Terms to know

Channels - is the terminology we use for what WebTV users call "Rooms" From here on in, We will be referring to Channels.

IRC - Internet Relay Chat - Realtime talking with others through the internet.

Client - the program/script that we use to connect to IRC. Many WebTV users call their clients "IRC'S".

Usermask - A usermask is the identification by which and IRC server knows you.

Commands for WebTV

/msg #channelname your message here - or - /msg nickname your message here.
/whois only nickname
/join is /join #channelname
/me your message here - this is what we call an action word

Commands that WebTV users can use on ZUH

/msg irc join - allows a WebTV user to join more than one channel
/msg irc part - allows a WebTV user to leave a particular channel
/msg irc nick newnick - allows a WebTV user to change his/her nickname

More commands can be found at http://www.zuh.net/faq/irc.html

To the best of our knowledge, WebTV users cannot do a /list.

Click here for a current channel listing.

If you notice that you can actually "Click" on your channel, you will be taken to a Webpage for PC users to join your channel via a web browser.

PC users can join your channel via a regular IRC "Client" such as mIRC, pirch, bitchX, ircII, other various programs or via the web using Netscape or Internet Explorer 3.x or higher. The url for them to get to your channel via the web is: http://www.zuh.net/cgi/DB_Manager/ch.cgi?channel=yourchannelnamegoeshere

About the Servers

Most IRC scripts for WebTV users point to "irc.zuh.net". When somebody connects to The ZUH IRC Network using irc.zuh.net that user will be placed on a random ZUH Server. On occassion, a server may need to be rebooted and becomes unavailable to connect. This in turn will tell the user that he/she is unable to connect. If this happens, simply use an alternate server. You can find a list of servers here.

Black Screen Syndrome

On occassion WebTV users will connect to a network and the screen will turn black. We have a possible solution for the problem. You can go to http://zuhnet.hypermart.net/webTV.html and try the Official ZUH WebTV IRC client.

Bad Username

On occassion a user is not able to join IRC. This problem is not limited to the ZUH IRC Network. When this occurs it is most likely due to two reasons.

  • The user name is too long. Some IRC Networks will only allow 8 characters for a nickname. ZUH allows 12.

  • The user name contains characters other than alpha or numeric characters such as characters like this: !@#$%^&*()_-
Although we allow some of these characters in the nickname on ZUH IRC Network, the user may get the message that his/her username is bad. An alternative for this is to change your nickname before you join the IRC Network and use the "/msg irc nickname newnicknamegoeshere" command.

Advertising your channel

On The ZUH IRC Network, we do not allow a user to go into different channels to announce a new channel. This is against our user policy. Users whether on a PC or WebTV could possibly have their channels removed from our network for participating in such actions. If a user of the new channel is is caught doing this, the owner of the channel could still lose his/her channel.

There are several other ways to advertise your channel.

Many WebTV users have set up webpages to advertise their channels. This is by far the best advertising way. Be sure to add yourself to a variety of search engines like Webcrawler, Alta Vista, InfoSeek, HotBot, YaHoo and Lycos.

You might want to try out http://www.addme.com

There you can submit your website to 34 different search engines for free.

Advertising in newsgroups

If you have a channel related to a specific issue like Cars, you may want to find a newsgroup specific to Cars only and let the users know where your website is located. HOWEVER only one announcement is sufficient. Anything more than one will be considered "SPAM" and you will be frowned upon!

Do NOT go to alt.irc to announce your channel.

Netiquette - IRC is not a right, its a Privilege

Over the course of time, IRC users have set some guidelines on how to act while in IRC. If these guidelines are not followed, your privilege to chat on the ZUH IRC Network can be removed.

The few guidelines here are for ALL IRC users.

  • No Harassing.
  • No Flooding.
  • Don't beg for OPS in a channel.
  • Spamming/Advertising is not tolerated.
  • Trading of Kiddie Porn and Warez are Illegal.
  • The use of warscripts or the takeover of channels is not permitted.
  • AutoGreet messages for most channels are inappropriate (considered "LAME") and frowned upon.
  • OPER Status is earned not given. 99% of the people who ask for this status will never be given consideration...besides oper status is offered not requested.

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