New to IRC? Here are some commands to get you started:

• /help Display help.
• /clear Clear the chat output in this channel.
• /nick [nick] Change your nickname.
• /msg [nick] [msg] Send a private message.
• /whois [nick] Find out all manner of things about someone.
• /me [text] Action
• /away [msg] Set your status to away.
• /back Set your status to back.

Information on configuring and using some of the more popular IRC clients:

My simple howto:

1. Set the server to irc.freenode.net
2. Set your username to whatever you want.
3. Set the channel to #wsulug
4. Click connect.

If you have trouble or want information specifically for your client, please follow the appropriate instructions below. Please use irc.freenode.net for the server and #wsulug for the channel name in each howto.

• XChat
• Pidgin
• Irssi

Registering your nickname:

If you want to own your nickname so that nobody else can use it, you'll need to register it. If you want permissions to do things such as change the channel topic, you'll need to do this.

Quick instructions:

1. /msg nickserv register <your-password> <your-email>
2. /msg nickserv set hidemail on
3. Check your email and follow instructions
4. Configure your IRC client to authenticate via either of these methods:
   • Set your password as the server password
   • /msg nickserv identify <your-password>

For more information, see the Freenode FAQ.

Problems?

If you run into the "nickname temporarily unavailable" issue, please follow these steps:

1. Connect as normal with your irc-client
2. Identify to your nick:
   /quote NickServ identify $nick $password
3. Turn off the old nick enforcer
   /quote NickServ set enforce OFF
4. You might need to release your nick from being held by services:
   /quote NickServ release $nick $password

After this you should be able to reconnect, re-nick or reconnect. After you have sucsessfully reconnected to Freenode, you should be able to turn the nick enforce feature back on. Thanks to michielvw for this information.