The Basics of IRC

Internet Relay Chat - The basics​

Table of content

• A brief introduction
• Getting started
• Servers and channels
• Commands
• Moderating a channel
• Extra
• Afterword

A brief introduction

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, and is a one of the most popular chats worldwide. Unlike MSN, IRC is customizable. You can write your own scripts to make things easier. The IRC chat isn't made for RuneScape, but it is really popular among RS users because it has a lot more options than the ingame clan chat. I am not an IRC expert myself, but I know the basics and I hope this guide will help you to understand them too.

Getting started

First of all, you will need to download IRC. IRC is a free and safe program.
http://www.mirc.com/get.html

If you plan to use IRC for RuneScape purposes only, I suggest you download SwiftKit if you haven't already. (SwiftKit is a free and safe program.) JaGex doesn't really support the use of SwiftKit but it has been confirmed that no user will ever get banned just for using SK.
http://www.swiftkit.net/index.php?page=downloads

Servers and channels

with mIRC

Millions of users use IRC daily. That's why IRC is divided in multiple servers. Every server has numerous channels. (Anyone can make his own channel in minutes)

Open mIRC. This screen should pop up:



Personally, I think it's fairly annoying so I suggest you register. It's free and it can be done in seconds.

When you clicked Continue or Register, a new window will pop up (mIRC options)



Enter your nickname, alias, name and e-mail. The last two don't have to be real. Done that? Click on 'Servers' and you will notice that there's quit a long list of servers. Look for 'SwiftIRC'



Extra: If you know the name and the port of the server, you can simply type:

Code:

/server irc.swiftirc.net 6667

(Not connected to the server yet? Click the lightning symbol)



If you're a first time joiner, the SwiftIRC won't appear at the top of the list.
Okay, now you have 2 options.

• Join an existing channel
• Make your own channel

To join a channel, simply type:

Code:

/join #CHANNELNAME

If you want to create your own channel, do the same but you'll need a channelname that isn't taken yet. I used '#GuideExample'

Congratulations, you just made your own IRC channel. Wasn't that hard, huh? But, of course, the channel isn't yours yet. If you only had to join a channel once to make it yours, there would be barely any channelnames left! You will have to register the channel.

Registring a channel is pretty easy.

Code:

/cs register #GuideExample password desription

Voilà! You now are the owner of the channel, woohoo!

with SwiftKit

Click the little IRC symbol, and enter your Nickname and the channel that you want to join. Optional: Click Auto-identify and enter your password. You won't have to enter it again if you do so.



The SK IRC will automatically connect to the SwiftIRC server.

Registring a name

If you are a frequent IRC user, you probably will have a reputation and hopefully some friends as well. You don't want anyone else to come over under your name and mess up, do you? That's why we are going to register our Nickname.

Code:

/ns REGISTER password password email email

(Above code will register the nickname that you are currently using)

Got your mailbox, and you'll find a code (check your Spambox). Copy the code, and type the following:

Code:

/ns confirm CODE

Your nickname is now registred! Everytime you join IRC under that name, you will have to proof it's you by typing

Code:

/ns id password

Commands

I suggest you start with disabling the filter:

Code:

/mode NICKNAME -f

Now you will be able to see links.

You already know how to join a channel:

Code:

/join #CHANNELNAME

You can leave one by typing

Code:

/part #CHANNELNAME

To quit IRC:

Code:

/quit REASON

To change your Nickname:

Code:

/nick NEWNICKNAME

To show a message in the third person (Not useful )

Code:

/me ....

Moderating a channel

Ranks

You can have different ranks in an IRC channel. First of all, you have the 'qo' rank, aka the owner of the channel. They have a @ before their name.

The next rank is 'o' (op), they also have the @ symbol before their name but they can't do as much as the owner can. An 'o' can ban someone.

Code:

!op NICKNAME

Then you have the 'h' rank. (halfop) They have a % before their name. These people can kick(ban).

Code:

!halfop NICKNAME

The last rank is the 'v' rank. (voice) Someone with this rank doesn't really have any privileges. Some channels require a voice rank to talk.

Code:

!voice NICKNAME

(Note: A rank is something channelbased, not serverbased. You only have a rank in a channel if someone in that particular channel gave it to you.)

Kicking/banning

Those who are ruining the fun should be kicked out. A kick is more like a warning, since people can immediately rejoin after they are kicked. In some channels you will get kicked automatically if you repeat the same message constantly. (flooding)

Code:

!kick NICKNAME

If you want to add why you kicked this user:

Code:

!kick NICKNAME Don't flood!

Banning someone will make them unable to talk, but the banned user will still be able to follow conversations. If you kickban them, they'll be kicked out the channel and unable to rejoin.

Code:

!kickban NICKNAME reason

You can also execute all this commands by right clicking on their name → Control → Selecting one of the options.

Extra

Auto-identify

I already explained how to enable Auto-identify with SwiftKit, but this is possible with mIRC too. Click on the Scripts Editor (white page with a green dot),



go to the 'Remote' tab and add the following lines of code:

Code:

On *:CONNECT {
  ns id PASSWORD
}

When you join a channel now, you won't have to identify yourself manually.

Highlight

Whenever you're on IRC, you're most likely also doing something else simultaneously. Unfortunately, you don't know when someone's talking to you. That's why we are going to enable the 'Highlight' function.

Click on the adress book, (image below) and go to the 'Highlight' tab. Click 'Add', and set '$me' as highlight word. Change the sound from no sound to 'beep', and you can also give messages with your name a color. (Personally I don't use this.)



Rejoin automatically

Getting kicked is annoying, so there is an option to automatically and instantly rejoin the channel you were kicked from. Click Tools (hammer symbol), IRC and select the 'Rejoin channel when kicked' option.



Afterword

When you become a frequent IRC user, you will find out that there are a lot of other things you can do. Unfortunately, no guide can summarize all IRC possibilities. This guide was to teach you the very basics, and later on you can read a more advanced guide. Good luck with IRC, and if you have any questions or concerns regarding this guide, feel free to post here or PM me! Thanks!

 

Great Guide

 

"First of all, you will need to download IRC. IRC is a free and safe program"

First of all, you can't download irc, irc is ran by a daemon, that is like saying you can download the internet. Also, irc is not a program, it's barely even a chat utility. It's primary 2 functions are for seeking out or collaborating on technical assistance/projects (irc.freenode.net) or running bots for downloading, running services etc.

IRC is a rather ancient, but effective utility, chat just happens to be one of it's functions.

 

Thanks for the help, I was curious about certain commands and their effects for some time now.