0. Quick n Dirty

Server: irc.starchat.net
Channel: #3dspotlight

1. What is IRC and how do I use it?

The short and simple is IRC is a text-based chat system from the old days of computers. It's a protocol that is carried over TCP/IP, much like HTTP (which you are using to read this.) We talk about anything and everything in our room- from solving technical issues to new technologies to how stupid a post was to beer/sex/music to even weirder.

You can get onto IRC using many programs- some are free, others aren't. Almost every operating system has an IRC program. Favorites include mIRC, pIRCh, BitchX, IRCle, and X-Chat. Google to find a download. Also, the servers that we use provide a free java-based IRC client at:

http://www.starchat.net/chat/index.php

2. Ok, I got a program. Now what?

Configure the program to use irc.starchat.net as the server. For a nickname, chose anything you want. Some nicknames are already registered/taken, so you may have to rechoose. Usually you must set a nickname before you connect.

(Once you're online, you can change your nickname by typing "/nick NEWNAME".)

Note that certain names (anything using "serv", curse words, etc.) are banned.

After you connect to the server, you need to join our channel. Sometimes this is done in a popup box right after you connect, and sometimes you have to do it the hard way. To do that, type in "/join #3dspotlight". /join gets you into a room. #3dspotlight is our room (# is the sign for a room name.)

Chatting should be pretty intuitive- you'll have a box at the bottom of the room's window to type in. To say anything, just type there.

The people in the room are usually listed in a box to the left or right. Normal users just show their names. People with "Voice" have a + beside their name. You'll learn pretty quickly what that means once you're there. People who are operators in the room will usually have a @ beside their name. These are the folks who can kick or ban you, set the channel topic, etc. Some of the people there are just "bots" that take stats and so forth. Other people can be asleep like on AIM or whatever too, so if you don't get a response out of anyone it may just be a slow time of day.

3. Yeah...

There is no, and was never, any number 3. I think Didou or Poertner stole it.


4. What are the rules?

The rules are loosely based on those of Techspot. We frequently ignore them. You can do almost anything once. If it's bad enough, you may never do anything again.

basically:

*THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL PART OF TS. THE PEOPLE THERE RUN THE CHANNEL AS THEY PLEASE- THIS INCLUDES HOW THEY BEHAVE, HOW THEY TREAT YOU, AND HOW THEY BAN YOU*

Act like a normal human being. Have a sense of humor. Or at least show from time to time that you are human, and act weird otherwise.
No Warez. We trade files here and there, but if you walk in and start scooping warez not only will someone probably channel ban you, you might be banned from the server.
We can be rude/crude/drunk/stupid/immature in the channel. If you are easily offended, Ask the offender to tone it down, or leave.
YOU WILL BE KICKED. Take a sense of humor to it. If we MEAN it, you'll know. No one is exempt from the kick, not me, not sngx1275, StormBringer, or even Vehementi.
CAPS LOCK ISN'T COOL IN IRC EITHER.


5. How do I???

To get IRC help, there are four basic ways to learn..
Ask in the channel
Read The Friggin Manual.
Ask in #starchat, the network help channel
Google.

The basics are:

/msg NICKNAME - a private message to someone.
/join #CHANNEL - join a room
/nick NEWNICK - Change your nickname
/me MESSAGE - Perform an action. You'll figure this one out quickly.
/ns command options - Do things with Nickname services, like register. HINT: "/ns help"


6. Still need help?

Either post here, Private message me, or join #starchat on the irc servers (depending on what you can do).

We're always glad to have new people around, feel free to drop by! Even if it's for a quick question or just to banter about something totally unrelated to computers or tech. And of course, we're always glad to attempt to help you with a real problem.

Originally posted by Goalie
3. Yeah...

There is no, and was never, any number 3. I think Didou or Poertner stole it.


Phase 1 : Collect underpants
Phase 2 : ???
Phase 3 : Profit.

Yea but what's phase 2 ?

Originally posted by DigitAlex
Phase 1 : Collect underpants
Phase 2 : ???
Phase 3 : Profit.

Yea but what's phase 2 ?

Some things are better left unknown.... :eek:

You forgot to say to keep away Poert's closet ( people go in & never come out ) & not to feed any of the animals in display ( no I'm not talking about me !!! http://users.skynet.be/fa426454/images/Smilies/toad666.gif ).

Originally posted by Goalie
YOU WILL BE KICKED. Take a sense of humor to it. If we MEAN it, you'll know. No one is exempt from the kick, not me, not sngx1275, StormBringer, or even Vehementi.


Hmm, last time I checked, I haven't been kicked in almost a month and a half...:cool:

Originally posted by Vehementi
Hmm, last time I checked, I haven't been kicked in almost a month and a half...:cool:

Actually, Veh.. I booted you last night for your inability to distinguish between me and sngx in a picture. Then I temporarily banned you for not being able to distinguish me and Courtney.. which was a rather light punishment.

Oh yeah. I've been kicked once in a month and a half then. Not bad.

Originally posted by Vehementi
Hmm, last time I checked, I haven't been kicked in almost a month and a half...:cool:

Your also statistically the most kicked invidividual ever on #3dspotlight with 671 kicks.

Runner up: AcidOsmosis with 176 kicks :-D


[16:10] * Vehementi was kicked by AcidOsmosis (and this makes 672)
[16:10] * Vehementi has joined #3dspotlight


Hehe.

