We are pleased to announce that the chat room is now available! Even though you are welcome to use it at any time, our scheduled chat time is:

Sunday nights at 9pm EST

If you are not a registered VB member you will be kicked, banned, spit upon, etc.

You have two options for using the chat room:

The recommended method is to download mIRC. mIRC is a free download available at - http://www.mirc.com/get.html . It is faster and far more stable than the second option. Step-by-step instructions for setting up mIRC can be found in the next post.

For those of you familiar with IRC we're on the WorldIRC server and the channel name is #veggieboards.

If for some reason you are unable to download mIRC you can take your chances with our on-site Java interface - http://www.veggieboards.com/chat/chat.html . It may take several minutes to load and there may be stability issues. Trust me, it's worth your time and effort to download mIRC!

A lot can be done with IRC and how much you choose to do is up to you. If you just want to chat you should be good to go. If you're interested in learning some of the more advanced commands this is a good place to start...

http://www.mirc.com/cmds.html

Please keep in mind...

The same rules that apply to the boards apply to the chat. Inappropriate conduct may result in suspension or banning from one or both. You can report inappropriate conduct by sending a PM to any of the ops. If at all possible please try to save a copy of the text in question.

Please log in using your VB member name or something close to it (if your name is used by someone else you may have to choose another). Using another member's name or attempting to impersonate another member will result in a permanent ban from the chat and the boards.

Thanks to ObsidianZebra for preparing this. :)

For those who already have an IRC client and know how to use it, simply connect to a WorldIRC server (irc.worldirc.org), or there is a complete server listing available here:

http://www.worldirc.org/servers.php

They don't have any port numbers listed, but the typical 6667 works for me just fine. The channel name is #veggieboards.

Moving along...

The Visual Guide for the Technologically-Impaired to Accessing the Veggieboards Chatroom with mIRC.

This is literally a step-by-step guide for those who have never used mIRC before, so I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence here, I'm just trying to make it as simple as possible so that anyone and everyone can understand. If you're still having problems connecting, feel free to PM or instant message me.

First and foremost, you need a copy of mIRC, which you can find here: http://www.mirc.com/get.html . Downloading and installing should be a breeze, but if you have any problems, feel free to ask for help. Mac users can download Ircle at http://www.ircle.com .

When you first run mIRC, the about window will pop up...

http://www.veggieboards.com/images/about.gif

...you'll probably want to uncheck the box in the lower left corner, this will stop it from popping up every time you run mIRC again.

After that, the mIRC options window...

http://www.veggieboards.com/images/mirc3.gif

...will pop up. You'll need to fill in all the blanks - full name and email do not have to be truthful, in fact, I would recommend not putting accurate information in these fields, especially if you're not a fan of receiving spam. For the nickname field, It's recommended to use your VB name, but it's possible that there could be some one else on the server who already has claim to the name, so you'll need to provide an alternate just in case. Try to make it a variation of your board name so that we can still recognize who you are. I'll go into more detailed information about nicks later. Also, checking the Invisible Mode box is generally a good idea. If you're behind a firewall, you'll probably need to select 'Firewall' from the menu on the left and fill out the appropriate information.

With everything filled out now, you should be ready to connect. Now, to get to the VB chat, you'll need to select a specific network. The VB chat is located on the World IRC network, which can be easily located in the IRC network pull-down menu...

http://www.veggieboards.com/images/mirc4.gif

With that selected, go ahead and press the Connect button! From here on out, you can just use the Connect button in the upper right corner...

http://www.veggieboards.com/images/mirc2.gif

...and you use the same button to disconnect once you are connected.

Continued in next post...

If at first you don't connect, don't panic, give it a few tries. If you don't get connected after a reasonable amount of retries, then it's time to seek some help. Otherwise, once you're connected, the mIRC Channels Folder will pop up. This provides a listing of common popular channels found on many of the various IRC networks. You can use this to connect to the VB chat if you like, by adding #veggieboards and then clicking the Join button, or you could just uncheck the "Pop up on connect" box and ignore this.

Take note of your status screen - This is generally the best place to type any sort of IRC commands, especially those that involve a password. Here's a good, simple IRC command to start with, which can be used to join any channel (aka chatroom) or even create a whole new channel: /join #veggieboards

http://www.veggieboards.com/images/mirc5.gif

Below the icons along the top and above the status window you will notice something like a task bar - it works just like the task bar in Windows, it just lists your status window, and any other channel window you currently have open.

