/gfd/ IRC Guide!

IRC(Internet Relay Chat) is a fairly old way of communicating over the internet. It's essentially multiplayer notepad. It works using a client->server connection, the users have their client(their IRC program) connect to the IRC server and it allows them to communicate. You can exchange text and files over IRC, but don't accept files from just anyone. Viruses spread through IRC like they do in a whorehouse. If you don't go saving every file Nigerian_Prince_1986 sends you, then you should be fine.

Now, you may be asking, Why do I need an IRC client, Cockmuffin? There are several reasons, but here are a few.

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>Logs so you can keep track of what's going on.

>Scripts to vastly increase the quality of your IRC experience.

>Auto-join and auto-identify, so you can have your registered nick and not blast your password into the chat.(I've done this, it's embarrassing as fuck)

>Auto-rejoin when connection is lost.

>Keep track of your friends.

>Ignore lists.

>Alerts and pings.

>More servers and channels, plus favorites. This can be your intro to the world of IRC. Fansubbing groups for anime, hackers, pirates, random websites, programmers, etc. all use IRC to communicate.

>Nickname completion. I don't want to have to type out awesomemcfaggotname every time I want your attention. Instead, I type aweso and hit tab to autocomplete your name. If the first one isn't it, hit tab again to cycle through the list.

>Custom themes for better readability, with nickname highlighting and font choice+font size

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Here are a few clients you can use:
Hexchat(Xchat for Windows reborn)
Irssi(Leet hackers use this)
mIRC(Most used client, costs money)
ChatZilla(Firefox addon, still peasant-tier but better than being a mib)
(I'm sure there's a Chrome equivalent)
And there's an integrated client in Opera if I remember correctly.

Today we'll be using Hexchat. Why? Because it's free and idiot-proof to set up, that's why. Also, it uses Perl scripting instead of some proprietary bullshit scripting language. And yes, it works on Linux and Macs. First, go to http://www.hexchat.org/ and download the client.

Accept the user agreement and continue. When you get to the plugins, I leave this to you. The only one I'd leave out is the windows media player announcer, that shit's annoying. It will take you to the page choosing your Perl version.
If you don't know what this is, leave the default. There is also an option to do a portable install, confining all the related files to the folder instead of jizzing all over %APPDATA%.

Congratulations, you now have an IRC client.

...But wait, there's more! Now we get to the fun part. You should be looking at this when you start it up:

http://i.imgur.com/4FkwAXP.png

Choose any nickname you want for the first box, but keep in mind that really common ones might be registered. The next two are alternates. Their main use will be for random disconnects. If your connection has a hiccup, there's a chance your nick will remain on the server, so when you reconnect and the server says your nick's still in use, your client will choose the next in line. I recomment making it something similar to the first name. For instance, if I disconnect oddly, there's a chance Cockmuggin will come in shortly.

The bottom box is for your username. This will appear as part of your host, which most people don't give a flying fuck about. I usually just make it the same as the primary nick.

Now, for the server and channel selection! Scroll down that little list until you find IRCHighWay. It's, uh, in the I's. They come after the H's. Click it one time.

If it makes things easier for you, you can click the Fave button with IRCHighWay highlighted, and then the little show favorites only checkbox below. It'll nuke the rest of the list.

Once you click and highlight it, hit that Edit button to the right. You'll get:

http://i.imgur.com/UiAZGvp.png

Click the Autojoin channels tab. Click Add and then type #gfd  , hitting the Enter key when done. If you'd like, you can click on the Connect to this network automatically checkbox if you just want to connect as soon as you open HexChat. You can safely ignore the other options for now.

Now you can click Close, and then Connect on the other screen. You should pop right into our little channel. Hopefully you're greeted quickly by someone, but keep in mind that people might not be paying attention. If it's a weird hour, there might not even be anyone there. I'm usually logged in at all times just to keep logs, because Lord knows I can't be arsed to get a proper bot, but if I'm set to Away, I'm of no use to you. Just try to be patient and hopefully someone comes along to chat with.

Next step, we'll be registering our nickname. Assuming your nickname isn't taken already, you'll be sending a message to NickServ. NickServ is the Nickname authenticator and will allow you to say Hey guys, it really is me! Having a registered nick keeps people from impersonating you, and allows you to be assigned privileges such as Op/Half-Op/Voice etc. It's important, so just register and be done with it. The command to register your nickname is /msg NickServ Register Password EMAIL . Use the password you want to be associated with your name and an email you want the confirmation to be sent to.

You'll get an email with easy instructions within moments. Follow 'em, and bam, your current nickname (and only the current one) is now registered. Fuck yeah.

Now, we'll set up automatic identification. Without it, every time you connect you'd have to use /msg NickServ IDENTIFY password so this will do it for you.

Now click Hexchat in the main menu at the very top and go to Network List. IRCHighWay should still be selected, and you should highlight it if it's not, then click edit again. Remember this screen?

Go down to Login method. Select the first NickServ one, the one which says /msg NICKSERV password behind it:

http://i.imgur.com/zXQghzs.png

Put your password in the Password box, and kaboom. It'll identify automatically every single time you login. No muss, no fuss.

Now for alerts:

Go to Settings->Preferences and go to alerts. Here you'll choose how you want to be alerted and for what. Use variations of your name and things of particular interest. For instance, our buddy PasDeLAnonymat should be alerted by that exact nick, but might choose to be alerted whenever someone types Pas, Anonymat, or Frenchie (my nickname for him).

Time for some basics!

You can join servers using /server irc.servernamehere to join a server. You join channels with /j or /join #channelname. These channel names can be almost anything, and there's a channel for almost every topic under the sun on bigger networks.

Useful commands
/nick NAMEHERE will change your name
/part leaves channel
/quit disconnects from the server
/me WHATEVER will create a message using your username. It's basically the roleplay command. Please don't spam chat with roleplaying if conversations are going on. I might make a
/ns ghost NICKNAME PASSWORD will kill your username if someone else is using it or it doesn't disconnect automatically.
/msg NAME will private message that person and can start a private conversation.

If you see weird dots and symbols in front of names, those are people with rank, possibly mods. Be nice to them. I don't think mods in #gfd will be too shitty, though. I'll try to keep that from happening.

I may write another guide for more advanced stuff later. Feel free to mess with some options like color scheme and whatnot so that it's best suited to you.