Getting Started     To access #rphaven, you must download a client. For most of you, this is going to be mIRC, which is a highly functional IRC client that can be highly customized to your own preferences. There are others out there, such as Irssi, a favorite of Linux users; X-Chat, which is arguably less functional due to its lack of scripting abilities; Chatzilla, which is a Firefox browser extension (click here for a "How To" guide); colloquy, a free IRC client for Mac users; and Trillian, which is sort of an amalgamation of IM clients. There is also pjIRC which can be embedded into web pages as a javascript application.      This guide will be focusing on mIRC only.     First, understand that mIRC's "thirty-day trial" is more bark than bite. You can keep the program as long as you want; you just have to deal with Khaled's (the programmer of mIRC) bright, shiny face every time you open the program. Initially, the "trial" window will let you immediately press "continue"; when the trial is over, however, it will take a few seconds before "continue" lights up for you to click. If this gets irritating, you can download a key generator for the program and crack it yourself, or you can pay Khaled to receive a key. Either way will make the trial window stop appearing. Personally, I think Khaled is kind of cute, but regardless of that, the only thing this window does is prevent you from accessing the rest of mIRC for a few seconds.     I'm not sure mIRC 6.2 is completely free to use anymore. The wording on the site regarding the thirty-day trial was changed to imply that you have to register after 30 days is up. If you already registered a previous version, however, you will not be required to re-register. Do be careful when upgrading to mIRC 6.2, however, as you can carelessly erase settings and such if you don't follow instructions carefully.      Additional information and a quick guide on the new install file for mIRC 6.2 is available here.

Just the Essentials     If you're eager to chat it up with the users, here are the essentials. You can read the rest of the guide for a more in-depth setup at your convenience.     When you first open mIRC, you will be prompted to provide several pieces of information in the Options screen. Under the "Connect" category, fill in your full name (or an alias if you prefer), your actual email address (which is crucial for your hostmask resolution), your desired nickname, and your desired alternate nickname. Keep in mind that certain symbols and characters are not allowed in your nicks, such as spaces and periods.     Expand the "Connect" category in the "directory tree" to the left by clicking the + icon, and click "Servers". Under "IRC Server", scroll through the menu until you find "EsperNet: Random Server" and select it. Then select "OK" to get out of the Options window.     To actually access IRC, you can do one of two things:       1: Click the lightning bolt button at the top left of mIRC's window to automatically connect to EsperNet or       2: type /server irc.esper.net in the blank window.     Once the connection is complete, typing /join #rphaven will get you into our channel. Click here for more information about the channel itself.

Setting Up mIRC for the First Time  (for users who want a more customized experience)     When you first open mIRC, you will be prompted to provide several pieces of information in the Options screen. Under the "Connect" category, fill in your full name (or an alias if you prefer), your actual email address (which is crucial for your hostmask resolution), your desired nickname, and your desired alternate nickname. Keep in mind that certain symbols and characters are not allowed in your nicks, such as spaces and periods.     Expand the "Connect" category in the "directory tree" to the left by clicking the + icon, and click "Servers". Under "IRC Server", scroll through the menu until you find "EsperNet: Random Server" and select it. Under "Options", there are a few more things you can do. Personally, I'd suggest checking "Reconnect on Disconnection", unchecking "Pop Up Connect Dialog on Startup", and making sure "Check For Timed Out Connection" is checked.     Version 6.2 of mIRC adds an option under Connect > Options called Preserve Nicks. This option keeps whatever you put in the Connect category's Nickname and Alternative fields. Previous versions of mIRC had a strange glitch where if you change names while logged on, your old name would become the alternative sometimes. Preserve Nicks prevents that from happening. If you disconnect, you will rejoin the server as either your Nickname or your Alternative, without fail.     Do not touch the "Local Host" subcategory. mIRC will figure this out by itself. Leave the Identd category alone as well.     Expand the "IRC" category and select "IRC" itself. There are a few more options here. I recommend keeping the following items checked: "Prefix own messages", "Show mode prefix", "Iconify Query Window", "Use Query for Notify Kicks", "Copy messages to query", "Autojoin channel on invite", "Rejoin channel on connect", and "Keep channels open".     Select the "Options" subcategory located beneath "IRC", and check "Hide Ping? Pong! Event". You may also check "Flash on Channel" or "Query message" if you so desire.     Select the "Highlight" subcategory, and check "Enable Highlighting". Click "Add" and type in "$me" without quotation marks. This is a variable for your own nickname. Under "Color", select whatever you want- I recommend red. Under "Sound", select whatever sound you want, and the other options should be self-explanatory. The highlighting feature allows you to be alerted when somebody in the channel says your name, and is thus extremely useful, especially when you've stopped paying attention and might have missed the call otherwise. I recommend, in addition to "$me", that you add any other nicknames you'll be using on IRC.     Select the "Messages" subcategory. If you desire, check "Timestamp Events" and type in "[HH:nn:ss]" without quotation marks. This will cause each line in the chat window to be labeled with the precise hour, minute, and second it was entered. (Note: hours are in military time.)      If you wish to keep logs (aka copies) of your chat sessions, select the "Logging" subcategory. If you wish to save both channel sessions and query sessions, select "Both" in the "Automatically log" drop-down box. The "Date filenames" drop-down box will determine how many files you'll have- "By Day" makes one file = one day, "By Week" makes one file = one week, and "By Month" makes one file = one month. If you wish to save the files in a folder other than mIRC's default, click the button under "Logs and buffer saves folder" and select the folder you want.

