Chat Rooms for Grown-Ups

Join the Conversation

After you connect to a server, mIRC's Status window tells you how many people are connected to the server and some other information gleaned from your client, such as your nick. Now what?

IRC servers work like telephone party lines. People gather in "channels," which are similar to AOL's chat rooms. The mIRC Channels Folder pops to the foreground after you connect to a server, offering a predefined list of channels. Confusingly enough, this list is by no means exhaustive. To see a complete list of available channels, close the Channels Folder window and type the command /list in the Status window and press Enter. The program will now display another window named Channels with thousands of channel names, each with a pound sign prefix.

After mIRC loads all the channels--it might take a minute or two, especially if you're connected by modem--a right-click anywhere inside the Channels window brings up a menu that lets you sort the channels alphabetically or by the number of users. You can also use this menu to search for particular topics: Select List Options and type keywords into the "Match text" field in the dialog box that appears (try "windows" or "mp3," for instance). Now click Apply to narrow the channel listings. To add a channel to the default list that appears when you connect to a server, right-click the channel and select Add to Folder.

Join a channel by double-clicking it or typing /join #<channel name> in the Status window's command line. The channel will appear in a new window, with the participants' names along the right edge, and a transcript of the ongoing discussion slowly filling the main part of the window. You can join in the discussion by typing into the text box at the bottom of the channel window. When you hit Enter, the text you type will be seen by everyone present on the channel.

If none of the thousands of listed channels appeals to you, you can create a new channel simply by typing a new channel name when you issue your /join command. If you've told three cyberfriends to meet you in #bus_stop at a certain time, for example, enter /join #bus_stop to create the channel and wait for your friends to arrive. Your new channel will appear when others request a list of all channels and will disappear when you all leave.

Some popular channels include #hottub, which simulates a group of people sitting in a hot tub, and #trivia, a text-based quiz game that runs constantly. Check out #ircnewbies, #irchelp, or #mirc if you want to get a feel for the interface or if you have questions about IRC.

Watch and Listen

When you're new to IRC, it's best to sit back a while and listen to the conversation when you first join a channel. Just as you wouldn't jump into the middle of a conversation in real life, you shouldn't butt into a discussion online. Listening in is called "lurking," and it can be a good way to learn about IRC. Watch the discussion unfold for a while, so you can get a feel for IRC's rhythm. If you're confused by abbreviations that the regulars are using, check out Techno's Acronym Page for some assistance.