The DC Database's IRC channel is the place to discuss various things related to DC Comics as well as a place where we can hold discussions on content and policy. It also acts as a general help forum. There are some rules however as to make sure we don't drown in chaos. It's basically our own personal chatroom moderated by our staff members. For those who aren't comfortable with our existing forums.

Also, don't leave just because nobody is in there. If everybody leaves when they see the channel is mostly empty, then there will never be people in the channel.

Rules

1. Operators. DC Database's administrators are also the channel operators. They are the ones who enforce the rules if needed. Don't ask them for ops or voice…seriously. +V does not give you extra status.
2. Keep it civil. Don't attack other users in our IRC channel; the No Personal Attack policy applies here too.
3. No whining. Users who ask for something from another IRC user and are refused it should not stoop to complaining, which is grounds for sanctions. It is acceptable to be persistent, but in a mature manner.
4. No trolling, spamming and what not. Trolls, spammers idiots and other jerks are advised to take their elsewhere.
5. Real-world politics and/or religion may only be discussed with unanimous consent. If someone doesn't want to talk about them, drop the subject.
6. IRC Bots. The only chatbots allowed in this channel are the ones owned by our administrators, and some regular and trusted users. Bringing in your own chatbot without clear permission from an operator will result in the chatbot being banned and since the chatbot shares the same IP as their owners... well, you figure it out.
7. Language. In general, English is spoken in our IRC channel, keep other forms of communications like: L33t, TXT, Dutch and Binary within reason.
8. Continuous disruption. Continuous disruption of the IRC channel, it's regulars and administrators has in the past and will in the future lead to blocks on the wiki.

How to join

For advanced users:

Wikia gateway

1. First, Wikia CGI IRC It sucks, yes, but it'll do.
2. Select a Nickname and put it into the box entitled "Nick". Preferably, this should be your username.
3. Select #dcdatabase from the dropdown list.
4. Login.

Mibbit

1. http://mibbit.com - Visit. It. Now.
2. Select "Freenode.net" as the server and #dccomics as the channel.
3. Enter your nickname, which should preferably be your username.
4. Select join.

Java

1. http://java.freenode.net/
2. Enter your username into the "nickname" box.
3. Enter #dccomics as the channel.
4. Select join.

Windows

• mIRC is the classic Windows IRC client. The main drawbacks of mIRC are the fact that it's not free and that the configuration options are more extensive than a lot of users are used to. (Only partial UTF-8 support—see below)
• Trillian handles IRC. It's a little complicated to set up, but if you don't want to use the very easy CGI:IRC linked by Angela, then Trillian is a handy program to have anyway for the other things it does. (No UTF-8 support - see below)
• Miranda IM - a multi-client, like Trillian, but rather minimalist and open source. (UTF-8 support requires patching - see below)

Linux

• Gaim is a multi-client that comes preinstalled with Ubuntu and several other Linux distributions.
• Kopete is a multi-client, the KDE counterpart of Gaim.
• Konversation is a KDE application with interface similar to X-Chat; it is an IRC-only client.
• Irssi is an IRC client written in the C programming language.

Mac

• Snak handles IRC rather nicely, and is one of the few Mac-only clients that still work flawlessly.

Crossplatform

• Opera web browser has a built-in IRC client.
• ChatZilla is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
• JWChat - had some script errors in Firefox, but clicked "Stop script" and it worked fine after that.
• X-Chat is perhaps the most well-known IRC client for Linux, included into nearly every distribution, which has recently grown in popularity on Windows as well. Note that the official Windows version (as opposed to Linux) is shareware, but unofficial free Windows builds are available, for example, here.