Connecting to EsperNet and Registering Your Nick     And now for what you've been waiting for! To actually access IRC, you can do one of two things:       1: Click the lightning bolt button at the top left of mIRC's window to automatically connect to EsperNet.       2: or type /server irc.esper.net in the blank window.     Once you've connected, you will be prompted to register your nickname, to avoid other people accidentally stealing it and generating confusion. The syntax to do this is /nickserv register password email, where "password" is your password and "email" is your email. Keep in mind you must have a valid, accessible email that will not reject your registration email, or else you (and everyone else) will be unable to use that nick until the registration drops after thirty days. Check your email for the code, and type it in using the syntax /AUTH code where "code" is, well, the code. This will finalize your registration and make you the proud owner of that nickname.     However, this alone still isn't enough to prevent people from accidentally using the nick, which can lead to trouble if you try to log in and somebody else is using it. Therefore, I recommend you type /nickserv set kill quick. This will cause the server to automatically disconnect anyone who tries to use the nick and fails to identify. This can include you, so it is important to identify when you log in. To identify, simply type /nickserv identify password, where "password" is your password. If you want mIRC to do it automatically for you, go to Options in the View menu, go to the "Options" subcategory under the "Connect" category, and click the "Perform" button. Here, check "Enable perform on connect", and type /ns identify password, where "password" is your password, in the "Perform commands" window. If you wish, you may also type /join #rphaven here as well. Then click OK. With this finished, mIRC will now automatically identify you and have you join #rphaven as part of it's launch process.

Welcome to #rphaven     Now for the actual chatting part. The syntax to join a channel is /join #channelname, where "channelname" is the name of the channel. All channels have the # symbol in front. For our channel, typing /join #rphaven will get you in.     Once you're in the channel, the current topic will automatically appear. This will generally say something along the lines of "welcome to RP Haven, read the Hall of Fame if you have time", followed by a short sentence about some current event. Off to the right is a list of the users currently in the channel. At the top of the list, with the @ symbol in front of their names, are the channel's Operators. They have complete authority over the other users in the channel; they may kick you, ban you, mute the entire channel, invite people into the channel, change options in the channel, give other uses Operator status, etc. It is recommended you follow the rules and do not piss them off.     The channel operators currently are:       GeminiSaint, who created the channel.       Ricky, who has the language filter script (more on that in a minute).       Thalzon, who does more manual kicks than the others.       CtrlAltDestroy, the webmaster of our site.       Elec, who rarely if ever visits the channel.     Ricky's language filter script only works if he's in #rphaven. If you use one of six words that qualify as adult language, you will automatically trigger his script, which will deliver a warning and a count of how many times you've been warned. Changing your nick will not change the count. If you have been warned five times or more, the script will automatically kick you from the channel every time you use one of the six words. Ask Ricky what words trigger the script by typing /query Ricky (or double-clicking his name in the list) and typing in what you wish to know.

