IRC etiquette: the unwritten rules, written down

Every IRC network has written rules, and every channel has a topic with more of them. But the things that actually determine whether people help you are the unwritten rules — thirty years of cultural norms that nobody explains until you break one. Here they are, written down.

Don't ask to ask #

The cardinal rule. Do not open with "can anyone help me with Python?" — the answer is unknowable until you ask the real question. State the actual problem directly, in one message, with the relevant details: what you tried, what you expected, what happened instead.

Related: do not address questions to a specific person unless you are already talking to them. Ask the channel; whoever knows will answer.

Be patient — seriously #

This is the norm that newcomers from Discord and Slack misjudge most. IRC regulars idle: their client is connected 24/7 (that is what bouncers are for) and they glance at it between other things. An answer may come in two minutes or five hours. Both are normal.

So: ask your question, leave the window open, and go do something else. Do not repeat the question every ten minutes, and absolutely do not quit after fifteen silent minutes — half the channel was composing an answer.

Pastebin discipline #

Never paste more than about three lines of code, logs or error output into a channel. Flooding a channel with fifty lines is the fastest way to get kicked, sometimes automatically. Put the material on a paste service and share the link. Many channels name their preferred paste service in the topic — which you have read, because:

Read the topic #

The channel topic (shown at the top of your client, or via /topic) is the channel's FAQ: rules, paste service, off-topic channel, support hours. A remarkable fraction of questions asked in busy channels are answered in the topic above them.

Private messages are by invitation #

Do not PM strangers, and especially not with support questions. Public questions get better answers (more eyes, and the next person can find the answer later), and unsolicited PMs are widely considered rude. If a conversation should move private, ask first. On many networks unregistered users cannot PM at all, precisely because of spam.

Formatting and noise #

• No ALL CAPS, no flooding, no !!! — the 1990s rules still apply.
• Skip colors and heavy formatting; many clients render them poorly and many channels strip or ban them.
• One thought per message is fine; one word per message across eight messages is not.
• Avoid @everyone instincts — there is no such thing, and nick-pinging multiple people to get attention is the equivalent.

Idling is normal, lurking is fine #

Joining a channel and saying nothing for weeks is completely acceptable — everyone's user list is full of idlers. Nobody expects an introduction when you join, and "hello, anyone here?" messages mostly generate silence. Just ask your question or join the conversation when you have something to say.

Channel-specific culture wins #

Every rule above has channels that override it. Some channels are chatty and social, some are strictly on-topic, some have rituals decades old. Spend a few minutes reading the room — scroll the recent conversation if your client shows any — before diving in. When channel culture and general etiquette disagree, channel culture wins; the ops' word is final, and arguing with ops has a predictable outcome.

The spirit of it all #

Every rule above compresses to one principle: respect other people's attention. IRC channels are shared spaces maintained by volunteers, and most answers come from people helping for free. Make your questions easy to answer, keep the noise down, and pass the help along when you are the one who knows.

Ready to put it into practice? How to join an IRC channel gets you there.