The ABC's of IRC

Just what is this thing called IRC? Hmmm... Remember CB radio? Citizen's Band?
(Extra points if you also remember the song "Convoy," all the Smokey films and
the CB-craze lingo. Ten-four, good buddy.) CB may have been a '70s fad, but it
still is a mode of communication that lets anyone with CB access join in a sort
of radio free-for-all. Well, Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, is like a kind of
text-based CB that operates over the Internet instead of radio waves.

Here's another popular analogy used to visualize and think about IRC: Picture
yourself at a large party with people from all over the world, standing around in
groups having conversations that you can join in or eavesdrop on at will. You can
walk from group to group, and even invite one or more people into a separate room
to have a private conversation. And if necessary, you can talk to someone
secretly so that no one else can hear.

IRC is a multiuser, multichannel chat system; anyone with IRC access can join in
on one or more channels. On any particular day, channels typically number in the
hundreds, sometimes even thousands. Each channel is a virtual place, a kind of
"Netspace" or, for you Gibson fans, "cyberspace." Each usually has a definite
topic of conversation, and can involve groups of people from two to scores,
depending on the popularity or the breadth of the topic, or any number of other
factors. Unlike other Internet facilities such as e-mail and newsgroups, IRC
communication occurs in real time, a feature once considered the sole dominion of
oral communication (and visual, if you count the more advanced and expensive
video communication systems).

To connect to the IRC network, the IRC user (you!) runs a "client" program. When
you type something on your computer while connected to IRC, a "server" program
instantly echoes your typed words--that is, your inputs--to all users around the
globe who happen to be on the same channel with you. As various people join in
with their inputs, one or more conversations result. See Figure 1-1 for a preview
of what a typical IRC dialogue looks like.

The input area of an IRC client typically consists of a one-line window or
section at the bottom of the screen where you type your commands and/or text.
Your input, along with the text being typed by the other members of the channel
you're on, appears above the input area and scrolls up as new lines appear. This
enables you to watch and participate in the conversation. Most IRC clients for
home computers (PCs and Macs) even let you save your IRC sessions--either to a
scroll buffer (so past discussions can be accessed by "scrolling back in time" as
far as the buffer allows) or to a file on disk.

You can join and send your input to existing public group chats--or, unlike CB,
you can create your own channels (try doing that on radio without the FCC coming
after you!). Channels can also "die"--disappear from lack of use; if no one's on
a channel, it ceases to exist (though it can always be re-created later). You can
even create a private channel for yourself and as few as one or two other people.
And just like on a CB radio, you can give yourself a unique "handle" or nickname
(although on IRC, people rarely seem to type the phrase "good buddy").

The Growth of IRC

IRC developed from "talk," a UNIX program that lets two Net users converse with
text via a split screen (one user on top, the other below). This program is still
available to most users on UNIX-based systems, but it is generally limited to
just a pair of Netters. The ability for three or more users to converse at once
came in 1988, when IRC was written by Jarkko Oikarinen (you might still be able
to e-mail Jarkko at jto@tolsun.oulu.fi if you want to say thanks). Although
designed as a replacement for the "talk" program, it has become much more than
that. Since starting in Finland, the system has been used in over 60 countries
around the world, and IRC currently links host systems in 20 different countries.
IRC is constantly evolving, so the way things work one week may not necessarily
be the way they work the next.

IRC gained international fame during two big crises that occurred in 1991. When
people could not easily communicate via other means, or were censored, they
searched for a solution--and found one in IRC. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War,
news updates from around the world came across many networks (the Internet as
well as other media), and many IRC users who were online at the time gathered on
a single channel to hear these reports. Unlike other media, IRC was considered to
be an uncensored, nearly unbiased source of information. Some of the participants
may have been reporting biased news (or news believed to have media-based or
government-forced bias) from other sources, but when biased news is broadcast on
IRC, people on the channel either label it as such, or quickly come to a mutual
understanding that some items are tainted and that others carry more weight. The
fast, interactive, multisource nature of IRC makes it a wonderful forum for
comparison of information from around the world--so that the "best" information
can rise to the top, so to speak--and hence IRC is a perfect arena for
understanding, reporting and dealing with crises that are international in scope.

