First time IRC user?
We are now in a technological era, so there is no doubt that you are familar with MSN, Yahoo Instant Messenger, AIM, or Google Chat. If your new to the scene, you probably did not know, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is probably older than any of those listed above. The main difference between IRC and IM services is that IRC is designed for multi-user chat rather than one-on-one conversations, and that there are many IRC networks that users can participate on -- whereas most IM services restrict you to the network operated by the IM service owner, such as AOL or Microsoft. Because IRC is designed for multi-user chats, it's ideal for FOSS communities that want to offer a forum where users can get support in real time.
Where is #ZFTalk?
IRC's most popular Zend Framework Talk (#ZFTalk) channel is happily located at Freenode.net under the channel #zftalk.
- Don't have an IRC client? Use the web client provided by Mibbit here on our site: #zftalk
- Have an IRC client already? Open the your IRC client to: irc://irc.freenode.net/zftalk
IRC etiquette
IRC is a world of its own hidden away, yet it is a great place where everyone can come together. Being a different world, it has its own set of etiquette with some definite do's and dont's. In order to keep the harmony, we ask that everyone follow these guidelines and remember, being nice goes a long way.
- As with any chat room, please be patient and avoid any harsh remarks.
- When asking a question, try not to ask to ask the question, rather just put it out there and if people are around with an answer, they will answer.
- While the chat room will have users at almost any point in time, depending on our timezone many of us may be asleep.
- Don't take people too seriously, this is IRC we work hard, but we also play hard!
- Do not paste multiline text as it will be considered spam, use a pasting service such as pastie.org
- We are an international community, try to speak English if possible.
- Great article: Proper IRC Etiquette