Procedures and Instructions
1. General Info:
Please familiarize yourself with these procedures and send e-mail to John Kurilec (jmk@nptn.org) if you want further clarification on any of these points. An Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a highly energetic space for the exchange of information and discussion, or simply chatting . Our chat sessions will be generally un-moderated and therefore we who participate will have to maintain decorum.
The chat sessions will be hosted at NPTN (National Public Telecomputing Network) which runs a software called FreePort. FreePort software works in a way such that you can only stay on-line for an hour after which the computer gives you 5 minutes notice and then bumps you off. When this happens, you must re-initiate the entire SIGNING ON procedure outlined below to get back into the chat.
2. Procedure/How to do what:
a) SIGNING ON
The IRC will be hosted on the NPTN system. The chat sessions will begin at
9:00 AM EST and conclude at 1:00 pm EST. on both Wednesday May 8, 1996 and
Wednesday May 15, 1996.
For the entire duration of our IRC session NPTN will remove the visitor
limitation on the system for the IRC area.
For those with telnet capabilities telnet to nptn.org and log in as visitor.
No password is necessary. After you log in something similar to the following message will be displayed:
Last login: Tue Mar 21 16:01:02 from detroit.freenet. SunOS Release 4.1.3 (NPTN.ORG) #4: Thu Mar 16 06:54:44 EST 1995
(For those who do not have telnet capabilities, you can utilize NPTN's modems and dial in. The phone number is 216-498-4070.(No collect calls will be accepted :>). . However, you must first set your terminal software to vt100. Check your software manual to see how to set your communications software
At this point there will be some general informational messages and a few disclaimers. Using the SPACE bar and the RETURN key forge ahead (you need exactly 3 hits on SPACE bar, 2 on RETURN, 3 on SPACE and 1 more on RETURN - exactly in that order) until you come to the Learning Village Cleveland main menu.
b) ENTERING IRC
At the Learning Village Cleveland main menu choose option 9 (The Cafe) and press RETURN. This will take you into The Cafe where you will select option
1 (Chat with Other Users) and press RETURN. You will next arrive at the MULTI-USER CHAT area. Choose option 5 (Join the Conversation) to enter IRC.
Alternatively, at the Learning Village Cleveland main menu, typing go irc (no quotes) will also take you to the MULTI-USER CHAT area where you can select option 5.
c) CHOOSING YOUR NICKNAME **** This is Important****
To help us identify you and to allow others to login as visitor you must
change your nickname to a name of your own choosing (limited to about 6
characters) immediately after entering IRC by typing in:
d) JOINING IN THE CHAT
We will be chatting on channel #TeleOlympics
To join channel TeleOlympics type /join #TeleOlympics.
(Note for a name with alphabets it must be preceded by # sign)
e) A FEW USEFUL COMMANDS
Thumb rule: All irc commands must be preceded by a / (forward slash). Thus,
typing /help gives you a list of available irc commands. However, once you
have joined a channel, you need not precede your lines with a /. Whatever
you type, simply goes to the entire channel. Precede your lines with a /
when you wish to execute an irc command and when you do not wish the text to
be sent to the entire channel.
Below is a brief listing of common multi-user chat commands. For a complete
listing of commands, type /HELP. For more information about a given
command, type /HELP
/BYE: allows you to leave multi-user chat
/MSG
f) ETIQUETTE
It's not necessary to greet everybody on a channel personally. Usually one
"Hello!" or equivalent is enough. And don't expect everybody to greet you
back... On a channel with 20 people that would mean one screenful of
hellos. It's sensible not to greet, in order not to be rude to the rest of
the channel. If you must say hello to somebody you know, do it with a
private message (use the /msg command). The same applies to good-byes.
When you come to a new channel it's a good idea to listen for a while to
get an impression of what's discussed. Please feel free to join in, but do
not try to force your topic into the discussion if that doesn't come
naturally.
The following is a list of "no-no's" on most channels and over IRC as a
whole:
Remember, people on IRC form their opinions about you only by your actions,
writings and comments, so think before you type.
g) IRC LINGO:
On IRC, communication speed often matters when talking to others, and as a
result, many "shorthands" have been developed by IRCers to convey the most
amount of information in the smallest amount of keystrokes. Here are some
common shorthands:
"re" - repeat hi, used when you have left a channel and rejoin it
A common 'emoticon' in use over IRC is the "smiley", which
is :-) (look at it sideways), but is often abbreviated to :)
There exist many variations to smileys and "frownies" :-(
3. Proposed Agenda
Let's meet your fellow TeleOlympians on the net from all over the world
and have some fun conversation using IRC !!! See you all on Wednesday,
May 8 and 15, 1996.
/nick
/CLEAR: clears your screen off
/HELP: lists help on available commands
/IGNORE
/INVITE
/JOIN
/LIST: lists all active channels, number of users and their topics (if they
have one)
/NICK
/QUERY
/QUERY Just typing this command (without a nickname) stops querying (i.e.
ends a private conversation)
/TOPIC
/NAMES Shows the nicknames of all users on each channel
/WHO
/WHOIS
/PART
/LEAVE
/QUIT Exits irc
"brb" - be right back!
"bbl" - be back later
"bbiaf" - be back in a few minutes
"ttyl" - talk to you later
"oic" - Oh, I see!
"imho" - In my humble opinion
"rotfl"- rolling on the floor with laughter
"focl" - falling off the chair laughing
"ni" - no idea
"ayq" - ask your question
"u" - you
"y" - why
"2" - to
"b" - be
"r" - are
"c" - see