Quick Commands     /connect servername.network.extension. For example, typing /connect anger.esper.net will connect you to the Anger server of EsperNet. Use this if mIRC is having trouble connecting to a server. Other servers that connect to EsperNet are windows.esper.net, discworld.esper.net, excalibur.esper.net, dream.esper.net, and damocles.esper.net, among others.     /ns identify password, where "password" is your password. This command identifies your current name and allows you to continue using it. Lets you benefit from any privileges that are connected to the nick, such as Operator status.     /ns ghost username password, where "username" is your nick and "password" is your password. This command disconnects a registered nick from the server if you have the password. You can use this after you've disconnected/reconnected faster than the server could get rid of your nick (ping-outs such as these take about three minutes for the server to deal with).     /join #channelname, where "channelname" is the name of the channel. This is how you join channels.     /part #channelname, where "channelname" is the name of the channel. This is one way to leave a channel. You can also click the X in the upper-right corner of the channel window.      /ignore username, where "username" is the name of the person who is bugging the hell out of you. This command makes that person turn invisible to you- you will stop seeing his/her messages.     /ignore -r username, where "username" is the name of the person you have put on ignore. This command removes the person from your ignore list, thus making his/her messages visible to you again.     /query username, where "username" is the name of the person you wish to speak to. This command will open a new message window, in which you and the person can speak in private. You can also double-click that person's name in the user-list to make the window open, but this doesn't work if he/she isn't in the channel.     /quit. This command will disconnect you from the server.     /quit message, where "message" is some parting line of your choosing. This will disconnect you from that server, and the people left in the channel will see your quit message. You can set a more permanent quit message by going to the Options window and selecting the "Messages" subcategory under the "IRC" category; here, in the "Quit Message" box, you can fill in a quit message of your choice, which will appear every time you use /quit.     /nick name, where "name" is the new nickname you wish to use. Use this command to change your nick. If your choice is registered to somebody else, you will receive a message and be prompted to change.     /ns link name, where "name" is the new nickname you wish to connect to your registration. If the nick in question is free for use, and you wish to register it for yourself with the same privileges as your usual nick, simply type this command while using your usual nick.

IRC Lingo     IRC: Internet Relay Chat. This is the system we use for the chat rooms and such.     mIRC: a program designed by Khaled Mardem-Bey to interface and allow access IRC servers.     Op: short for Operator. An Operator has control over the channel's modes, and can administer kicks, bans, and the like. This is also a verb, meaning to give operator status to someone.     Mod: short for Moderator. Another word for Operators, based on their enforcement of the channel rules. In #rphaven, this refers primarily to the forum moderators.     Admin: short for Administrator. Everywhere else on IRC, this means Server Administrator, who can do whatever he/she wants on the server itself. This includes banning you, or taking it offline. They are basically the webmasters of the server. In #rphaven, this refers primarily to the forum administrators.     IRCop: Short for Internet Relay Chat Operator. An IRCop is capable of doing some of the same things as a Server Administrator, but not quite as much. IRCops are basically network-wide Operators. They may kick anyone they please, op anyone in any channel, edit topics, etc., and even ban you from accessing the entire network. They are essentially the moderators of the server.     DDC: Direct Client Connection. To send files to somebody through mIRC, you may send it via this method. An initial connect request is sent to the receiver's machine via the servers, but after that, it's a direct connection that bypasses the IRC servers entirely. By this method, you can still send or receive files even if you are not connected to a server.     Script: Lines of code for mIRC that are capable of performing numerous functions. The result of a script is dependant on how it is written.     Alias: A script activated by a command. For example, a popular alias is the /age alias, which displays that user's age in years to the nearest millionth. You cannot use an alias without having one set up- in this example, /age will not work unless you have the code.     Remote: A multipurpose script. One common use is an automatically-activated script, such as Ricky's filter script in #rphaven. Other remotes can be designed to interface with external programs such as Winamp to tell the channel what you're currently listening to with the press of a button.     Ping: The amount of time it takes your computer to receive a reply after sending a message through the server. Optimal performance is one second or less.     Pingout: Short for "Ping Timeout". A ping timeout occurs when the server stops receiving ping replies from the user's computer. You'll find yourself disconnected, and have to reconnect. It takes about two or three minutes for the server to react.     Netsplit: A netsplit is when two or more servers have stopped communicating with each other. You will see multiple users leave IRC all at once; their quit message will list the names of the two servers that stopped communicating. This may result in multiple servers being disconnected from your own, since server connections are not redundant enough that they are all communicating with every other server.     Nickserv: This service controls name services, identifications, registration, and nick linking. Services are not limited to just these.     Chanserv: This service controls channel statuses, channel registrations, access lists, ban lists, etc. Services are not limited to just these.     Operserv: This service is what IRCops use to control what does on in the network. Besides this and banning users, I don't know what specific services it allows.     CTCP: Client-To-Client-Protocol. This is a special type of communication between IRC clients such as mIRC that yield certain results. Common CTCP commands are the Ping, Time, Version, and Finger commands. Additionally, you may use a CTCP command on an entire channel. The syntax to CTCP is /ctcp username ctcpcommand for communicating with a single client or /ctcp #channelname ctcpcommand for communicating with all clients connected to the selected channel.     CTCP Ping: Check how fast the selected user replies to messages sent to them. Can also determine how long it takes that reply to return to you.     CTCP Time: Check the time of the selected user.     CTCP Version: Check what IRC client the selected user is using. Additionally, that user's operating system may show up in the response.     CTCP Finger: Check the selected user's name, email, idle time, and if they have a unique response to the Finger set up.

