them below:

• /who <nick> – This allows you to get more information about someone in a channel.

• /list – This will return a list of all channels available on a network.

• /join – This allows you to join a channel via the Freenode command line. Remember to prefix the channel name with a hash ("#")

• /msg – This allows you to have a private chat with the person whose nick you've specified and will send them the message to kick off the chat

• /invite – This allows you to invite a user to another channel for a chat.

• /away – Tells users that you're away from your PC for a bit

• /quit – Tells the network you're done and are leaving

Etiquette (or How Not to be a Jerk)

It should be common sense by now, but, unfortunately, the perception of anonymity on the Internet leads people to believe that they can act any way they like. Just remember that, no matter what, you're talking to another person on the other end of that wire. So my typical advice is don't act online like you wouldn't act in person. Don’t forget that most channels have channel ops, and they will boot you if you get out of hand. Don't be "that guy".

In terms of how to communicate, here are some of the things I've observed:

• Don't use all caps. Should be obvious but you'd be surprised.

• If you have a question, try to be as detailed as possible. Trying to decipher an issue online is tough.

• Creating a reduced test case before posting in a channel will get you much farther in solving your problem quickly. The community will also appreciate the fact that you've taken the time to narrow down the issue.

• Avoid flooding a channel with a ton of noise. What I mean is do your best to keep the discussion brief and on-topic so that it benefits everyone.

Some channels will have banner messages when you first come into it. READ THEM as they're generally there to outline channel guidelines or offer important updates about the channel or project. Here's the banner from the jQuery channel:

"jQuery 1.9.1 https://jquery.com | jQuery UI 1.10.2 https://jqueryui.com | jQuery Mobile 1.3.0 https://jquerymobile.com | Docs: https://api.jquery.com https://learn.jquery.com | Paste code at https://jsfiddle.net or https://jsbin.com | Dev Channels #jquery-dev #jqueryui-dev #jquerymobile-dev | https://try.jquery.com for learning the basics | Channel publicly logged to https://irc.jquery.org/"

Notice that it tells you the most current versions of the libs, and offers links to resources to help solve your jQuery-related issues.

Being Safe

I can't stress enough that IRC offers no anonymity. Don't assume anything you say is private and can't be seen (unless you've gone to great lengths to anonymize yourself). Conversations can be logged and in fact, most IRC clients have that feature built-in. Your IP address is also easily visible by simply using the "/who" command.

As I mentioned above:

• Don't accept file transfers

• Don't accept direct connection requests (you're bypassing the IRC server and directly connecting to another computer)

• Don't run commands that someone tells you to run

• Don't run scripts that someone has sent you. You can get backdoored.

This is my own personal feelings and you can do as you please. If you think someone is being malicious, report it to a channel op so they can check it out.

This page offers a great outline of what to look out for so you don't get burned.

Getting Involved

IRC is the new black, when it comes to online communication and it's important that, as times change, we adjust to how people are talking with one another. IRC offers a great opportunity to get developers from across the world together and share a wealth of knowledge. The interface is simple and explicit, making it incredibly easy to pick up and be productive. And with the numerous clients available, getting involved is straightforward. So, if you haven't yet tried IRC or you're a veteran that needs to re-grease the wheels, IRC is back and ready for you.