Internet Relay Chat (or just IRC)----------------------------------------------------------------------IRC :: Brief HistoryIt all started in the summer of 1988 when Jarkko "WiZ" Oikarinen wrote the first IRC client & server at the University of Oulu, in Finland.
Jarkko intended to extend the BBS [Bulletin Board System] software he administrated at tolsun.oulu.fi, to allow news to be distrobuted in the usenet style, have real time discussions and similar BBS features. The first part he implemented was the chat part, which he did with borrowed parts written by his friends Jyrki Kuoppala and Jukka Pihl. It was initially tested on a single machine, and according to the words from Jarkko himself "The birthday of IRC was in August 1988". The first IRC server was tolsun.oulu.fi.
Jarkko got some friends at the Helsinki and Tampere Universities to start running IRC servers as well, and when his number of users increased, other universities followed suit. Markku Järvinen was another key helper by improving the client. By this time though, Jarkko sadly realized that the rest of the BBS features probably just wouldn't fit into this program...
Jarkko got in touch with guys at the University of Denver and Oregon State University. They had got an IRC network running (they had got the program from one of Jarkko's friends, Vijay Subramaniam -- the first non-finnish person to use IRC) and wanted to connect to the finnish network. IRC then grew larger and got used on the entire Finnish national network - Funet - and then connected to Nordunet, the Scandinavian branch of the Internet. In November 1988, IRC had spread across the Internet.
* In the middle of 1989, there were some 40 servers worldwide.
* ircII was released 1989 by Michael Sandrof.
* In July 1990, IRC averaged at 12 users on 38 servers.
* In 1990, a new network was set up in order to develop a new version (2.6) of the ircd. The network named ChNet (about 25 servers and no users) existed a few months before disagreements among the programmers caused it to dissolve.
* Now there are quite literally thousands of IRC networks sprawled all across the web, and by using such sites as
http://www.searchirc.com/ you can easily find news channels and new networks to suit your needs and tastes. There are also hundreds of IRCds (the IRC "operating systems") out for distrobution, created by organizations, and individules.
IRC :: ConnectingThe Great Alliance is currently housed on
irc.chatchannel.org. Lets say you don't know how to connect, and would like to learn? Well follow these simple steps:
- Find yourself an IRC Client, such as mIRC.
[li]Once downloaded, and installed, run the program. Once the program opens, an options dialog will open up. Take a look through the optionsr and familiarise yourself with them, but don't change anything yet!
[li]In the Full Name section, enter whatever you want. In the Email section, enter your email address (or whatever you want, entering your real email is unnecessary).
[li]In the Nickname section, enter a nickname you would like to use, by the time you connect to the ChatChannel server, you may find that someone else is already using this nickname, so in the Alternative section input a secondary nickname you would like to use. (You can change your nickname anytime while connected to an IRC Server by typing /nick newnickname).
[li]Now press OK. You'll now be presented with a blank window that is titled "Status". In this window, type the following: /server irc.chatchannel.org. It will start connecting you to the server. (If you have a firewall, you may have problems connecting, if that's the case, send me an email @ emperor_zathras@yahoo.co.jp with what type of firewall you have and I'll guide you through modifying it so you can access the irc server safely without having to turn off your firewall and risk catching a virus).
[li]Alright, so now you should be connected to irc.chatchannel.org, in the status window, go ahead and type /join #tga
[li]Welcome to The Great Alliance's IRC Channel on ChatChannel 
Now what if you want to keep your nickname on ChatChannel? No problem! Type the following to 'register' your nickname so no one else can use it but you:
/msg nickserv register password email* For your password,
DO NOT use your KoC account password. Make up another password that
only you know.
* For your email, use a valid email address (that's yours).
IRC :: Why does TGA need it?The answer is elementary... Simply put: It allows The Great Alliance members to collaberate in realtime in a centralized location on the internet regardless of the members' locations off the internet. Thus allowing for easier organizations of Mass Hits, or Mass Clicks. It also allows members to make friends with one another, and other people from other alliances and games on the ChatChannel server. You don't need to get on IRC, but it makes it easier to make contact with the rest of the alliance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Hope this helps you out Uber Peasant and anyone else who had or may have questions about IRC. If for some reason I screwed up part of this post, well just send me a message and when I get it, I'll edit this post. Thanks!
(Edit: I changed my email from
zathman@spymac.com to
emperor_zathras@yahoo.co.jp)
