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IRC subculture refers to the particular set of social features common to interaction on the various Internet Relay Chat (IRC) systems around the world, and the culture associated with them. IRC is particularly popular among programmers, hackers, and computer gamers.
Internet Relay Chat is an Internet-based chat system that has existed in one form or another since 1988. Networks are connected groups of IRC servers which share a common userbase. Channels are the "chat rooms" on said networks. IRC channel operators (commonly referred to as @sysop or admins) are the individuals who run any given channel.
While there are many different IRC networks, and across those networks there are usually large numbers of IRC channels, there are some unifying features common to the social structures of them all. Many of the features of the IRC subculture mesh with other Internet subcultures, such as various forum subcultures. This is especially prevalent in IRC channels or networks that are directly related to other Internet phenomena, such as an IRC channel created by and for the users of a particular Internet forum.
IRC has much in common with a regular in-person conversation. It is real-time many-on-many communication that is not logged by the server for posterity (many IRC clients do offer a logging feature, but the logs aren't generally publicly available then). Some bots may also feature logging facilities. Users on IRC usually identify users as ones "saying" something (instead of posting it) to reflect the similarity with face-to-face communication.
Because IRC is a text-based communication medium, the obvious limitation of this metaphor is that the participants of a conversation on IRC do not actually see or hear each other, so alternative ways must be employed to convey the information that would otherwise be gained from facial expressions, tones of voice, and other audio-visual clues. It is common practice among IRC users to use emoticons, pseudo-XML tags (for example <joke>...</joke>) or actions (such as *smile* or *grin*) to achieve this. Other notations common to text only media are common on IRC, such as using asterisks around *words or phrases to be emphasized*, /using slashes around words or phrases/ to simulate italics, and imparting PARTICULAR EMPHASIS to something by writing it in all capitals. Some clients also respond to "percent notations," such as pairs of %B around bold text, %I surrounding italicized text, or %C to change the text color.
Orthographical and grammatical mistakes are generally not frowned upon as much on IRC as they are in other kinds of Internet forums, given the informal and temporary nature of them. If the conversation is going at a decent speed, it may not be practical to correct every typo. It is similar to many instant messaging networks.
Often users will visit the same channel regularly and form strong emotional ties to the other regulars of that channel.
Having certain privileges on IRC is often considered a status symbol. The server administrators (those with administrative access to the IRC servers) and the IRC operators appointed by them thus have the highest status. Within the individual channels the channel operators then have a higher status than the regular users. Sometimes it is channel policy to "voice" users (add to the user's mode) in order to denote them as helpers or channel regulars, even though the channel is not in moderated mode. On many networks a channel service keeps a record of levels that operators on a given channel have, which imposes an even more differentiated structure. In certain cases, being given operator status on a channel, or being promoted to a higher level operator, is considered a social reward rather than for intent of functioning as a more privileged user. Being kicked (forcibly parted) or even banned from a channel is considered punishment. Kicks are a less serious punishment, and many clients have an auto-rejoin on kick feature.
While many aspects of IRC subculture are common across the entire community, many aspects are specific to particular networks, channels, or groups of channels.
Some networks have specific sets of etiquette, guidelines and quirks that vary from those of other networks. For example, atopical channels on general networks like EFnet tend to haze their new users more aggressively than topical channels on other networks.
Some channels have specific sets of etiquette and guidelines that vary from those of other channels.
EFnet or Eris-Free network is a major Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, with more than 35,000 users. It is the modern-day descendant of the original IRC network.
The Undernet is the third largest publicly monitored Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, c. 2022, with about 36 client servers serving 47,444 users in ~6000 channels at any given time.
DALnet is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network made up of 39 servers, with a stable population of approximately 10,000 users in about 4,000 channels.
IRC is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat and data transfer, including file sharing.
QuakeNet is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, and was one of the largest IRC networks. The network was founded in 1997 by Garfield and Oli as a new home for their respective countries' Quake channels. At its peak on February 8, 2005, the network recorded 243,394 simultaneous connections. As of 2020, there are 9 servers and about 12,000 users remaining.
Online chat is any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created, which distinguishes chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as Internet forums and email. Online chat may address point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing service.
Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) is an IRC-related sub-protocol enabling peers to interconnect using an IRC server for handshaking in order to exchange files or perform non-relayed chats. Once established, a typical DCC session runs independently from the IRC server. Originally designed to be used with ircII it is now supported by many IRC clients. Some peer-to-peer clients on napster-protocol servers also have DCC send/get capability, including TekNap, SunshineUN and Lopster. A variation of the DCC protocol called SDCC, also known as DCC SCHAT supports encrypted connections. An RFC specification on the use of DCC does not exist.
IRC services is a set of features implemented on many Internet Relay Chat networks. Services are automated bots with special status which are generally used to provide users with access with certain privileges and protection. They usually implement some sort of login system so that only people on the access control list can obtain these services.
An IRC bot is a set of scripts or an independent program that connects to Internet Relay Chat as a client, and so appears to other IRC users as another user. An IRC bot differs from a regular client in that instead of providing interactive access to IRC for a human user, it performs automated functions.
An IRCd, short for Internet Relay Chat daemon, is server software that implements the IRC protocol, enabling people to talk to each other via the Internet. It is distinct from an IRC bot that connects outbound to an IRC channel.
Client-to-client protocol (CTCP) is a special type of communication between Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients.
A BNC is a piece of software that is used to relay traffic and connections in computer networks, much like a proxy. Using a BNC allows a user to hide the original source of the user's connection, providing privacy as well as the ability to route traffic through a specific location. A BNC can also be used to hide the true target to which a user connects.
ERC is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client integrated into GNU Emacs. It is written in Emacs Lisp.
IRC scripts are a way of shortening commands and responding automatically to certain events while connected to an IRC network. There are many different scripting languages for different types of IRC clients: ircII, BitchX, HexChat, mIRC, Visual IRC, Bersirc, and others have their own scripting languages, many of which share common features and syntax and therefore are easily portable from one IRC client to another.
Internet Relay Chat Flooding/Scrolling on an IRC network is a method of disconnecting users from an IRC server, exhausting bandwidth which causes network latency ('lag'), or just disrupting users. Floods can either be done by scripts or by external programs.
Rizon is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. The IRC network itself ranks number 5 among the largest IRC networks. Rizon is popular with many anime fansubbing groups who work online, many of whom provide their content through XDCC via IRC bots in their distribution channels. It is also used by many users of eRepublik as a means of communication. File sharing of other copyrighted material such as Warez is also common in some channels on the network.
CGI:IRC is a CGI program written in Perl that allows access to IRC via a web browser. It is designed to be flexible and has many uses such as an IRC gateway for an IRC network, a chat-room for a website or to access IRC when stuck behind a restrictive firewall.
In computing, logging is the act of keeping a log of events that occur in a computer system, such as problems, errors or just information on current operations. These events may occur in the operating system or in other software. A message or log entry is recorded for each such event. These log messages can then be used to monitor and understand the operation of the system, to debug problems, or during an audit. Logging is particularly important in multi-user software, to have a central overview of the operation of the system.
Mibbit is a web-based client for web browsers that supports Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Yahoo! Messenger, and Twitter. It is developed by Jimmy Moore and is designed around the Ajax model with a user interface written in JavaScript. It is the IRC application setup by default on Firefox.