IRC

Thats a Good question.

Being an old school IRC and Mirc user I will try to find out.

In my opinion, I think something like IRC would be a little complicated for most truckers as their computer skills are generally basic. The simplicity of forums and most web based message and communications are pretty much their limit.

IRC requires a different skill set, using triggers and commands in order to communicate. Many may find it a bit overwhelming. So dont hold your breath.

Hurst

 

OK, I will happily show my ignorance here! What the hell are you guys talking about, anyway? What is IRC and Mirc?

And Hurst, how long have you been on staff here? Yeah, I know, I'm nosy. . .

 

you had to ask didn't you Don
the answer was even more confusing
my phone intimidates me

 

I'm sorry Pete. I'm truly sorry. (I thought I was confused before, but obviously did not know the meaning of the word. . .)

 

OK, it is an instant messaging type thing then.

 

Not long,.. still figuring it out.

IRC

The concept is to have live chat in a group setting. Everyone sees what you type in main channel. There are system ops, channel ops and subordinate privs can be given to the best brown nosers.

You can trade files using the DCC command,. have private chats that no one else sees,.. you can make audio play on someone elses computer,.. maybe to get their attention or just to be funny or annoying.

Due to its age,.. IRC dates back to before there really was an internet like we know it today. It was used on unix networks at universities. Besides email,.. it was the only other form of direct communication on a network when it was first conceived.

But as such,.. and being text based,.. unless you understand basic command line structure,.. it will be complicated for a novice or 'basic' computer user.

The first command is your name,.. /nick
For example,.. I am Hurst. So I would type /nick Hurst. The server would respond with "You are now known as Hurst".
Then you need to join a channel. You could type /list to get a list of channels. Not a good idea on large servers as thousands of channels can exist. So you would type something like /list 100 and only 100 channels would show at a time. When you see the one you want to join,.. you could /j or /join then with the pound sign the channel name. Like /join #TheTruckersReport and you would see a box or window open showing the yest chats happening in that channel.


/join
/part
/say
/s
/v
/o
/q
/me

It can be over whelming.

I had an interest in computers from an early age. I was a BBS junky in the mid 80's. BBS was much like forums are today. Bulletin Board Server. Back in the old days,.. a 2600 and later 28.8 baud dial up modems.. there was no internet or ISP. You dialed a phone number directly and the computer on the other side would answer. After 5 mins of bleeps and tones,.. you then got a screen where you could access the menu. Usually most BBS only had 1 node. Meant 1 phone line. Some of the good ones had 2 - 3 nodes. On those you could type and chat with someone in real time. Else with just 1 node,.. you left a msg and checked in later (If the line wasnt busy) for your reply.

There was no windows operating system back then. Most had either IBM DOS or MSDOS. This was before Linux as well. Unix was propitiatory and not free. IRC orginated on unix.. and if you understand C-Shell (Unix shell that comprises and allows C programming language) you automatically understood how IRC worked and its command line structure.

For this reason, I doubt TTR would have or will ever have an "Official" IRC channel.

There is nothing to prevent anyone to create and admin an IRC channel for truckers.
There are actually many. Undernet.org was always one of my favorite IRC networks. I was logging in there since 92 or 93,, internet was still at its infancy back then.

Hurst

 

Kinda sorta,..

In its most simplistic description,.. yes.

Its like an instant messenger,.. but text based and meant to be more open and public.

Compared to instant messaging,.. IRC is pretty ancient.

Hurst