Irc Safety Tips

Over the years IRC (Internet Relay Chat) has become quite a popular way for new Internet users to meet people from places all over the world. It is also used to keep in touch with distant relatives, used as a teaching tool to learn more about the Internet as a whole, to exchange files etc.

Be aware that with most new products there comes a new ground for risk and an opportunity for others to take advantage of a persons trusting and sometimes naive nature. This page was designed to make you aware of some of the risks that can come with using IRC, it is in no way intended to scare you away from using it. From my many years experience of observing people on IRC I have learned how to avoid some of the pitfalls that exist out there. I will now explain some of the Do's and Don'ts of IRC so that you may have a more enjoyable experience when you use it .

The most common mistake I see people make is to enter their real name's and e-mail address's into their IRC client: I.E. mIRC, Pirch and Java chat. Those programs do not require your real name nor do they require an e-mail address in order for you to connect. You can type anything in that you choose where it says 'Real Name' and the same goes for the e-mail field. You should not give out your full name or phone number to anyone. It is not very difficult to trace a user by using a name or just a phone number. Check it out for yourself by using one of the many on line phone listing services Infospace

There are the dangers of catching viruses from files that another user has sent to you . Basic rule is , if you don't know that person very well , don't accept the file . And if you do , run a virus scan on it before using it in any way , that goes for zip files as well . Do not open them until you have scanned them . Keep your anti virus scanner up to date to get the latest files to detect new viruses. If you want to check up Virus Hoaxes go to this site Virus info Page .

You may want to use one of the free online e-mail services to contact various sites on the WWW or to use for certain instances where you prefer not to give out your personal e-mail address. Keep your personal e-mail address(isp e-mail)for your friends. A lot of people are going this way since it prevents spam from getting to their personal e-mail address. The most common service is Mailcity.com . Spam is basically online junk mail

There is also the issue of Lag and Netsplits that have been frequent on Irc servers . This is something out of the ISP's control . It is basically an overload of the Irc Server that you are connected to .
When too many users connect to one Irc Server it starts to suffer lag from the other Servers , which are connected to that particular Irc Network I.E. webchat.org . In which case the server will split from the rest causing a "Netsplit" , disconnecting some , or in rare cases all users . Then reconnecting to the Network . If you get disconnected don't expect to reconnect on the first try . It can take several tries to get back onto that Server . Everyone that is not on the same Server as you will appear to have quit Irc . All that is happening is ,that they're still in the same chatroom , just the servers have lost the link to each other .
One way of checking for lag is doing a 'ctcp ping' check ( which can be done in mIRC and Pirch by using the popup menu ) on another user . Ping counts the lag . Anything over 10 seconds and you might want to consider changing servers . Usually the lag is temporary and can be waited out . At which point responses are delayed or at times no responses at all .

I have covered some of the most common concerns with using IRC , other than that it is a great tool. Don't expect to find the perfect chat room on your first day of surfing. It takes time and some rooms, sadly, are very clicky and will not acknowledge you. I suggest that you not waste your time and just proceed with checking out other rooms.

Here's a story that was brought to my attention...well worth reading. Irc Story