Here at SPQR we have a multitude of contact mediums, and the one used most commonly, and my personal favourite, is the IRC, or Internet Relay Chat. In this thread I'll teach you the basics of IRC use, such as connecting to webchat, joining channels, explanation of channel user levels and the way to change your IRC name. Video supplementation is supplied for those who simply "don't get it" once I've explained through text and imagery, and that's totally fine. Let's get started, shall we?
The first thing you want to do is connect to the website http://webchat.quakenet.org
Once you've done that by either copying into your address bar or clicking that link, something like this should appear on screen.
Once you've completed this crucial step, in the "Nickname" text bar type what you wish your display name to be, and in the Channels text bar type "#SPQR". This is the official SPQR clan channel. All IRC channels have a hash before them when joining them. What you should see is something like this, before clicking "Join chat".
Once you have joined chat, there may be slight delay and several messages appearing on screen, before something like this appears
On the left is a time indicator of when messages are/were sent. In the central left are the names, or "Nicks" of the people currently talking in the channel. The chat bar which you type your message in is located at the bottom.
On the right is the list of users in the channel, those with a "@" next to their name, eg. <@Kodiak>, are Operators, or Ops, of the channel who are generally either bots or clan members in a position of power on the IRC, eg. Tin, Scipion, Sax and myself.
Note one of the users on the right is someone named Q, who is not a "someone" at all but a Quakenet service bot, which allows several key channel operation commands to be used and used effectively. Basically, if your channel is worth anything, it has a Q bot.
The other bots you'll see are ^Gandalf^ and ^Caesar^. ^Gandalf^ is a "Nordic Bot", a Quakenet service that allows your channel to have many commands at your disposal, some important, some less so.
^Caesar^ is a little more complex, and is a "phenny" bot, coded in Python with several commands at his disposal, and arranged by topologist, hosted on topo's server, 24/7. He also has all of the old commands I had on my mIRCscript version of ^Caesar^, which are text-based.
Current ^Caesar^ commands are:
!list: Lists all commands currently functional on ^Caesar^
!rules: Links you directly to the #SPQR channel rules
!forum: Links you to the SPQR AoS forum index.
!sigs: Links you to forum signatures made by Souleris
!AoS: Links you to the AoS play page.
!server: Brings up an aos:// link to the SPQR server, which you can paste into your browser.
!serverchan: Creates a clickable link to the SPQR server IRC channel, #spqr.server
!minit: Brings up and aos:// link to the Minit US Assault server, which you can paste into your browser.
!mumble: Directs you to our favourite VoIP program, mumble.
!leaderboard: Directs you to the Ace of Spades leaderboard operated by mat^2 and available on select servers
!g (phrase): Returns the first google result for the phrase you have entered.
!wik (phrase): Returns the most relevant Wikipedia article for the phrase you have entered.
!seen (IRC nickname): ^Caesar^ runs through the IRC backlog to when that particular person was last on the channel
!tinychat: Links you to our most-frequented tinychat (video chat) room.
!yt: Links you to YouTube channels of SPQR members, if you'd like your channel added ask myself or Topologist.
!t (Timezone): Returns the current time for the timezone specified, eg. !t GMT or !t AEST
!tr (word/words): Returns an English translation of foreign words (Note: Not all languages supported)
!c (Math problem): Calculates a math problem for you, eg.: !c 10*10^2 = 1000
!oldgc (phrase): This returns the amount of Google results for that phrase.
!stats: Gives information about the nicks who most often interact with the bot.
!beats: Shows the internet time in Swatch beats.
!bing: Returns the first Bing result, same function as !g.
Note: You may notice some commands featured in !list are not explained here, these are generally bot admin/bot owner only commands and I'm still learning their full function, despite the fact you probably cannot access them anyway, I ask that you don't play around with these too much.
Once you've joined you may be wanting to change your nickname or join other channels. This is very, very simple and I'll show you the commands.
When changing your nick (username) type in the text bar: /nick newname (newname becomes whatever you wish your new nick to be.
When joining a new channel, type in the text bar: /join #Channelname (Channelname being whichever chan you wish to join.)
It should be noted that when in the IRC, there is no obligation to wear the SPQR tag, eg. <@[SPQR]Kodiak>, <@Kodiak> is just fine.
This has covered the overall basics of IRC connection and operation. In the future I'll be writing a small tut for the IRC client (a more advanced IRC program) kvIRC, should I see sufficient reason and interest to do so. Thankyou for taking the time to read this and becoming a better IRC user. :)
Here is the video version for (simple) IRC access, sorry about the quality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fsWpMqUOuw