IRC had similar uses during the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in the summer of
1991, and again during yet another uprising (this time against Gorby successor
Boris Yeltsin) in 1993. In both cases, IRC users from Moscow and other areas were
giving live reports about the unstable situation there.

But IRC is not well known solely for its use during crises and news storms. IRC
has also become a mecca for college students, who often spend hours hanging out
in "virtual cafes," chatting on all sorts of subjects. (In fact, some observers
and users of the Internet feel that it's the large number of free Internet
accounts afforded to college students that leads to the large number of hours
spent on IRC.)

People also do commercial work on IRC (it is an excellent forum for consultations
between workers on different points of the globe), and a whole range of
activities, from programming to translation to collaborative creativity (I even
wrote a real-time interactive poem with someone on IRC!) goes on over chat
channels. 

Still, a large part of IRC activity--the majority, some would argue--is closer to
play than work. Since IRC is used by people all over the globe, users of IRC tend
to know personally only a few fellow "IRCers." IRC allows, and even encourages,
recreational communication between people who never have been, and probably never
will be, in a situation where knowledge of one another can be based on physical
cues. 

IRC was not specifically designed for any single type of environment or social
construct (e.g., the business, scientific or educational domain),  and
ultimately, the way IRC is used is decided by those who use it. Throughout this
book we'll be discussing more of the various ways people use and deal with
IRC-based communication.

Why IRC Is So Great

You could also call this section "Cool Things You Can Do on IRC." There are many,
but here are some highlights to get your mental juices flowing:

´	You can talk to your significant other (and, yes, your mom too) for less
than the price of a phone call.

´	You can experience instant simultaneous news-sharing (e.g., in times of
emergency), with worldwide viewpoints and a lower probability of communication
censorship than on most other media.

´	You can make new friends from all over the world without using up your
frequent flyer miles.

´	You can discover (or maintain) an affinity with your own (or a different)
ethnic group by chatting or getting personal with others who live around the
world.

All of the above are things you can do with existing channels that you find on
IRC. However, you also can create new channels, and eventually you'll want to try
it. Why would that be great? Glad you asked:

´	You can create a virtual cafe, complete with online poetry readings and
instant audience response.

´	If you're a scientist, you can converse with colleagues from around the
globe for immediate feedback. Or keep up with that student you guided through
college, or track down a long-lost professor (who turned out not to be lost but
rather busy surfing the Net).

´	You can create your own channel for (just about) any topic you want. Even if
the topic happens to be "let's get off this overcrowded channel"!

And of course, let's not forget that every activity listed in this section is
free! Pretty much, that is. "Free," as in completely zero-cost, assumes that your
Internet connection is provided at no cost to you. Even if you do pay for your
connection, your IRC sessions are still close to free, since the flat rate
typically charged for Internet access is independent of how many people you chat
with online or how many times per month you utilize IRC. As always, "your mileage
may vary."

Why IRC Is Not Perfect

What's this? A book on IRC telling you that IRC is not the greatest thing since
sliced bread? Don't panic--I just want you to have a well-rounded view of IRC. A
good tour guide tells you things to avoid and possible pitfalls as well as the
must-see's and must-do's. So here's a sampling of complaints some folks have
voiced now and then about IRC, and how to deal with them:

´	Some channels may seem like just a bunch of noise, or worse. Yes, it's often
true. But you must keep reminding yourself, "alas, such is the nature of
democracy"--which should make you feel better for a while. And don't forget, your
glorious presence on such channels might increase the signal-to-noise ratio,
right?

´	There are so many channels to wade through to find the one you want! But
luckily you have this book to help alleviate this problem. And besides, variety
is the spice of life. What would you prefer, a single IRC shopping channel?

´	Some channels have regulars or operators (or both) who are very cliquish,
and who may want to keep only certain types of people on their channel--or even
just certain individuals, if they decide their channel should be a kind of
private (virtual) club. This does happen at times--but you should ask whether
it's valuable or enjoyable to go where you are not appreciated. There are so many
other channels to venture onto that your creative chat options will remain wide
open for a long time. Besides, you can always open your own channel. Maybe one
day IRC citizens will try to force some "private" channel to open up and stop
"discriminating" against fellow IRCers--but for now the IRC (and the Internet in
general) is way too anarchistic and libertarian for that to happen.

