View source for Wikipedia Chat

For those you who are interested in real-time chat, there is a possibility to chat with other [[Wikipedians]]
on the [[IRC|Internet Relay Chat]] network. The name of the channel is #wikipedia located on the server
irc.openprojects.net.

'''How to connect'''

All you need is an IRC client installed on your machine (installation of a Java client on the Wikipedia server
is being considered). A list of clients respective to your operating system is given in the [[IRC]] entry.

Once downloaded and installed perform the following steps (most IRC clients also provide graphical interfaces to common commands):

1. <nowiki>Use the /server command to connect to the server, eg. /server irc.openprojects.net</nowiki><br>

2. <nowiki>Choose a nickname /nick <nickname>, eg. /nick JohnDoe. Nicknames can be up to 8 characters long. You can use
letters and numbers (no spaces or symbols).</nowiki><br>

3. <nowiki>Join the channel, type /join #wikipedia. Channels are the equivalent of chat rooms on irc.</nowiki><br>

4. <nowiki>For help type /help. Commands on irc have to be preceeded by a '/', channel names by a '#'.</nowiki><br>

5. ''Optional:'' <nowiki>You can register your nick with the nickserv service - only you will be able to use it. Type
/msg nickserv register <password>, eg. /msg nickserv register foo. When logging on later on type /msg nickserv
identify <password> so that nickserv can identify you as the owner of a nick. For more help type /msg nickserv help.</nowiki><br>

6. <nowiki>Read the help and readme files of the client you installed for more information.</nowiki><br>

'''External links:'''
*[http://www.geocities.com/athens/3615/iirc.html A guide to IRC]