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#duesouth meets on Efnet and Dalnet. Two of the more popular servers amongst the
#duesouth regulars on Efnet are irc.ais.net and irc-2.portal.com. A more complete list of servers
used by people on #duesouth can be found further down in this FAQ.
Once upon a time, there were "official" and semi-official
meeting times for #duesouth. Now, people can be found in #duesouth on most days. The
secret is to join the channel and sit in it for 15 minutes or so. People will come to you.
Some of the best times to drop by the channel are:
- To see folks from the UK:
- noon-4 PM New York/Toronto
10 AM-2 PM Los Angeles/Vancouver
3-7 AM Sydney
6-10 PM London
- To see folks from North America:
- 6-10 PM New York/Toronto
4-8 PM Los Angeles/Vancouver
9 AM-1 PMSydney
midnight-4 AM London
IRC has a few unique quirks and acronyms. You may see the familiar BTW
(by the way) or ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing) - or ROTF or ROTFLMAO, but there is
also wb (welcome back), BRB (be right back), and re (the perennial re-greeting for the
poor soul who keeps getting booted from her server but keeps coming back for more). If you
find yourself getting hit by a trout - well, that just means that you've found someone who
is using mIRC. Hollyitis (TM) results in colorful typos, and lag rats (TM) slow your
connections. Food fights (TM) may occasionally break out - with doughnuts and kit-kats
being flung electronically. You may also see GMTA (great minds think alike), TYK (which
needs no explanation), YMW (you're most welcome), >:| (a glower), and MANGO! (which is
just a call for PAPAYA! to check someone's ping times).
(TM) refers to #duesouth specific events. These are not common to all
channels.
There are some unwritten rules to hanging out on #duesouth, though they
can be useful just about anywhere in IRC you happen to go.
- No being rude, obnoxious, impolite, and hurtful.
- If someone says "Hi", reply in kind. If 20 people say "Hi", reply
"Hi everyone" rather than 20 separate replies.
- Say good-bye rather than just taking off and slamming the door behind you.
- Remember what your mother told you about discussing religion & politics? Well, she
was mostly right. No flaming of either sacred cow. Rare flaming of computer industry
giants is allowed, though only with good reason (like if one of them just ate your hard
drive).
- Don't gripe if someone drops a "Due South" spoiler. The Canadians will start
to discuss the new eps on Thursday nights, the Americans will on Fridays. Consider
yourself warned! This is a large part of the reason behind #duesouth, and if you don't
want to see spoilers, then don't join in. It is completely legitimate, however, to insist
that spoilers for other series not be discussed (most notable being "Lois &
Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" which airs during the Sunday night chat and
has several fans there). The topic of spoilers is in
flux for the time being - when Season 3 begins, these rules will likely be reestablished.
- Punctuation counts. As does spelling and capitalization. We all understand that you're
working hard to type quickly, and some errors will slip through, but you should be making
an effort to have fairly well structured statements with appropriate punctuation,
spelling, and capitalization. And you may just find yourself as the subject of a
vivisectionist if you type things like "c u l8r" rather than "See you
later."
- Who was that for? If you are responding to a comment made by a particular person, let us
know. We can't see who you're looking at when you say it, and it may just be a bit
confusing for the group. Commonly used formats include -
Jedi-Jazz: You actually *touched* him?!?!
Aloha> Is next week's L&C a rerun again?
- Abbreviations and/or acronyms are useful, but only when someone else knows what the heck
you're talking about. Just watch the channel to see what people are using. If you don't
know what one means, just ask.
- Being a newbie is nothing to be ashamed of. The atmosphere of #duesouth is actually more
supportive than DSOUTH-L, and everyone is more than happy to help a newbie through those
first few difficult times on IRC. Mention that you're on the list and not just a twerp
dropping in to ruin everyone's time. When in doubt, ask! Don't feel that you have to jump
right in - introduce yourself and then lurk for a while.
I have kept track of the servers used to access #duesouth for the
period 28 April 1996 - 4 May 1996. Each time a server was used by an individual, that was
recorded as a "hit" - if more than one person in the channel were using a
particular server, multiple hits were recorded on that server. Using one of the more
popular servers is more likely to reduce the effects of lag and/or splits.
server name: |
no. of hits: |
irc.ais.net |
17 |
irc-2.portal.com |
5 |
irc2.epix.net |
5 |
irc.cerf.net |
5 |
elk.nstn.ca |
5 |
irc.magic.mb.ca |
5 |
irc.texas.net |
5 |
irc.yorku.ca |
4 |
irc.io.org |
4 |
irc.netcom.com |
4 |
irc.winternet.com |
3 |
CISMhp.Univ-Lyon1.FR |
2 |
irc.colorado.edu |
2 |
irc.voicenet.com |
2 |
irc2.netcom.com |
2 |
irc.cris.com |
2 |
irc.mcs.net |
2 |
piglet.cc.utexas.edu |
2 |
irc.law.emory.edu |
2 |
opus.bridge.net |
2 |
irc.bt.net |
2 |
organ.ctr.columbia.edu |
1 |
irc.funet.fi |
1 |
irc-2.mit.edu |
1 |
irc.cdc.net |
1 |
irc2.netcom.com |
1 |
irc.mcgill.ca |
1 |
portal.mbnet.mb.ca |
1 |
irc.gate.net |
1 |
irc.ionet.net |
1 |
irc.mo.net |
1 |
irc.pitt.edu |
1 |
irc.polymtl.ca |
1 |
irc.phoenix.net |
1 |
joyce.eng.yale.edu |
1 |
dismayl.demon.co.uk |
1 |
irc.epix.net |
1 |
irc-2.stealth.net |
1 |
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