The unofficial SDMB IRC chat room. Where is it nowadays?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Howdy.

I recall there was an IRC chat room, first on underworlds.net, then to Newnet, under the channel #straightdope.

Where’d it go? Is it still being used?

Currently, I’m “studying” and “typing”, but I was going to pull it up and leave it in the background. Any of y’all still chattin’ there?

Tripler
Just curious.

#2

It still seems to be there.

#3

Found it. Thanks!

#4

Could someone show me how to get there, please? I don’t know what an irc client is or how to get one and what to do once I did.

#5

A good client program to start with is mIRC (just search for it, or go to mIRC.com).

Once installed, it will ask you for your name, desired handle, and give you a list of servers to pick from. Make sure it’s a Newnet server. It ought to say something like “Newnet: US, WA, Seattle” or similar. Then click ‘connect’.

From there it’ll do it’s thing, and all you need to do is type in the channel to join: “#straightdope”. The pound sign indicates a channel.

From there, they’ll get you hooked up!

Tripler
Give 'er a whirl.

#6

You might have to type in “/join #straightdope” without the quote marks.

#7

I thought IRC was a bad deal because it was an easy route for viruses & malware

#8

IRC is like any other place on the Internet. As long as you don’t accept file transfer requests from people you don’t know or piss people off, you’re generally safe. I’ve been doing this for about 10 years now, and have never had a problem.

Robin

#9

Thank you Tripler and Revenant Threshold! I appreciate the info. I’m off to go check it out.

#10

Thanks for the flashback folks, I used to host/run a server on Newnet, had no idea it still existed, since you know, everything springs into existence when I arrive and dissolves into dust when I leave.

Geesh I wasted a lot of time there.