´	IRC can become addictive, and there are many who admit to having succumbed
to such a state. But thankfully, methods to deal with IRC addiction have also
developed. (For example, see the alt.irc.recovery newsgroup, discussed in Chapter
6.) Is IRC, as some have maintained, just as bad a habit as TV? You, dear reader,
will have to decide for yourself--but at least this book will help you recognize
the relevant road signs along the IRC information highway (you knew I had to
squeeze that metaphor in somewhere).

Life on IRC: What to Expect

Those who have used a CB, or other chat rooms on other services, 

have a strong head start for understanding life on IRC. If you haven't used any
online chat before, or you're rusty on '70s fads, here are some basic tips, hints
and assorted expectations related to IRC culture and protocol.

On IRC, you can talk to one person (the minimum human interaction), or you can
join a channel populated with scores and scores of folks. (Actually, it is even
possible for you to be the only "live person" talking on a channel--see the
"Bots" section in Chapter 3.)

Unlike most folks at a real (physical) party, people on IRC can keep track of
multiple conversations while on a channel. Whereas in real life you cannot listen
to someone without essentially shutting out others to maintain focus, on IRC the
talking is "recorded" in text; hence you can follow many dialogue "threads" as
the text appears on your screen. You can help your memory even further by
capturing the dialogues into a log file (a kind of long-term memory), or you can
just use your scrollable buffer (a kind of short-term memory).

Some IRC gurus even dare to join several channels at a time and 

follow many threads of talk all at once (even on one screen). This is definitely
not recommended for new IRC users, because it can get 

confusing remembering which folks are on which channels, among other things.

Learning to carry on parallel conversations can be tough, especially at first.
And if there are a lot of people on a popular channel, it can be hard to keep a
conversation going if you're a newcomer to IRC (an IRC "newbie"). Have you ever
tried to talk to 70--or even just 20--people in a room at once? Unless you're
giving a lecture, probably not. Conversations usually tend to involve around 2 to
7 people on average. Same thing online. So expect to focus on only a few people
if a channel is crowded. Then, once you've picked out your 2 to 7 Netters (your
optimal range may vary) to focus on, you've got to keep an eye out for their
responses (labeled by their names, thank God!)--no small task on a crowded
channel with lots of overlapping dialogue.

Also bear in mind that a "lag" time between one user's input (e.g., a question)
and someone's reply to that input can often occur, and to varying degrees. There
are many causes for this problem. Sometimes lags occur because the network or
your service provider is overworked and slower than normal; due to this, your
input might appear later on others' screens than on yours. Other times it is
because some folks are following multiple channels and aren't focusing
exclusively on you or your channel. If both of these apply, the lag in getting
replies to your inputs can become confusing or annoying. And if others on the
channel also happen to be rude or forgetful, this can make matters even worse
(but don't blame IRC for that--bad manners happen in real life too).

If you are new on IRC and don't quite have all the commands down yet, you also
might get kidded a bit by the other "channelers," but that should be the worst of
it--unless you do something really bad, in which case you might get flamed.
However, once you read the advice in Chapter 5, "Cyberchat Etiquette," that of
course should never happen, and soon you'll feel right at home in the IRC
environment.

Chat Psychology 101

Can the nature of communication within a kind of text-based virtual world change
how we interact with others? In most cases, the answer is yes, and it is useful
to know how before jumping blindly into the IRC world.

The first thing you'll want to be aware of is that the anonymity of interaction
in environments like IRC allows users to play games with their identities.
Following are a few of the types of behavior some IRC users may engage in:

´	Experimenting with being different people--which can include doing things
that on some level one doesn't want to do, yet feels one must in order to make a
fake persona/character consistent and believable.

´	Experimenting with different characters in order to see how other people
react, then "trying on" the good parts of the characters that provoke a favorable
response while avoiding the others.

´	Forgetting, ignoring, removing or rising above the "normal" perceived
confines of gender, race, age and other "societal conceptions."

In general, IRC-based communication is less bound by conventions than is
face-to-face (FTF or F2F) interaction. Anonymity and the physical impression that
one is alone can lead many users of IRC to behave in more uninhibited and
nonconformist ways than they would in face-to-face encounters. With little
regulating feedback to govern behavior, users may act in ways that would not
generally be acceptable with people who effectively are total strangers. This can
have both positive and negative effects.

