There are two methods of joining our chat room. The first and easiest way is to go to to the "Chat" section of the site. There you will find a web applet that allows you to access the channel. While this applet runs very well, if you plan to frequent the channel or are an experienced user, you may want to use MIrc or another similar chat program.

If you choose to use the web applet (AKA PHP:IRC), then you want to change the default "Nickname" and enter your forum username.

Once you are connected, you will have the main message screen on the left, and a list of users in the room on the right. Type on the bottom line and hit enter to send your message to the chat room. Enjoy!

mIrc is an easy to use and very popular IRC chat program. You can download it for free at www.mirc.com. There are other programs out there that perform similarly to mIrc that you may also want to use.

Once you download the program and install it, you may want to read through the help files to get your bearings.

Once you are ready to chat, you need to connect to the private server. Click on File > Options. This will bring up a new window. On the left side should be a column named "Category:". Under it should be the selection "Connect". Make sure that is selected. Once it is, on the right side should be the options to add a new server to your server list. Click "Add". A new window will pop up. In the Description box put in "theNewX Chat", and in the IRC Server box put in "irc.jcbeam.com". Click "Add". The selection "theNewX Chat" should be in your server list drop down menu now. Select it and click "Connect to IRC Server". Once you have connected, you need to join our channel. Simply type in the command "/join #theNewX" and you will enter our channel.

We use a private server at irc.jcbeam.com, in room #theNewX.

Type: /me then what ever action you want.

Read our rules thread.

Probably for repeatedly breaking one of the rules. OPs may also Kick/Ban you for disrupting the channel. The chat room is a bit looser than the Forum. That means you can get away with more, but at the same time OPs may kick you at their discretion. We also use scripts that may automatically kick or ban users for cussing, flooding, clones, and using all caps.

An OP is a channel OPerator. They make sure people are behaving and keep the peace. They are responsible for kicking and banning people from the channel who misbehave.

No.

It is a good idea to register your nickname so that people can not act as you. This keeps you and the other users safe from fraud.

To register your name.
1. Connect to chat with the name you want to register (your forum name).
2. Type "/msg nickserv REGISTER " (without the "'s and <>'s)
3. You will get a response that your nickname is now registered.

After your nickname is registered you will need to identify yourself each time you connect. If you are using the web client, you have to do this manually. If you use one of the thick clients (such as mIRC) then you can set it up to do it automatically (see the mIRC help for more information).

To identify yourself.
1. Connect to chat as your nickname.
2. Type "/msg nickserv IDENTIFY " (without the "'s and <>'s)
3. You are now identified.

If for some reason your nickname is in use by another user or is a ghost session is still open (an old session of yours that for what ever is still running and using your nickname), you can recover the nickname.

To recover your nickname.
1. Connect to chat using some other nickname.
2. Type "/msg nickserv " (without the "'s and <>'s) 3. This will either kill the hung (ghost) session or it will force the user who was using your nickname to change their name.
4. Type "/nick " to change to your nickname. (without the "'s and <>'s)
5. Identify yourself (see steps above).

If you need more help, please type "/msg nickserv HELP"