INTRODUCTION

Internet Relay Chat - is a system allowing Internet users to conduct online text based communication with one or more users.

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To connect to the IRC server you will need an IRC Client. Some good choices are:
mIRC - http://www.mirc.com for Windowz

Colloquy - http://colloquy.info/ for Mac

You can also connect via the web at: http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.ufstarfleet.org&channel=%23UFStarfleet&forcePrompt=true

The Address of our IRC Server is: irc.ufstarfleet.org

Standard connections are on port 6667
SSL Connections are on port 6697

Once connected type: /join #<channel name>

Examples:

/join #UFStarfleet
/join #Academy

• • Useful Information

In Order to get the maximum effect of IRC here are a few basic IRC Commands

HELP [optional command name]

   The first and most useful command is the on-line help built into all good IRC clients just by typing /help where you normally type to chat. This should bring up a list of all commands. You can also get specific help for a command, such as /help who for the /who command.

   You can get a quick introduction to IRC built into your client. mIRC users type /ircintro while ircII users type /help intro or /help newuser.

   If you are not sure about the spelling of a mIRC command, just type in the first few letters. The help window, which shows commands arranged alphabetically, will open to approximately the right place so that you can choose to learn about a specific command.

   If you are not sure about the spelling of an ircII command, type the first few letters and press the ESCape key twice. ircII will give you a listing of COMMANDS and ALIASes that start with that prefix. Don't forget the "/irchelp/" in front of the command, though. 

/NICK new-nickname

   Change the nickname by which you are known. Nicknames are usually limited to 9 characters. For example, if your default nick was "foo" and you want to change it to "YourNick":

   /NICK YourNick
   *** foo is now known as YourNick

/AWAY away-message-here

   Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to IRC.

   /AWAY getting coffee, be back in 5 mins
   You have been marked as being away

   If your friend does /whois YourNick now, they will get the 3 lines as described in the /whois section above, plus a final line saying:
   *** YourNick is away: getting coffee, be back in 5 mins

   /AWAY without any additional argument will remove the away message.

   /AWAY
   You are no longer marked as being away (or something to that effect)

/JOIN #channelname

   Changes your current channel to the channel specified. If the channel does not exist already, it will be created and you will be in charge of the new channel and be a channel operator or "op" - more on that later.

   /JOIN #ufstarfleet