Channel Modes     +o: Operator Status. The user following the +o has been given Operator status.     +v: Voiced Status. The user following the +v has been given voiced status.     +m: Channel Muted. Only Operators, HalfOps, and Voiced users may speak in the channel. Additionally, no users except those listed may change their name while the channel is muted.     +b: Banned. The user/hostmask following the +b has been banned from the channel. If they are in the channel at the time of the ban, they may remain until they leave or are kicked. During this time, they may not change names or say anything. They will be unable to rejoin the channel.     +t: Only operators may change the topic. Standard channel mode.     +r: The channel is registered. Standard channel mode.     +R: Only registered and identified names may join the channel.     +n: No messages entered into the channel from an external source, such as a user not in the channel, may be displayed. Standard channel mode.     +c: Colors may not be used in the channel. This mode is common in many channels. Rather than simply remove any colors from your message, this mode will block the message entirely.     +p: This channel is Private. It will not show up in the list of channels a user is in if you /whois them. It will, however, show up in the channel list for the server if there are enough users in that channel to warrant it showing up. The minimum number of users in a channel to get it to show up on the channel list for the server is 3.     +s: This channel is secret. It will not show up in the channel list for the server regardless of how many users are in it, nor will anyone be able to trace that you are in that channel via /whois unless they are in that channel as well.     +k KEY: This channel requires a keyword to join. The keyword is displayed after the channel modes, but only if you're actually in the channel. The syntax to join a +k channel is /join #channelname keyword.     +i: Users are not permitted to join the channel unless they have been invited by an Operator. The user must actually accept the invitation unless they have Auto-join channel on invite checked in the Options > IRC menu.     +l #: This channel has a limit set to how many users may join. After this number is met, no new users may enter.

Additional Information     mIRC 6.17 introduced UTF-8 support, which as you might know is a font-encoding system that allows you to use foreign characters such as Arabic or Japanese. To enable UTF-8, click any channel name on your Channel Switchbar, scroll down to and select Font, and under UTF-8, select Display and Encode. You may need to do this for every channel you are in.     The current version of mIRC is 6.2. Version 6.2 adds an option under Connect > Options called Preserve Nicks. This option keeps whatever you put in the Connect category's Nickname and Alternative fields. Previous versions of mIRC had a strange glitch where if you change names while logged on, your old name would become the alternative sometimes. Preserve Nicks prevents that from happening. If you disconnect, you will rejoin the server as either your Nickname or your Alternative, without fail.