Still doesn't matter. I've been kicked the least in the last month and a half among all the #3dspotlight regulars ;)

We shall remedy that soon! Didou.. get your midget control weapons out, we have some huntin to do! And Storm.. be sure to turn your script on with selective wording. ;)

You guys need to get a life outside of kicking me all day :)

Yeah we need to just shoot you in the foot instead.:D

Originally posted by Goalie
0. Quick n Dirty


We're always glad to have new people around, feel free to drop by!............. Well, I decided to drop in tonight, and kept getting K-Lined. What gives. My name maybe? I changed my name and still no go. It said my IP and name was cached. Connection refused. Something about Ban Evasion, Racial Epithet, or Cursing, at least something like that. What can I do.

Or did you guys ban me? Just kidding, (I hope).

No we didn't ban you. I've had that happen to me before, but don't remember the cause or the fix. I hadn't done anythign wrong either.
Goalie is an IRCop on starchat so perhaps he'll look into it.

I will work with Olefarte in PM to resolve this.. ban evaders typically cause us to set broader bans, which eventually gets innocent people.

Bans are usually removed in a few hours to a few days, some are perm though.. as always feel free to PM me if you run into this issue. In general need to know your IP, Nickname, and ident. And also the number that precedes your disconnect/kill message.

Thanks Goalie for all your effort to solve this problem. You finally got it fixed today and I was able to connect.

Thanks again.

My pleasure. Now if more people would read this thread and (re)visit the channel slightly more often...

(And, if the stupid DSL would stay up... muttermutterbleepbleepSprintbleepmutterbleepretardsbleepbleep)

Every time I connect to #3ds.. my firewall (Agnitum Outpost Pro 2.5) makes a new 'rule' because the #3ds IP changes. Is this normal?
Is there a way to set it 'fix' on one of the given IPs?

Connect to a specific IRC server instead of the round-robin irc.starchat.net

You have two options: 1. Get a firewall with DNS capabilities so you can set up a rule for *.starchat.net or connect to a specific server as Nodsu says. The problem with that is some machines are in and out of DNS and changed a little more often than my underwear.

As a personal suggestion, I'd suggest using tariq.starchat.net (my server). That being said, I add the disclaimer that I intend to resign my position in the next month or two. However, this machine usually stays in DNS and has rare outages. I can think of one night and one weekend in the year that I've been the admin for the box that it's had retard syndrome. If you're in Europe, it's definately one of the better servers to connect to if you have the option.

We are now linking to the IRC channel thread more prominently (see TS Extra menu), could anyone from the IRC regulars check the first post of the thread to see if everything is in place and up to date?

Thanks!

Everything in the first post is still correct.

The information in the post is correct. Probably best advice is using irc.starchat.net on the standard irc ports, and then going to #3dspotlight, or going to http://www.starchat.net/chat/?chan=3dspotlight

I should mention at this point that I have left Starchat staff for personal and political reasons. I can no longer help people as much as I could. But most of the connection woes I can still work with. Otherwise the people in #starchat should be able to get you help if needed.

We need more people in that channel :(

Not many more. Its pretty good as is, when its real busy its hard to follow any conversation.

200,000 views and we still have only a handful of regulars... I don't get it.

I'm on most every night. If I weren't so tired half the time or working, I'd be there more.

I am a new one on there! Whatever will I use when my trial to mIRC runs out?!? But you are right, there aren't too many people there. And the ones that are there don't talk to much, just lurk.

It just asks you to register, but it still functions the same as it does now. And every once in a while it opens a registration web page in your browser on launch.

The only person that is in there and doesn't talk during a 24 hour period is LNCPapa, everyone else talks.

oh so you HAVE to register to keep using it? okay I will register tonight. Thanks for the info! :)

Where did I say that? I said it still functions the same as it does now.

Whatever will I use when my trial to mIRC runs out?!?

okay, so when the trial runs out, I must purchase. That is what I asked the first time.

No, you don't have to purchase, the thing still functions the same as it does now. What is so difficult to understand? :stickout:

Damn sorry I asked! :(

Oh come on, thats nothing to get upset about.

And you could always switch to xchat its perfectly free. It just sucks a lot more than mirc, but it does have a linux and OS X version whereas mirc doesn't. Or you could use Opera.

lol...I am not mad or upset! :D How do you set it up in Opera?

Tools>>Mail & Chat accounts

Then choose IRC Chat. Pretty easy from there.

Any questions, just ask.

Is Starchat dead or is it just me?

Yeah, they are having some seroius splitting issues. I am on Amistad.IL.US.StarChat.Net and it is working okay.

And you could always switch to xchat its perfectly free.
No, it's not free in Windows, hasn't been in a long time.

I`ve just been looking on the Xchat (http://www.xchat.org/) website and the programme does appear to be free Mict. ;)

Unless I`ve missed something, it does ask for a donation, but that`s all.

Regards Howard :)

Last time I used X-Chat in Windows was probably 5+ years ago, so I don't know then.

But then just use Opera, its avaiable on probably more platforms than X-Chat and I know it is free.

You may use XChat for Windows for free for 30 days. If, after this time, you would like to continue using the product, you are required to register. Registration is a one time fee of $19.99 USD (US Dollars) which can be paid using the PayPal service below. For EURO users, this converts to approximately €15.

Q. Why isn't the Windows version free?
A. It's free to try for the first 30 days! Building XChat for Windows is a difficult process, it requires quite some skill and expertise to accomplish. It takes time, and is by no means automated. This version also has some value added features only for Windows, such as opening irc:// URLs from your web browser in an existing instance of xchat, spell checking and graphical emoticons.

Apologies Mict, you are of course quite correct. I didn`t see anything on the site that said it was a trial, but when I installed it and went to register, all became very clear.

Regards Howard :)

There are several people who produce binaries of Xchat for Windows for free. You only have to pay if you use the official binary.

Is there any representation or channel of this forum on Undernet?

No. We have an established channel on starchat.

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