Once you're in, it should be self-explanitory, people who are in the chat are listed on the right, you type what you want to say in the bottom.

Please note, 'X' is not a real person, just a "bot" - think of X as a home security system for the chat; completely inanimate, but can help prevent problems. If there's any serious problems going on in the chat, you'll need to contact one of the Channel Operators - the @ sign infront of some one's name means that person is an Op.

To conclude this basic tutorial, I'll give you a few more basic IRC commands:

the "action" command: /me [your action]
Example: if I were to type "/me bounces around the room" it would show up as: *ObsidianZebra bounces around the room

To change your nick: /nick [new nick]
Example: If I type "/nick sylvrhawk" I would then show up in the channel as sylvrhawk rather than ObsidianZebra.

Chat...

thanks for that.
your explanation was very easy to follow and now i am in the chat!
:)

Is there mIRC for Macs?

There is a blurb about it up there but it's buried. Here it is...

Mac users can download Ircle at http://www.ircle.com .

I'm not familiar with that program or how it works though.

Nice to see another MAC user on the boards having problems like me skylark! Would somebody who has got veggieboards on IRC working on the MAC (OS 9) be able to put some pointers up please?

Benny,
The chat worked for me last night, but I had to try about ten times to get in. I don't know what made the difference that tenth time. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I give up. I'm using Mac OS X, but I haven't tried to start IRC from OS 9.

Is there still trivia?

Not sure, I only saw it one time.

Whoa... I never thought about that, Jennivere. Can just anyone find that out?

Thanks for providing this thread Michael, its very apparent
I need it to work on thru it in nice easy steps! :) Cheers!..
I'll attempt mIRC soon and give it a whirl hopefully...

Thank ObsidianZebra, she wrote the instructions. :)

Can some one explain to me how I get into chat via the link on top of the page?

I understand mric is the best way, but I don't have any and I doubht if I can get it installed on the library computer.

I get the chat screen, but then what?

my nickname is erroneus? I can get in the "register" screen thingy but it gets me nowhere. (most likely my fault)

you can't have a nickname on the irc server that starts with a number. if you're connected to the server, try typing: /nick onevegan

Maybe something else isn't right ?

It says:

Auth***looking up your hostname
Auth***Checking Ident
Auth***Couldn't look up your hostname
Auth***No Ident response
That nickname is erroneus. Enter another one.
register first

Then I try the button nickserve and a pop-up appears....
I fill-in my password (the same as my VB password) and my email.
I click "register" : nothing
I click "identity" : nothing.

I think I'd better check if the liberary has a copy of "chating for dummies" ....

irc and VB are completely different, it doesn't make sense to try your VB password on IRC. is there a reason you didn't do what i suggested? just type "/nick onevegan" without the quotes. you don't need to register, you just need to use an acceptable nickname.

fyi.. for those of you that miss the VB java chat, you can access one from http://worldirc.org/chat.php

once you connect, it'll automatically put you in a room called "#newbies". just close that, and then in the window called "status", just type "/j veggieboards" (without the quotes). that's it! hope that helps :)

ok, here's an even easier way to do the java chat. just save the .txt attachment to your computer, rename it to .html (damn board doesn't allow .html attachments :P), and double-click it.. that's it! it'll pop you right into the #veggieboards room.




for those of you that want to get a little technical.. if you open the .html file in notepad/wordpad, you can make a few changes.

for example, you can edit it so that your nickname automatically appears and you don't have to type it in each time. just change:
<param name="nickname" value="VBGuest????" >
to:
<param name="nickname" value="your_name_here" >

you can also change the color format and other stuff if you want. hope that helps!

There's actually a program (Microsoft Chat) that comes with some versions of Windows that will connect to an IRC network, enabling chatting without having to go use Java (I have connected that way before; only just remembered).

It's in Windows 98 Second Edition, and possibly some other versions. I'll post more after I look into it.

We will probably be switching to an easier to use chat room in the near future.

:eek: :eek: :eek: !!

nothing will ever be the same again! :cry:

Actually I'll probably put it up for a vote and the majority can decide.

[
once you connect, it'll automatically put you in a room called "#newbies". just close that, and then in the window called "status", just type "/ veggieboards" (without the quotes). that's it! hope that helps :)

that doenst work. it says veggieboards unknown or someting like that. tell me more.

I dont know if this will help or not..
But it only works for me if you connect to "klagenfurt.at.eu" In the world irc server..