Articles tagged `#reference`

reference

• DCC explained: IRC's peer-to-peer file transfersDCC lets two IRC users connect directly for chat and file transfer, with the server only brokering the handshake. How it works, why it fights with NAT, and the safety rules that never expired.
• IRC channel modes explained+t, +n, +m, +i, +k, +b — channel modes are IRC's entire moderation toolkit compressed into single letters. What each one does, how lists and parameters work, and which modes vary by network.
• IRC commands cheat sheetA practical reference of IRC commands — joining channels, private messages, NickServ and ChanServ, channel operator commands, and the modes you will actually encounter. Works in any client.
• IRC glossary: every term you'll run intoOp, voice, k-line, CTCP, ghost, cloak, services — IRC has three decades of jargon. An alphabetical glossary of the terms you will actually encounter.
• IRC user modes explainedChannel modes get all the attention, but users have modes too: invisibility, cloaking, TLS markers, wallops. What the common user modes do and which ones are worth setting.
• The IRC protocol explained: the whole thing fits on one pageIRC is one of the simplest network protocols still in daily use: lines of text over a socket, terminated by CRLF. This is the entire client protocol — message format, the handshake, the commands that matter, numeric replies, and how IRCv3 bolted on the modern bits — short enough to read in one sitting.
• What is a netsplit?Half the channel just quit at the same instant — congratulations, you have witnessed a netsplit. What netsplits are, why they happen, and why a wave of simultaneous quits is nothing to worry about.
• What is IRCv3? The quiet modernization of IRCIRC's protocol froze in the 1990s — officially. Unofficially, the IRCv3 working group has spent the last decade retrofitting modern chat features: message history, reactions-ready tags, better auth, and — as recently as 2026 — a browser-native transport. What IRCv3 is and what it changes.