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"What the Hell is IRC??"
by Ed Nowlin, Cascade Station, Region 4

IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen (jto@tolsun.oulu.fi) in 1988. Since starting in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries around the world. It was designed as a replacement for the "talk" program but has become much much more than that. IRC is a multi-user chat system, where people convene on "channels" (a virtual place, usually with a topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately. IRC is constantly evolving, so the way things to work one week may not be the way they work the next. Read the MOTD (message of the day) every time you use IRC to keep up on any new happenings or server updates. 

IRC gained international fame during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, where updates from around the world came across the wire, and most irc users who were online at the time gathered on a single channel to hear these reports. IRC had similar uses during the coup against Boris Yeltsin in September 1993, where IRC users from Moscow were giving live reports about the unstable situation there.

(The above quoted from the Internet Relay Chat FAQ at http://www.kei.com/irc.html)

Now that we have established what IRC is, let us talk about how to get onto IRC. To connect to IRC, you must have client software, like how you need Netscape or Internet Explorer to get onto the World Wide Web. If you are using an IBM, I highly recommend using mIRC simply because most of the people on the STARFLEET channel use this program and can be helpful in getting you squared away. 

As far as Macintosh, not owning one, I can't really say, but it seems that IRCle  and pIRCh  seems to be the most popular clients for that particular machine.

OK, now how does all of this pertain to STARFLEET? Well, we have our own channel on the XWorld server. (There are many IRC Servers. DALnet, EFnet, and Undernet are the more popular ones). You can find instructions on how to set up your IRC Client on the STARFLEET Web Site. 

During the McGinnis Administration, the STARFLEET IRC Channel was, for some, the only way to get any information and/or news about what was going on in STARFLEET. Good for the members, bad for that particular administration, because members were finding out things that, in my opinion, the McGinnis Administration did not want known to the membership. Now, it is a forum where Joe Member can ask questions to many of the ranking officers, up to and including Michael D. Smith, Commander, STARFLEET who incidentally, also owns the channel. As a matter of fact, it was on the IRC channel where the news about FADM Smith's election was first released. With the declaration by FAdm. Smith that the Internet CAN be used for Official Correspondence, IRC has become the place to be for fast breaking news about STARFLEET. FAdm. Smith has also set aside the last Thursday of the month as a "Fireside Chat" day, where members who do not regularly use the channel can come and ask questions to Mike, as well as various Executive Committee members in a moderated forum. (Chapter CO's: this can be integrated into your chapter's monthly events, by having members who have questions, but do not have net access gather at a members house who does (and is willing to have you, of course! <Grin>). The appeal of being able to get straight answers right from the source would be a positive influence). 

When you first log into the STARFLEET room, what might grab your attention right away are the names or "handles" that are used. I go by the handle of "Firefighter", as it is one I have used since my BBS days and since I still run a BBS, I felt the transition to IRC warranted no change. A list of regular users, their real names and E-mail addresses are maintained by Mike Dugas (AKA Glith). You will also notice an AT symbol (@) next to my name. This denotes my status as a Channel Operator. What a Channel Op does is ensure that the conversations for the most part stay on topic and clean (this IS, after all, a family organization, and a family chat room at that). We also have the duty of ensuring that idiotic persons who have nothing better to do than come on and say "StAr TrEk SuX" do not come onto the channel (and quite possibly the server) again.

That's not to say that the STARFLEET IRC Channel is all work and no play. During my time on IRC, I have met several interesting and intriguing people, such as Sal Lizard, Kurt Roithinger, Mandi Herrmann, "Captain Mike" Wilkerson, Les Rickard, Donna and Daniel Friesen, Alex Rosenzweig, Allyson Dyar, and of course, Liz Woolf (Saved the best for last). These are just a few of those people who frequent the channel. Between comments about Allyson and her whip, Donna running off to either feed the baby, cook, or talk on the phone, talking to Alex about the latest Star Trek YATI, Piping Les into the channel with the theme from "Cops" and giving Liz a hard time in general, I manage to have a good time, as I imagine we all do.

So why are you still sitting there reading this article? Come on over to IRC and have some fun with the rest of us!

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