From Encyclopedia Dramatica
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See ED IRC for the wiki's IRC information.
It's how hackers talk when they don't want to be overheard.


—A shitty CBS show chock full of dumb jews who should stick to controlling the media and doing the WTC and not talk about computers in front of a camera

What you look like while on IRC.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (AKA Multiplayer Notepad) has been around for 65 billion years. It's the bastard offspring of UNIX talk and ntalk protocols.

To put it simply, IRC is like a normal chat system, except instead of chat (which doesn't happen as everyone is either idle or a bot the fbi), the main activity of IRC is op-wars and denial of service attacks. Ops are people who kick and ban those from a room who suck up the least (the non-ops don't have that so they denial of service attack them instead), which causes the banned users to retaliate by DDoSing the ops and the IRC network and ChanServ, then gaining ops on a split.

Unsurprisingly, the existence of channels (to make communication a bit easier) created potential for vast amounts of drama, which quickly transformed from being potential to actual drama, human beings being what they are beans in a pot. Channel and network drama happens at an exponential rate of growth, but since anything rarely goes past words in the IRC protocol, it's entirely harmless and pointless. Stupid drama. IRC also is used to transfer two very different types of important communication.

IRC users are on a continuous quest to gain more status. There are always more channels and more servers on which to gain ops. IRC is also a center for warez. Once you've got lots of ops, IRC users can try and climb the "LeetLadder". You've never seen anything so useless as someone with lots of IRCops who tries to use that status IRL.

Most people use smileys to express their feelings on IRC. Meanings of smileys differ from channel to channel. For example, people on one channel might say "::D" when they see something funny, but on another they might say "=DDDd" to express the same feeling. Acronyms like LOL, ROFL or LMAO are also used to express feelings but, as with smileys, their emotional content differ greatly from channel to channel.

Much lulz on IRC can be had at the expense of nubs, who are often told to scroll up after pasting old memes.

IRC In The Media

Guide for new users

  • Type '/server (server)' or use the connect to connect to a new IRC server (use '/server -m (server)' to connect in a new IRC window without disconnecting from the current server. There are several large networks like EFnet ( and Rizon(, aka animu central). Of other note are private servers,, and Some places, like Rizon or Chatnets, or really any place except stone-age EFnet, has a NickServ. Register with NickServ (type '/msg nickserv register passwordhere realemailhere') and then '/msg nickserv identify password' to be identified. Some places, like #4chan on Rizon, require you to be registered with NickServ to join.
  • Type '/j #channel' or '/join #channel' (it's the same) to join a channel. To part, just close it with the red X, or type /part #channel somemessage if you want to be fancy.
  • To change nick, type '/nick newnickhere'. There is a limit on how long the nick can be; some networks only allow a maximum of 9 characters, while others let you go up to 18.
  • To send a private message, use '/msg nick message here blah blah dongs'. In most clients, private messages appear in a little new window.

People on IRC

  • Channel founders, +q, have a "~" by their name, and are the creators of the IRC channel. They can change all channel settings and modes.
  • Super-ops, aka +a or admins, have a "&" by their name, have the same powers as ops, can access some ChanServ commands, and cannot be kicked by normal ops.
  • Ops, aka +o, have an "@" by their name. They can ban, kick, add and remove ops, change the topic, and make your life hell.
  • Half ops, aka hops or +h, they have a "%" by their name. They can ban and kick, add and remove voice, change the topic and set a few modes.
  • Voiced, or +v, have a "+". They are just regular users who we trust for the most part and have been there a while. Also, if the channel is set +m (moderated, basically mute) they and the +q, +a, +o and +h people can talk, while regular users can't.
    • A few channels set +v on join, usually if it's +m so that ops can remove voice from people who spam or whatever.

A user without a "~", "&", "@", "%", or "+" is just a regular person. They may feel as clueless as you. Just use IRC, and you will learn. Weeaboos, check out, gamers,, and really just join random channels to see what's going on. On efnet, basically any word has a channel for it, so explore and lurk.

Note about Lurking: SAY SOMETHING EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. Many channels get sick of people just joining and watching, at least let them know who you are so someone doesn't kick you or something. So, you can lurk, but be sure to talk occasionally. The IRC world is extremely intolerant of newfags.

A side note, another breed of IRC dweller not previously mentioned is the IRC Operator (IRCop). Worse than a channel operator, these bastards will kill or Z-Line you for merely existing. Identified by a different nick color (for mIRC lusers), or by the presence of the following in a /whois (which, by the way, they get alerted to people /whois'ing them), avoid these beings at all costs, as most of them have little, or no sense of humor.

