Internet Relay Chat
<chat, messaging> (IRC) /I-R-C/, occasionally /*rk/ A
client-server chat system of large (often worldwide) networks.
IRC is structured as networks of
Internet servers, each accepting connections from
client programs, one per user.
The IRC community and the
Usenet and
MUD communities overlap to some extent, including both hackers and regular folks who have discovered the wonders of computer networks. Some
Usenet jargon has been adopted on IRC, as have some conventions such as emoticons.
There is also a vigorous native jargon (see the entry for "
chat").
The largest and first IRC network is
EFNet, with a smaller breakaway network called the
Undernet having existed since 1992, and dozens of other networks having appeared (and sometimes disappeared) since.
See also
nick,
bot,
op.
Yahoo's IRC index (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Chat/IRC/).