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Internet Relay Chat, a popular way
of communicating on the internet. Using special chat software, users connect
to one of many chat servers around the world. Each server contains a
number of chat areas, called channels, which are in theory devoted to a
particular subject: #cricket, for example, should be about cricket. Once
connected to a channel, anything you type is instantly readable by anyone
else on the channel.
Irc attracts an enormous number of
enthusiasts and, unsurprisingly, more than its fair share of eccentrics.
Many an irc newbie finds its arcane commands and lively
participants a little harsh when compared with the cosiness of web-based
provider's chat rooms. Nonetheless, irc has been used to transmit
news from some otherwise inaccessible places: inside the Russian parliament
building while it was being shelled in 1993, for example. |
