L-Space IRC

L-Space has a small Internet Relay Chat network, to cater for Pratchett fans. Internet Relay Chat is a "real-time" chat mechanism, rather like CB radio. For more information on IRC in general, we suggest you look at http://www.irchelp.org/.

Accessing L-Space IRC

To access the L-Space IRC network, you should tell your client to connect to one of our servers. At present, there are two servers in the L-Space IRC network:

Please pick whichever of these is closest to you on the Internet. If you don't know, or if there's no difference, we suggest you use irc.lspace.org , which will point you at a random server in the network.

Channels

As with any IRC server, you can set up whatever channels you want on L-Space IRC. However, certain channels tend to be there more-or-less permanently, and you may wish to try them, if you want to meet people to chat with:

• #afp is the highest-volume channel on L-Space IRC. Many L-Space regulars hang out here, and there's always something to talk about. #afp does, however, suffer from more than the usual quota of in-jokes, so the newcomer might feel a bit lost. MUD-style "virtual reality" is also common on this channel, with virtual hugs, kisses, beatings and killings being carried out on a frequent basis.

• #drum has fewer people on it than #afp , but they do tend to be on for longer periods. In general, the denizens of #drum are quieter than those of #afp . The topic of discussion on #drum can get quite technical, as many of its regulars work in the Information Systems area. If this happens, bear with them - geeks need their comforts, too.

• #icq is the youngest channel on L-Space IRC, in more than one way. It has been created by a crowd of usenet-afpers who originally met on ICQ, until they realised that IRC is a far better medium for chats and invaded L-Space IRC.

• #linux is the channel of the Irish Linux Users Group; the Dublin server is shared between L-Space IRC and the ILUG.

Behaviour while on-line

We try not to have too many rules on L-Space IRC. In general, the same rule should apply here as elsewhere on the Net - watch for a while, and learn the "atmosphere" of a particular channel before making a contribution (although it is polite to say "Hello"). Different channels have different conventions concerning what is and is not accepted behaviour.

There are some things we do insist on, as general rules:

• Use plain-text only - ie: don't use popups, colours, bold, beep, underline, blink or drawing commands, even if your IRC client understands them. The reason is, these extensions are not supported by most clients, and they appear as garbage characters in those clients.

• Be courteous. Even if you find yourself disagreeing with someone, there's no excuse for bad manners.

• Some of the servers do not allow bots, others do. The Message of the Day for the server you connect to should tell you what that server's policy is. If a given server has a "no bots" policy, then you should not connect an IRC bot to that server - but it is okay to connect it to a server which allows bots. Also, some channels (#drum in particular) are off-limits to bots.

IRC Services

We do not make use of IRC services like chanserv, nickserv etc., because we've found that the network is sufficiently small that they're unnecessary and not worth the trouble of setting them up. If you have a service to suggest, please contact the IRCops.

Further information

You can mail ircops@lspace.org for more information or if you need help with a particular aspect of L-Space IRC.

---

---

The L-Space Web is a creation of The L-Space Librarians
This mirror site is maintained by A.H.Davis