Two Slashes

Edit: Apparently this post managed to get posted at EXACTLY the stroke of midnight.  Does that still count?

As my contact page indicates, I’m more than a little bit of an IRC addict, and have been since my first introduction to it over eight years ago.  I even own one server and assist in the day-to-day operations of several others.

If you have no idea what IRC (which stands for Internet Relay Chat) is, let me quickly explain it to you.  Forget AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook, Skype, Google Talk, Jabber, and ICQ; IRC was developed before any of these were even a reality.

IRC operates on a client/server design, wherein people use clients (much like your AIM client) to connect to a server (which has other clients connected to it, or servers even if there’s enough traffic to facilitate the use of one).  The clients themselves are extremely basic, providing for the most part only basic text chat.  (There are unofficial extensions that allow you to transfer files, among other things, but not all people make use of these, and they’re not fully standardized.)  If you need a description to paint a mental picture, though, think of a server with several “tentacles” sharing data from one tentacle through the others.

The people who connect to these networks use “channels” to talk with other people in the channel (much in the same way you have a walkie-talkie with channels; these function the same way).  Private conversation is held in a similar manner through “queries.”

Unfortunately, IRC is seen more as a communications medium of the geek “elite,” and failing that, its simple nature also means that it’s been overused in the past few years as a way to control botnets, infected computers set up to attack others, send spam, and do their master’s bidding, which paints an even worse picture overall.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.

I use IRC as a hub for communicating with fans of TechCentric, and in an experiment, I started a small channel (irc.lostcarrier.net, channel #twitter) for people who were following me on Twitter.  And by small, I mean small; compared to just about any other medium, I’ve had only a handful of people drop in to say, “Hi.”  I have no idea whether it’s because people have never heard of IRC, but I hope that will change.  Someday.

There may not be a lot of meat to this post, but I have an idea for you.  Go out, find yourself an IRC server somewhere (whether it’s mine or not is of no concern to me), poke around for a bit, and then leave a comment about your experience.  You might be surprised at some of the people you meet.