IRC

IRC is short for Internet Relay Chat, and is a medium of instant
communication in the form of chat. You connect to an IRC server, and
then select one or more chat rooms, called channels, to join. In each of
these channels you will usually find many people. Anybody in that
channel may then post a message to the channel and it will instantly be
shared with all the other members of the channel. As such, it's a much
faster means of communication than, say, forums, and you are more likely
to find someone with an answer than asking one person at a time.
Additionally, IRC offers a way to have a private 1-on-1 conversation
with an individual user on the server, which is usually used when two
people wish to communicate more without filling up the channel with
their chat.

Please also be aware that not everyone on the channel may have an answer
or may even be presently watching the channel, so you may not get an
answer right away. It may help to clarify your question, or re-ask your
question periodically if it gets lost among other messages.

• DO NOT flood the channel by rapidly posting your question over and
  over again. Only one person's ever done this; kicking him is a
  sport, and it's always in season.
• DO keep your messages relatively short, clear, and somewhat
  on-topic.
• DO NOT private message individual channel members without their
  prior consent, with exception of channel operators.
• DO prepend your messages with the name of the person that your
  message is primarily directed to, such as a person who asks for a
  clarification. Most chat clients handle this by highlighting lines
  with a person's own name on them, so that those lines stand out
  more.
• DO NOT include the names of persons that your message does not
  involve. This is tantamount to waking a group of slumbering bears.
  Although it might wake them up, it will also make them grumpy.

A lot of people sign on and ask, "Is anyone here?", then part a few
minutes later. Channel members, especially developers, try to keep busy.
As such, we do not always check the channel frequently enough to see
such messages. If you have something to say to someone, address them so
their client gets their attention.

ENIGMA's IRC

• Server: freenode.net
• Channel: #enigma (The # sign is usually mandatory. On freenode, #
  is for official channels, and ## is for unofficial)
• Description: The official ENIGMA IRC channel, for any discussion
  remotely relating to enigma. Devs frequent the channel.
• Webchat: If you don't have a suitable IRC client, freenode provides
  a web interface, freenode
  webchat
• Bots:
  • ChanServ is an IRC service bot that provides administrative
    commands to channel owners. He may be toggled as visible or
    invisible in the channel; we've chosen visible to remind users
    that the channel is an official channel and administrative
    functions are at our fingertips should anything get out of hand.
    ChanServ never says anything in the channel.
  • EnigmaBot is a resident bot, maintained by
    User:IsmAvatar and written in Java.
    Commands are prefixed by either an exclamation mark (!help) or
    the bot's name (EnigmaBot: help), or through private message (no
    prefixing necessary then) and are usually business-related.
    EnigmaBot also possesses a set of C++ processing commands.
  • Thundercleese is another resident bot, maintained by
    User:SirXemic and
    User:IsmAvatar and written in Perl.
    He is responsible for logging the channel and reporting when
    someone commits to the repositories. Commands are prefixed by an
    at sign (@help, @logs) and are usually amusement-related.
  • dickkkk is an unofficial bot, maintained by
    User:HUMPHREY, written in Java, and
    loosely based off of EnigmaBot. Commands are prefixed by the
    dollar sign ($help) and are usually miscellaneous, like
    searching logs for a quote.
  • JoshDreamland usually shares his account with a javascript
    processor, accessed by prefixing some javascript code with
    js:, for example: js: 1+1 will cause Josh to reply 2.