How to identify an IRC Operator (from mIRC):

[04:13] * ThisGuy is [email protected]
[04:13] * ThisGuy is <<deathbringer>>
[04:13] * ThisGuy is an IRC Operator/Server Administrator/Server Co-Administrator/Services Administrator/Network Administrator (only one of these)
[04:13] * ThisGuy is on ?#staff, ~lobby, &staffjerks


Channel Operator (@)

Operators are the sysops of the IRC realm. They only exist to kick you repeatedly and ban you when you make a faggy comment. They are power-hungry bastards with no sense of compassion. Aside from idling, most time spent on IRC is from op wars--this is fighting over the power to be an op. OPs often grow bored on IRC and entertain themselves by kicking and banning people.
Channel Operators also make up the most important line of defense in flood attacks, if your channel gets flooded, the best way to handle it is like this:

/mode #channel +o pynchon

A friendly, musical message to all IRC operators

How To Get Ops

<superfreek> give me ops
<@retardop> ok
** channel set +o superfreek
<@superfreek> lol
** channel set +b retardop
** retardop has been kicked by superfreek (lol)
-retardop- omg


Because IRC is a tedious bore, where the few and far between lulz drown in a sea of drama, people often leave. The jewel encrusted founders, who believe that user counts contribute to their e-penis, pad out the channel with unintuitive automated clients called bots. A bot’s job is to ensure you have no lulz at all by wearing the remaining human user-base down with constant abuse. Bots employ the following tactics:

  • spamming the Urban Dictionary definition of queef every quarter-second
  • repeating the same damn 6 quiz questions in sequence for 6 hours straight (which the players still fail to answer correctly)
  • kicking anyone who types more than 2 lines in 10 seconds
  • getting into kick-loops with each other
  • foiling your mass-kick antics

There are many different types of bots, but they’re all owned and configured by retards, so whatever positive features they have will be disabled, or twisted into various extremes of stupid.

Tips for more experienced users

Secure noticing

To send a message to everyone on a channel with a certain level or higher, type this:

/notice (~|&|@|%|+)#channel message

where the symbol represents the minimum level to send the message to (see "People on IRC").

Use this to share sensitive information without spais finding out.


There are IRC services on most servers (this is mainly Anope services, others exist. what works for one doesn't work for all, don't get butthurt when banned for wrong commands), save for stone-age EFnet. Read:


Use NickServ to keep others from using your nick and to keep ops/voice/etc. on channels.

  • /msg nickserv register password email - Register your nickname.
  • /msg nickserv identify password - Identify yourself.
  • /msg nickserv ghost nick password - Get someone who's using your nick to quit. It can also be used in case you disconnect, but your old nick hasn't pinged out yet.
  • /msg nickserv help - List all commands.


With a registered and identified nick in an unregistered channel where you are an op:

/msg ChanServ register #channelname password brief description.
Managing channel access

You can have services automatically op/voice/etc. people, depending on which system you use. Note that when giving a user access, that user must be registered with NickServ.

XOP system
/msg ChanServ xop #channelname add nick

Where "xop" is either:

  • "vop" for auto-voice
  • "hop" for auto-halfops
  • "aop" for auto-ops
  • "sop" for auto-superops

You can also change "add" to "del" to delete someone from your list.

Access level system
/msg ChanServ access #channelname add nick level
  • Adds a user to the access list with that level. If a user is already on the list, their level will simply be changed to the specified level.
/msg ChanServ access #channelname del nick
  • Deletes a user from the access list.

By default, the following access levels are defined:

  • Founder - Gives +qo upon entering, allows full access to ChanServ commands. Only one user may have this status.
  • 10 - Gives +ao upon entering, allows access to akick.
  • 5 - Gives +o upon entering.
  • 3 - Gives +v upon entering.
  • 0 - Nothing.
  • <0 - User cannot be opped.
ChanServ kick

Too much of a pussy to kick/ban someone yourself? ChanServ can do it for you!

/msg ChanServ (kick|ban) #channelname nick reason

Note that if the channel has signkick enabled (default), your nick will be displayed in the kick message.


With a registered nick, you can replace your plain old hostname with a vHost, which is basically just a fake hostname.

To request a vHost, type:

/msg HostServ request [email protected]

You will then have to wait for your vHost to be approved. Some networks do it automatically after about a few hours, while other nets have it to where it must be manually approved.

Fun Things To Do On IRC

  • Abuse Channel Mode +f; for example set /mode #channel +f [1t#b]:999 which will kick pretty much anyone saying anything in the channel.
  • Put people in kickban loops; Join a channel, register it with ChanServ, do /cs akick #channel add *!*@*, leave the channel, now type //raw join #channel $crlf mode #channel +e ~c:#(a channel that the targeted user is on) $crlf invite TargetUser #channel and watch.
  • Abuse ChanServ privileges; a fun thing to do is clearing out the entire channel by doing /cs clear #channel users which kicks everyone from the channel. Alternatively, to cause more destruction, do /cs akick #channel add *!*@* then /mode #channel +e ~c:(a channel alot of people in the channel are also on) then /cs akick #channel enforce. This will send everyone in the target channel that is on the alternate channel you specified into an infinite kickban loop, as well as clearing everyone else out. (Note: On most servers you must use an extban ~c: because ChanServ will detect normal except masks and remove them)
  • Abuse OperServ; go onto a populated channel and type /os akillchan kill +0 #channel Hi2u
  • Register other peoples nicks when they quit then use the ghost command to kill them off when they come back

See Also

ED IRC, Jew.

External Links

IRC is part of a series on acronyms


Internets Lingo


Other Lingo


Internet Places/Group


Moar Internet Shit


IRL Acronyms


Bad Acronyms



is part of a series on


Please visit the IRC PORTAL for more



IRC is part of a series on Language & Communication
Click topics to expand
is part of a series on Web 1.0


Click topics to expand

Featured article August 3 & 4, 2015
Preceded by
The Daily Show
IRC Succeeded by
Emu War