Advanced IRC
This page explains a few advanced aspects of IRC. Those are not essential to know in order to chat, but you might still find them interesting. There's also www.irchelp.org which is a excellent resource on all things IRC.
Basic commands
Here is a list of some basic commands you can type in the text box:- /join <channel name> - joins you into the desired channel on the current server
- /leave <channel name> [message] - leaves you on desired channel, with an optional leave message
- /nick <nick> - changes your visible nick
- /msg <nick> <message> - sends a private message to
Private messages
You might want to talk to someone in private. You can do this by either typing/msg <nick> <message>] or by clicking on their nick in the nicklist, then pressing “Query”. This is going to open a new window and then you can talk to that person in a private, one-to-one chat. 
Other users can also start talking to you privately. You'll be notified of this by a new tab appearing in the top bar and an audible bell. You'll hear this notification sound every time someone sends you a private message.
You can close the chat session by either closing your browser (or browser tab) or by typing
/quit into the text bar. It is recommended that you first type /quit, then close your browser, beacuse this way you can specify a quit message, and avoid confusion when you abruptly stop speaking.
Permissions
Channel operators, “op”—denoted by an “@” sign before their nicknames—can edit channel settings and kick or even ban people that misbehave.In #hedgewars usually only Hedgewars developers are channel-operators.
Some IRC channels are moderated—there only operators and people who were given “voice” ( “+” sign before their nicknames) can send messages to the channel. Most channels don't use this feature though or grant “voice” without need for status or fun reasons.
Most clients put “@” and “+” users at the top of the user list.
When somebody is granted op rights or voice by existing ops through setting the user mode to “+o” or “+v” respectively.
Asking for getting operator status is a generally bad idea. Don't do it.
Note: There also exist server operators (the so called “IRCOps”), they have overall control over the network. They can kick (K-Line) or ban people (G/Z/GZ-Line) from the entire server/network.
Your chances of meeting an IRCOp are quite sparse.
Netiquette
The netiquette is a set of more or less informale guidelines in the Internet. You should abide this, or you'll most likely face a kick and/or possibly a ban.Rules may differ from channel from channel, or they might be no rules at all, but usually it breaks down to:
- No spamming / flooding (typing in tons of messages quickly)
- No upper-case or excessive punctation or other annoyances
- Try to stay on topic
- Try not to be a jerk to others
Terminology (chat slang)
Abbreviations are frequently used in IRC and many other chats.Below is a list of some commonly used ones:
- brb: I'll be right back
- bb / bbl: I'll be back (later)
- imo / imho: in my (honest/humble) opinion
- ih / oic: (oh,) I see
- afaik: as far as I know
- asap: as soon as possible
- g2g: got to go
- wtf: what the fuck
- omg: oh my god
- ur: your
- lol: laughing out loudly
- rofl / rotfl: rolling on (the) floor, laughing
- lmao: laughing my ass off
- btw: by the way
- rl / irl: (in) real life
- jk: just kidding
- np: no problem
- iirc: if I remember correctly
- wrt: with regards to (some topic or thing)
- GG: Good Game!
For a more comprehensive list, see this dictionary.
Some Hedgewars-related abbreviations:
- HW: Hedgewars
- TS: The Specialists
- BRW: Balanced Random Weapon
- HL: Highlander
- ACF: A Classic Fairytale (a campaign)
- ASA: A Space Adventure (a campaign)