To ask a question or send a message, simply type your message into the chat box of your IRC client.
To reply or direct a comment to a particular person in the public channel, first type that person's nickname, followed by a colon. Most IRC clients will provide an alert to the user when his/her name is mentioned. In many IRC clients, you can type the first few letters of the user's nickname and then hit the <Tab> key to automatically complete the nickname.
Example question directed at kmlussier
kmlussier: Can you create a quick start guide for using IRC?
Type /msg followed by a nickname to send a private message to that user. Nobody else in the channel will see this message.
Example private message sent to kmlussier
/msg kmlussier Do you have a second to talk?
Type nickname++ to increase karma for a user that has done a good deed. Incrementing someone's karma is always appreciated, but please refrain from decrementing karma for another user with a –.
Everyone's karma is reset to 0 annually after the Evergreen conference. See Evergreen karma from previous years
Type +1 to vote or show support for an idea. Alternatively, use -1 to vote against or show opposition to an idea.
To perform a virtual "action" in the channel, type /me followed by a description of the action. This will generate a statement that begins with your nickname.
Example action statement written by kmlussier
/me waves at bshum
displays as
kmlussier waves at bshum
To leave a message for somebody who isn't in the channel, you can type the message in the following format: @later tell nickname message. The next time the user speaks in IRC, they will receive this messsage.
Example later message
@later tell kmlussier Can you create a quick start guide for IRC?
Evergreen meetings are often held in IRC. Find useful meeting commands in the Using MeetBot for IRC Meetings guide.