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IRC INSTRUCTIONS -
Getting on #CDJA
For those experiencing difficulties in getting on
the Canadian Dog Judges Association channel on IRC the following is basic
"how to" from the downloading of the program to the mechanics of
actually getting into the chatroom. Please try this first but if you continue to
experience problems email irc@dogjudge.com
with as much information about the problem as you can and we will attempt to
solve your issues.
The Program
I recommend mIRC
as the best available client for accessing IRC. It is by no means the only one
available and some others are close to it in terms of ease of use and features.
You may want to have a look at some of these and you will find a listing of the
better ones at the Tucows site < www.download.com>.
Once there you will want to look at software related to your platform (ie; Win
98, Win 95, Windows XP, Mac etc). Clicking on that takes you to an index of
available software and you will be looking specifically in the
"Communications" and then in "Chat - IRC". Again, I recommend
mIRC but its your choice. mIRC
is free to download and you are welcome to use it for a 30 day evaluation period
but after that you are expected to pay the author $20.00 to register it. The
program is not timed in any way and paying for it is between you, the author and
your conscience. Registered or not it will remain fully functional. As an
alternative there is a freeware program called Virc
available at the Download site. I have tested it and found it to be nearly as
good as mIRC though perhaps a bit over complicated. Can't argue with the price
however.
Whichever you choose you now have a IRC program on your system.
These instructions are specific to mIRC though the information is for a large
part generic and you may find it useful even if you have elected to use a
different client (program).
Download
Clicking the button on the "IRC" page on our website will take you to
the download area for mIRC. Alternatively you can go to Tucows (above) and
select any program you would like to try. mIRC is an executable program, meaning
that you simply double click on the file you have downloaded once the download
is complete and it will instruct you through the installation phase. Virc is in
a 'Zip' format which means you will have to extract the files onto your system
using Winzip or a similar compression program.
- Once the program is installed it will ask you to provide information so that
it may run and connect you to the IRC servers.
- On the first dialogue interface you see you will be asked for your real name.
You may put your real name or you may put 'Joe Blow', mIRC has no idea what your
name is.
- It requests your email address. Fill this in properly only if you want people
to be able to access that information as anything you put there can be read by
others on IRC. If you don't wish this then use an alias.
- Next you will be asked for a nickname. This is who you will appear as to
others on IRC. Most of the people in our chat room use nicknames though it is
certainly not a requirement. Equate this to the 'handle' of the old CB radio
days. You may be hard to identify if you simply put "Bill" in here
even though that is your name. There are a few Bills out there. However if you
choose a nickname like "Bill^" or "B_ll" this is much more
likely to be unique and since only one Bill can exist at one time on any server
you stand a much better chance of being allowed to use the nickname you have
chosen if it is unique. (You will note on our website that we have listed most
of the executive members of the CDJA and the nickname they use online). Next you
will fill in an alternative to this nick which mIRC will default to in the event
that your first choice is taken.
- If you look in the folder "connect" on the left side of this
dialogue box you will see a heading called "identd". Click on this and
fill in only the 'user ID' area and then click on the box on top to enable the
identity server. Now return to the main 'connect' heading. Everything else that
mIRC needs to connect you it will fill in itself. Now you must choose a server.
SERVERS
Each group of servers on IRC hosts a unique and autonomous group of channels.
The big boys of IRC are Efnet, Undernet and Dalnet. Typically these servers host
thousands of channels at any given time. We have elected to go with a small
server that averages about 200 channels and has far fewer problems in keeping
their system functional than the big boys do.
You must now choose the server you wish to be on. On the dialogue box where you
filled in your real name etc. you will see a pull down box (IRC Networks) that
lists some of the more popular servers available. We are on STARLINK-IRC. To
confuse the issue there are two groups of servers called Starlink. One is
Starlink-IRC which is where you want to be, the other is Starlink.org which is
NOT where you want to be. Not a bad place but there is no channel on there
called #CDJA. So be sure to select STARLINK-IRC. Accept the default "StarlinkIRC:Random
Server". This will automatically search the Starlink system and connect you
to the server which has the most room and is operating at the highest efficiency
at that moment. Once you have the name of the server you have chosen in the
window of the drop down box hit the "Connect to IRC server" button.
The next process will take anywhere from a few seconds to as much as a minute
depending on the quality of your connection and the traffic on the server at the
time. You will have a 'status' window appear in the main area of mIRC. The
"motd" will scroll through this window. This is basic information
about the server as well as their do's and don't's. You will know when it is
done as a line will appear saying 'end of motd'.
Congratulations you are on the server! But where is everyone you ask? Well now
you must type in the text box at the bottom of the status window, /join #CDJA.
It must be exactly as you see there, spaces and all
/join #CDJA
Once you type that and hit enter you will see another window open on your
desktop. Welcome to the CDJA channel on IRC!! The box on the right of the
channel lists all people who are in the room at that time. If it is only Cstar
don't waste a lot of time trying to talk to him. Its a robot who's sole function
is to keep the channel open 24/7. Anyone else listed there will be a real
person. To communicate you simply type in the text box at the bottom of the
channel window (not the status window) and when you hit enter what you have
typed will appear in the main window and anyone on the channel will be able to
read it.
For more information on things that may enhance your IRC experience see
"IRC tips and tricks" on our website.
Happy IRCing :)
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