
		NEW USER INFORMATION FOR IRC

This file contains some caveats for people new to IRC. It is not a
guide to commands for IRC. For a brief guide to commands for new
users, see /HELP INTRO.

See /HELP ETIQUETTE for a guide to good manners on IRC.

IRC is an international network servicing 20 or more countries. There
are over 10,000 registered users, and a similar number of regular
unregistered users. Do not expect everybody to speak English.

The primary means of identification is currently by nickname. This can
be modified with /NICK, and registered with NickServ. (/MSG NickServ HELP
for information on NickServ). Note, however that some nicknames are
duplicated, and since unique nicknames CANNOT BE ENFORCED it is common
to find someone else using a registered nickname.
If you have any doubts about the identity of somebody using
a given nick, use /WHOIS NickName to find out more. This gives detailed
information on the person using the NickName. For example, if you
are getting abusive messages from "Fred", type:

/WHOIS Fred

If the information displayed is not the same as that which you would
expect for Fred, it is probably a case of impersonation.

Recently some users have been tricking others into allowing them to
control their IRC sessions or damaging their files. If somebody asks
you to type a command and you don't know what it does, use
/HELP CommandName to find out more about it first. In particular,
/ON has been used to cause trouble and is now initially disabled
for new users. Additionally, /QUI is short for /QUIT and will
terminate your IRC session. If you see any message asking you to
type /QUI or /QUIT, ignore it.

Some new users have been baffled by "CTCP" messages appearing on
the IRC session. These are messages from other users, asking your
client to perform some service for them. They are generally
generated by somebody typing in a CTCP command. See /HELP CTCP.

If you have not already done so, read the HELP files INTRO and
ETIQUETTE.
