Onionland IRC Guide

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer,including file sharing.
- Wikipedia

In layman's terms, IRC is an older (but still awesome) method of live chatting with someone on a basic interface.

But why is this important a single bit?!
-Allows you to interact with fellow Torizens in real time
-Have a much more community-based interaction with your peers
-Get help in various channels like #security and #public
-Socialize and further develop relationships with IRC members (remember not to give too much personal information)
-It's fun and it's good to learn new skills. So the correct question is: Why not?! It's pretty simple.

So let's get this thing rolling. First of all, you'll need an IRC program. Don't use Pidgin; although it's largely used for messaging in many aspects, it's better to use a client dedicated to IRC, as IRC clients generally have much more support for plugins and security. For this demonstration, I'll be using XChat, which is my preferred client. If you have a Windows-based operating system, you can use silverex.org to download a free version of XChat. The official version is trial-based and requires a subscription. If you have Linux/GNU, pick up the version from the actual XChat site (xchat.org). It's free. If you have a mac (ew) you'll have to go with XChat Aqua. There are LOTS of IRC clients out there, and quite a few of them are free and open source, so test out different ones and find one you may like.

Now that you've picked out something you like, install it and bring up the main interface. Configuring Tor with most clients is very similar. Open "Settings -> Preferences -> Network setup". Some clients may have this listed under proxy settings. See "proxy server".

Hostname: 127.0.0.1 (or you can simply type in "localhost")
Port: 9050
Type: Socks5
Use proxy for: All Connections
Leave everything else blank

These settings will only work if Tor is running. Click "Ok" and it will bring you back.

OnionNet is the main IRC network. The following servers connect to OnionNet and allow you to talk to everyone else in OnionNet, regardless of what server address they use.

4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion mixie's server. Operator = mixie
ftwircdwyhghzw4i.onion FTW's server. Operator = FTW
nissehqau52b5kuo.onion Nissehult's server. Operator = Nissehult
renko743grixe7ob.onion Renko's server. Operator = Renko
jkpos24pl2r3urlw.onion Pedobear's server. Operator = PB. This is the IRC server for pedophiles.

All networks should be connected using the port 6667. So if you want to connect to a server, here's how you should do it. Type into the dialog box:

/server ftwircdwyhghzw4i.onion/6667

It *may* be ":6667" instead of the forward slash depending on the client you use. Again, I'm using XChat. Entering the port on XChat isn't required because it's understood by the client that 6667 is the standard port for IRC. It'll probably be this way for various other clients as well.

Now let's erase the CTCP replies. CTCP replies is "Client-to-client protocol". It allows you to interact with other user's clients, like sending messages and exchanging files. This presents an anonymity problem in that others can read your client information and potentially personal information about you.

Now this will vary in between clients. I'd view The Hidden Wiki's "IRC Anonymity Guide" page and browse to the DCC/CTCP category to learn how to disable them. For XChat, it's extremely simple; head to "Settings -> Advanced -> CTCP Replies" and delete everything in it. Save. Restart your client to see if the changes were successful. If so, you're good. That was simple, wasn't it?

Now join a server. Wait a minute for it to connect. Some of the servers are occasionally down. I personally use Nissehult. It has pretty good uptime and a generally fast connection. Now you can join a channel. In XChat, go to "Server -> List of channels" and click it. Only change the "Show only:" part. Change the value from 5 to 1 in the "channels with * to 9999 users". Now click search. You'll see all the list of channels come up with the topic name, amount of users, etc. You can also just type /list in the dialogue box, but I prefer the built-in method.

To join a channel, type /join #channelname. Replace channelname with the channel you want. So if you wanted to join #public, type /join #public. You should almost immediately pop in there.

So that's basically it for the IRC guide. If I feel the need to input anything else, I'll update it on my pastebin page (pastebin.com/u/nekro). Thanks for reading and be sure to meet and greet some new people!

Made By Nekro. I don't care how you edit it or change the style, distribute it however you'd like.
http://hcawftz4hyxui52a.onion/