BWHacks IRC Channel

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Our new IRC channel is #bwhacks on Quakenet. (irc.quakenet.org)

You can also join the chat by clicking the chat link in the navigation bar using a Java client. However it is recommended to read this guide carefully and use X-Chat:

Idiot's guide to IRC

Live chat can be much fun if you know how to do it right. Here's what you need:

1. Download, install and run X-Chat.

2. In X-Chat, you start in the server list. Fill in your nickname information. Select Skip server list on startup. Choose Quakenet from the list and click edit.


3. In the Quakenet dialog, select Auto connect to this network on startup. Enter #bwhacks in Channels to join. Close the dialog.



(You can now close X-Chat or click connect to connect right away)

4. Put a shortcut to X-Chat into your Windows Startup.



Why does it need to be in your startup? That way, you will be permanently connected to IRC whenever your computer is running. This is called idling. Idling is a very important concept of IRC. Note that IRC uses hardly any ressources, so there's no disadvantage in idling. If you don't want to chat right now, you simply minimize X-Chat to your system tray.

Why is idling so important? First of all, you always have the chat just one click away. That's for maximum convenience.

You also need to realize that live chat is not something you can switch on at any given time like TV. For chat you need at least two people. Even in a big channel, there won't be conversation going on 24/7. If you only join when you want to chat and leave if there's no activity, all that happens is that people miss each other.

But if enough people idle, there will be a critical mass of users in the channel so that activity becomes much more likely. The more people idle, the higher the probability that at least two of them want to chat at any given time.

I hope you understand the importance of idling. Happy chatting.

Further info
If you want to learn more about the technical details of IRC and Quakenet, visit quakenet.org, Wikipedia.