One of the primary ways tog members (and non-members) interact when not in the space is over irc. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, and is an old text-based way to chat online.
TOG has a channel (#tog) on freenode.net, which is free to use. To connect you can download a client (like Pidgin), or just use the webchat interface from your browser. But we like to make things easy for people, so on our Contact page you’ll find the webchat interface, but pre-filled in to connect to the #tog channel. All you have to do is fill in the reCaptcha and hit connect.
You’ll see that we have generated a nickname for you, but you are welcome to change it to any nickname (that isn’t currently in use or registered to someone else). If you do try to use a nickname that’s in use you’ll get this message;
== Nickname is already in use: popularNickName
And it will be changed, perhaps by appending an underscore to the end, e.g. popularNickName_
If the name is already registered (aka claimed) by someone else, you will get a message like this;
== This nickname is registered. Please choose a different nickname, or identify via /msg NickServ identify password.
(If it is your nickname, then you can ‘sign in’ by typing /msg nickserv identify yourpassword)
Once in the room, you can still change your nickname with /nick newNickName
You will notice two tabs at the top of the webchat window, one called ‘Status’ and one called ‘tog’. Any additional rooms you enter, or private chats you start, will open in new tabs. Under ‘tog’ you will see the message;
== TOGvisitor1 [1a2b3c4e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.x.x.x.x] has joined #tog
From here it’s very simple. You type into the text-entry-box at the bottom of the tog tab, and press enter to send it to the room. If you type someones name, your message will be highlighted (usually in red) for them. Some clients also send notifications, but not all. You will see this in action when someone writes your nickname.
If you click on someones nickname from the list on the right, you will get two options; whois and query. whois brings up info like ip-address, servers, name, etc, most of which is rarely accurate. query will start a private chat with that person.
If you can’t quite find the words, but could like to describe an action there is /me, for example, /me waves hello becomes;
* TOGvisitor1 waves hello
Then, when you tire of all this chatting, you can leave the room with /part, and disconnect from IRC with /quit. Then just close the browser.
There are many irc guides and commands around that a search engine can help you find, or you can use this helpful guide.