Miscellaneous IRC Help Fles

These files didn’t belong to any of our main directories, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important!

• IRC Command Cosmos
  More advanced help guide designed to supplement the classic help files , with a mIRC/Undernet emphasis.
• IRC Hints
  Frustrated with takeovers? Check out these technical and social hints to make better use of IRC, so that you don’t keep running around asking the wrong people for help.
• IRC International
  Non-English IRC resources, including help guides in many languages and web sites devoted to specific langages or regions.
  Includes: Deutsch | Indonesia | Italiano | Portugues | Turkish

Specific Topics

These miscellaneous files each cover a specific topic or audience, and tend to be shorter and more focused than the general files above.

• /ALIAS Command: A Friendly Help File
  Detailed instructions on how to set up aliases to simplify commonly used commands.
• #IRChelp Channel Rules (EFnet and IRCnet)
  Interested in helping on #IRChelp or in gaining ops? Please read these rules very carefully.
• Shareware
  What is “shareware” vs. commercial software? This guide explains how the shareware concept brings you low-cost, high-quality software.
• IRC by telnet - FAQ
  This classic guide for how to IRC by telnet is quite out of date but does include some tips on setting up *nix clients.
• User Modes Overview
  Comprehensive review of user modes for the 4 major networks, now you can finally decode that alphabet soup of +iskw and so on.
• Quick usermode g information for EFnet
  Quick guide to the user mode g for EFnet for server-side ignoring of spam, msg, and floods.
• UNIX Help Manual.
  A short reference on commands for the UNIX operating system, useful to ircII users.
• Web Chatting
  How to provide a web chat service so that visitors to your web page can join your IRC channels. Brief discussion of how to find web chat sites too.
• WebTV and Internet Relay Chat
  Introduction to IRC specifically for WebTV customers, includes how to pick networks/servers, the WebTV chat commands, etc.

IRC Culture

These cover interesting/funny/weird aspects of IRC life, intended for amusement and education.

• IRC Communication Research Resources
  This major archive was formerly an independent site and generously contributed to us by Sean Rintel. It contains a huge library of information for people doing social or linguistic research on how we use IRC to interact, including academic, mass media, humor, and other resources.
• Electropolis: Communication and Community on IRC
  This honors thesis is one of the few serious academic analyses of IRC; contains many fascinating and surprisingly timeless insights.
• Everybody’s essential guide to IRC…. by hop@EFnet [external link]
  Humorous but sadly accurate description of a user’s IRC evolution, what stage are you?
• History of IRC [external link]
  How it all began, in the words of Jarkko Oikarinen the creator and a few others!
• IRC Songs [external link]
  The ultimate in IRC geekdom - lyrics to songs about IRC.
• Technology and Social Isolation
  Speaking of geeks, a thoughtful essay on the dangers of IRC replacing IRL.