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We're proud to have our IRC chat hosted by Mystical.net. Please take a moment to check out their policies (http://www.mystical.net). Considering we survived nearly a decade on AOL without problems, though, I don't see these as being a problem. :>
irc.mystical.net
OOC Chat: #redstar
IC
RP: #rsslounge (main RP room, the old standby)
IC RP: #rsseclipse (for
Eclipse & Casino RP)
IC RP: #rssconcourse (for non-Lounge
RP)
Why multiple rooms? You can be in multiple chat rooms (even on multiple servers) at the same time on IRC, so why not? :> We have a number of others registered, but mostly for safekeeping. They aren’t being used right now.
For those familiar with IRC, come on over anytime. Feel free to lurk to see if anyone shows up, but it's going to take some time to get regular evening activity.
For those new to IRC,
it’s really not that scary at all—and it’s easier than you might
think to set up. It’s just a chat room that’s not quite as pretty looking
as AOL but, hey, it’s ad-free and if someone snerts or spams, we can kick
'em out.
To get there:
- Download and install the IRC program of your choice. PC Users: We recommend mIRC, a program that’s simple to use and nicely customizable. It’s shareware, but registration is optional. Mac Users: We can recommend Ircle, BitchX, or xChat, but we have no help documentation for them right now. Sorry! :/
- Click on the Options
icon (or go to Tools -> Options, or hit Alt-O).
- Under "Connect," click
on "Add" (on the right of your screen). 
- Close that out by
clicking Add. Then fill in any other required blanks on the
Connect screen (handle, EMail, etc.) 
- Close that screen by clicking OK, but make sure irc.mystical.net is selected in the drop down box first!
- Then just connect and
enjoy!
To find us,
type:
/join #roomnamehere
Example:
/join #redstar
/join
#rsslounge
Necessity: Your Nick/Handle
When you join the server, whatever room you’re in, you can register your nickname (aka nick, akin to a screen name in IRC). This means it’s passworded so only you can use it. You don't have to register your nickname, but we strongly urge you to register any names you'll be using on a regular basis. Please just register names you’re positive you’ll be using in the near future, though--let's not overload the poor admins. :> (Side note: Names that are not used for 30 days automatically become un-registered.)
Name squatting will not be tolerated. Squatting is when you intentionally register someone else’s character’s name to keep it from them or to grief them. We can’t force someone to surrender a name, but we can ban the squatter—and all their alts—from all RSS rooms if we wish. And we just might.
To change nicks, simply type /nick nicknamehere, only with the nick you want instead of nicknamehere. Example:
/nick Blackthorn
To register a nick, type /msg nickserv register password email@email.com, replacing “password” with the password of your choice, and “Email” with your email. You MUST use a valid EMail that can accept mail from mystical.net or you cannot be registered!
/msg nickserv register mypassword my@mail.com
Once you type the command to register, a verification EMail will be sent to you. There will be a line in it you need to copy and paste into any chat line to verify. Make sure it sends through correctly, though, or your name will not be registered--something about the mail that mystical.net sends out can make it so it thinks you're trying to send the line to the room. You may want to copy just the number and type the rest of the line in by hand.
If you have problems registering a nick, or feel yours has been hijacked and you want it back, you’ll need to contact Mystical.net’s admins. Red Star has no technical or policy control or authority over the server (only kick/ban authority over our official channels); we’re merely guests. We cannot help you with it, sorry!
Once your nick is registered, each time you use it, you will need to identify yourself to the server (aka ident). Type in:
/msg nickserv identify passwordhere
With, of course, your password in there instead.
Optional: Perform Commands
There's a way to automatically go to a specific nickname, identify yourself, and/or join specific rooms each time you log into IRC. It's really quite handy.
1 - Go back to your Options screen, and under Connect, highlight Perform. You'll get a box like the one below.
2 - (Optional) Click "Add" and select "Mystical" from the list. Hit OK. (Note: If you don't pick a server, it'll do the same commands on every server you join. If this is your only IRC server, that's fine.)
3 - In the white box, type in the commands you want performed. (See example below.)
4 - Check in "Enable perform on connect."
5 - Hit OK.
Other Handy IRC Stuff
- Ops. These are
your room “hosts,” identifiable by the @ before their name in the room
listing. They’re “on call” whenever they’re in the room, are no longer
expected to be bartenders, station/lounge workers, or even all that
friendly IC (just OOC). Some ops may choose to lurk at length; don’t be
surprised if they’re quite idle. I’ll ask that all ops change their names
to identify their away/not-RPing status.
Note: Kay will probably
be in the room 24/7, with my Nick changed to RedStar or RedStarStation
when absent. Which will be much of the time.
- Voice Ops. Sort of a “backup ops,” they’re folks with a + before their names. They’re people who have been approved to be temporarily bumped up to Ops status if the ops present feel it’d be helpful. They are not considered staff.
- Msgs/PMs. The IRC version of IMs. To initiate, either double-click on the name of someone in the chat room listing (a new window will appear), or type /msg nickofperson then-the-message. The latter will open a new window with your PM/msg in it, and their response will open one for you.
- Logging. Yep, you can log! (And unlike on AOL, if you forget, the chat buffer is quite large for you to scroll up into.) Logging procedure will vary according to your software, but in mIRC, just right-click on the room tab (see below) and select it from the pop-up options. It will become the default for that room until you remove it.
You can choose your logging options by going to Options -> IRC -> Logging. (Options include trimming the filesize, timestamps, log storage location, and whether to have single continuous logs or have them broken up by day, week or month.) You can also log private messages the same way.
- Emotes. You can still do emotes the same old fashioned way (::like this:: in double brackets), or you can type /me. For instance:
Kay> ::pours herself a glass of milk::
Or I type “/me pours herself a glass of milk” to get:
*Kay pours herself a glass of milk.
Either manner is perfectly acceptable, as is:
*Kay pours herself a glass of milk. "Damn," she whispers as she spills some.
- Emphasis. The ability to add emphasis may vary by your software, but the default is control-B to begin and end boldface, and control-U to begin and end underline. It may look like black “boxes” in your text before entering it.
- Colors and Fonts.
The ability to change colors and fonts may vary by your software.
In mIRC, you can change your default colors under Tools. This includes
both how others text appears to you, and how yours appears to yourself
and/or in the room. Please, no wonky colors! Thanks.
Other mIRC Goodies
- Beep! Beep! You can set both rooms and PM’s to beep at you when a new line is entered. Right-click on the room tab and select it from the pop-up menu. It will remain the default for that room/PM until you change it.
- Highlighting. Under Options -> IRC -> Highlight, you can set up “alerts” that will notify you if a certain word is said in the room. Play with the options—you can change the color of the line it appears in, whether it’s a word in the line or the person (nick) speaking, and the sound that it triggers (if any).
There’s lots more, so just play with it and see what you come up with. If you have trouble, just post on the boards and we'll help you best we can. And if anyone out there is a Mac IRC expert, we invite you to write some help docs up for us—we can use them.
Thanks!