IRC 101 for Java

[pudgey]

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Apologies for the length, but this should cover what you need to use IRC for ToonTownCentral(TTC).

There are many ways to access IRC but for most TTC people it will be thru the Java chat located top right of http://www.toontowncentral.com's Home page. I will try and discuss how to use that.

Step 1. LOGIN

Enter a Nick Name - usually a Nick that you use for your toon. Can be up to 30 Characters. Letters, numbers, or separators like | ,_underscores_, and even Tildes (~) are acceptable. No spaces allowed.
eg. enter silly_zanny_boing.

Press ENTER, and a small Java window opens and begins to log into IRC for you. The Java window functions as an IRC client - bit like a chat window for the various Instant Messanger clients.

Step 2. ENTERING THE CHAT ROOM

This is so easy - the Java client will automagically log into the chat room for Toontown Central members: #toontowncentral. The # in front of the name means "Channel", which is a more correct name on IRC for a chat room.

In the channel people can chat in real time about whatever they like - usually TT related subjects.

Step 3. GETTING YOUR BEARINGS

• The Java window has three main sub-windows.
  
• Nicklist

  The one on the right shows the Nicks of the people in the room - look carefully and you will see yours listed. The Nicks with an @ next to them are Operators ("Ops" for short) and they are in charge of keeping the channel in order (we're proud of our G Rating!). As people come and go, the list of Nicks changes accordingly.

• Chat Window

  The left side sub-window contains the details of what is going on in the channel. When you first start you see a lot of grey and blue writing created as part of the LOGIN process. You dont need to know any of that to use IRC. The last information given when logging in is the Topic of the channel. For #toontowncentral this is important as it gives an idea of the status of game. Usually it says something like:
  [Open Server (1.0.6.4): ONLine] [Test Server (1.0.6.6a): ONLine] [Channel Rated: G] [Website] htp:/ww.toontowncentral.com/ . The Topic is also shown at the top of the Java client.

• Command Line
  

  The Command Line at the bottom of the window is where you enter whatever you want to say (or do) in the channel.
  eg to say Hello you just type Hello then press Enter on your keyboard. The word Hello appears in the Chat Window like this:
  <silly_zanny_boing> Hello
  As people enter what they want to say you will see the lines of text in the Chat Window scroll upwards to accommodate the new text. You can use the scroll bar at the side to browse up and find earlier comments.
  Events (people entering or leaving the channel, or changing their Nick) are shown in blue colored text.
  *** Pudgey (~pudgey@203-30-124-238) has joined the room ***
  "Actions" are shown in red colored text. Actions are when you type something to indicate you have done something - eg to pretend to hit someone with a trout typing
  /me slaps Pudgey around with a large trout
  produces this:
  *silly_zanny_boing slaps Pudgey around with a large trout

Step 4. PRIVATE CHATS

See a name on the right you want to speak to privately? Click twice on their Nick in the right-side and a new little window will open up. This is where just you and that person can chat privately. Cool, hey? Click the Close button when you finish.

Step 5. ETTIQUETTE

The Channel is G Rated so dont say (type) anything that is not G Rated. If you do then you will (normally) get a warning from one of the Ops. If you keep overstepping the line you may find yourself kicked from the channel (can rejoin) or in extreme cases banned (!).

Typing in CAPITALS is considered spamming. Do not do it.

Typing the same thing over and over, or typing a lot of information quickly, is considered FLOODING. The server itself may ban you for this, or the Ops will probably warn you to stop it.

Patience Grasshopper. The channel is usually fairly quiet because people are also doing other things - playing TT or doing other jobs on their computers. You may not see any chatting straight away, and if you say something it may take a few minutes before someone notices and answers (ie finishes their building or whatever). Once you have someone's attention then you should be right

.

OTHER

Abbreviations rule(rock?) on IRC. If you have Secret friends in TT you will already have noticed a lot of abbreviations taken from IRC and other chat mediums. TY (Thank You), BBS (Be Back Soon) and all the others are used frequently. If you dont follow then feel free to ask - we all had to learn once ourselves.
IRC is huge and our little channel is a very quiet and friendly corner of IRC.

OK, that's a very very short overview.