h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: IRC - what is it? - A734636
Author: Realistic Dragon - U52136

This entry has been moved to the Flea Market.

Since there is currently no entry on IRC in the Edited Guide, I decided to attempt to update this article in hopes of getting it there. My lightly edited version can be found at A2766981. I took out the section on IRC Viruses because it linked to another article on a subject I don't know much about, but I may add a more general section concerning safety and security on IRC.

A couple of specific questions:

Is there a real #h2g2 channel anywhere? If there is, it would be neat to link to it in the examples. I tried following the commands given, but although they worked, there was no-one but me in #h2g2.

Do /amsg and /ame really exist? I couldn't find any information on them.

Ekaterin.

I thnk there should be a mention somewhere in the entry about the other instant messaging systems.

specifically:

A.I.M., the aol instant messaging system which is only really open to windows based aol users.

Yahoo instant messaging, a similar system set up by yahoo.

there is also another one which is available, but I can't recall it at the moment.

also, the typicall way of doing instant messaging in linux is using jabber, or one of it's gui front ends. this gives you access to ALL the sensible instant messaging systems from the same program, with the exception of aol, who try and break aol compatability as soon as it is fixed.

I've never actually used instant messaging, but I'll mention how it's similar to IRC in some ways. Would the main difference be that instant messaging is generally used to talk to your friends, while IRC channels are usually open to all comers?
Ekaterin.

well, I've been on one list at the yahoo system with over 2000 active people on it, so it is more than just friends.

essentially, newsgroups, instant messaging and messageboards are all related, and sometimes it can be hard to spot the difference.

the main difference between email and newsgroups is that with email you typically talk to a few people, with newsgroups you typically talk to a lot of them.

Instant messaging is more like email and newsgroups where you are expected to be online at the time to receive the message (although just to make the split akward, some allow the sending of messages to people who are currently offline).

with messageboards, typically you find all the messages being sent at the same time, and interleaved on the display.

to make matters worse, mailinglists, newsgroups, instant messaging and messageboards can all be archived and available to all who wish to see.

it is all rather in flux at the moment as to where the future position of all these technologies will be as they all grab usefull bits from the others to improve the usability, and all impliment it is slightly incompatable ways.

of course, just to make things even more akward, they all have slighly different netiquet.

Maybe someone should write an article (or a whole project) on all the different forms of computer communication and exactly how they differ from each other.

Would you mind if I submitted the article to Peer Review? (Writing Workshop might be more appropriate, since I am not an expert on IRC, but articles submitted there tend to be ignored.)
Ekaterin.

feel free, it's your article.

I look forward to reading the comments it gets.

This became Edited Entry: A2966916 IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
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