For example, some IRCers are shy by nature, and normally wouldn't talk about
certain topics with others face to face. But the perceived safety of anonymity
can make one feel less self-conscious, and thus willing to engage in more
intimate interactions than one might in the real world. In other words, intimacy
can tend to blossom more readily in online virtual realms like IRC, between
people who might not otherwise have had, or allowed themselves, the chance to
become close. Personal relationships among participants in online communication
systems can often be deep and highly emotional. Some participants in IRC may even
come to feel that their best friends are members of their electronic clique or
club, even though they rarely see or even meet them "for real." People even carry
out on long-distance romantic relationships over IRC--some even get married, and
have actually done so over IRC!

On the negative side, however, this same sense of anonymity can also encourage
"flaming," and other examples of poor online manners. Flaming is a phenomenon
that often includes overly aggressive hostile remarks and other bits of strong
language with opinionated and/or personally insulting overtones. Many IRC users
will flame people much more readily than they would deliberately insult or offend
someone in real life, since anonymity can lead to a feeling of less
responsibility for actions--as well as a feeling that "they can't do anything to
retaliate since I'm sitting here all alone, detached and anonymous" (if I may
exaggerate a bit to make my point).

Despite the occasional tendency of some to become less amiable online, many users
of IRC form strong friendships. Part of this phenomenon is due to the common bond
of seeking out and exploring a new medium together--a kind of mutual virtual
pioneer spirit, fostered by the lure of the "Information Gold Rush" and the
spread of the "Information Railroad" (not yet a superhighway, in my opinion). But
a large part is also due to the absence of typical obstacles we see or imagine in
the real world that inhibit a free exchange between people or encourage shyness.
In short, you have the freedom to be someone you usually are not in the real
world--and perhaps more importantly, to be more yourself than would usually be
acceptable.

IRC & the Rest of the Net

IRC has definitely "spilled over" into other areas of Net communication. On
USENET, for example, several newsgroups devoted to various aspects of IRC life
have been spawned. One of the most widely utilized groups pertaining to IRC is
alt.irc, where IRC participants can go to chat about chat. Another is
alt.irc.recovery, for those recovering from IRC addiction (yes, it really does
happen).

IRC life has spread to the World Wide Web as well. For example, there now are a
number of Web pages associated with some of the more popular IRC channels. The
existence of such pages, as well as the IRC-related USENET groups, shows both the
increased popularity of IRC as well as chatters' needs for more interaction
beyond the limitations of IRC channels. Also note that, on IRC, there currently
is no way to view pictures of frequent channel visitors--yet this is something
that can be (and is) done on IRC-related WWW pages. See Chapter 6, "Choice
Channels & Related Resources," for complete listings and descriptions of
IRC-related newsgroups and Web pages.

The Undernet

Remember that Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror"? The crew of the Enterprise
encountered an alternate universe where there existed a mirror Kirk, a mirror
Spock and so on--albeit with slightly altered personalities (naturally, given the
need for conflict in an hour-long drama). 

Well, the Undernet is like an alternate IRC, a mirror universe of 

alternative chat channels. In fact, some call this "other network" the Alternet.
All the main concepts in the Undernet online universe--commands, channels,
servers, etc.--are essentially analogous to those on IRC. The main technical
difference is that the Undernet uses a different set of servers than "regular"
IRC does. Connecting to an Undernet server gets you a different set of channels
to choose from than connecting to an IRC server--though there are often channels
with the same name in both "universes."

Also, regulars on the Undernet (at least according to the official Undernet FAQ)
are striving to make it a more Netiquette-savvy, less politicized place to
interact than IRC has become over the years. In any case, those on the Undernet
encourage you to check out their mirror chatspace. At the very least, the lower
numbers of people (it hasn't been around as long as IRC, after all) mean that you
have more chances for privacy and minimized interruptions (if that's your
preference when using Net chat).

Moving On

By now you should have an initial sense of what things you can look forward to
doing or seeing on chat channels, what kinds of behavior you might expect to find
while chatting, how IRC relates to other areas of the Internet, and other nice
bits of information you may never have known before (but will cherish forever).
And hopefully, you also have an irresistible urge to read on!

The next couple of chapters will cover the detailed steps involved in actually
making an IRC connection, and guide you through your first attempt at getting
onto IRC. And of course, there's lots of other stuff to come, too. But don't just
take my word for it--turn the page!