IRC
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Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, is essentially a "chat room" where people can connect to a common room to discuss things and generally stooge about. It's a pretty basic (and bland) technology, but it does the trick. Check out WikiPedia's entry on IRC.
IRC & VAAF
IRC in the VAAF is essentially unmoderated. We treat it much like a "crew room" - where our pilots can gather before and after flights to "banter and bull". Those of you who have ever been in a military crew room will know that it can get funny, serious, on-topic, way off-topic, vulgar and heated and sometimes all at once.
Our intention is to preserve IRC for whatever the pilots want it to be at the time. Ops will not moderate the chat except in extreme cases of abuse, and even then will not ban unless the majority of those present agree. The VAAF is essentially democratic and this applies to IRC as well.
Remember that you are free to join or leave IRC at will. If everyone wants to shoot the bull and not fly, that is their decision. What you do is up to you.
Channel Details
The current IRC channel is #vaaf on the the oz.org network. The best server is usually germany.oz.org, but sandiego.oz.org or irc.oz.org are good backups if that's not connecting for you. The Web IRC link on the VAAF Home page will allow you to connect to the IRC channel right there in your browser, and will let you choose between those 3 servers.
Lurking
Most of our members don't have the luxury of being able to monitor IRC 24/7. A common scenario is for people to join the channel soon after they get home, and only peek at the chatlog now and then to see if anything important is happening. We might be attending to real-life issues like cooking dinner, or off flying, or whatever. The important point to remember is that you may not get an immediate response to a question. It can be frustrating to see a dozen people in IRC and no chat, but that's the way IRC is. Lurking AFK (away from the keyboard) is very common.
Please don't be offended or impatient if you post in IRC and nobody responds to you. Even if there are a dozen people there, they might all be AFK. We don't ignore nuggets (newbies) - just lurk for awhile and somebody will see your post and respond. I can't emphasise enough how frustrating it is seeing people join, say "Hi, I want to fly with the VAAF" and then 2 minutes later drop off the channel because nobody's seen their comment. Just minimise IRC and check it now and then for a response. You WILL get one.
Operators
There are three levels of operator (or "Ops" access in IRC: Op, Voice and Normal. The following guidelines apply to the granting of the Voice or Op levels:
- Ops are reserved for pilots that are well known to the VAAF (not just to one or two members) and can be relied upon to represent the VAAF publicly. If a nugget pilot joins, Ops must be the sort of people to take them under their wing and answer any questions they might have. When granting Ops, ask yourself "if a reporter from PC Pilot joined the channel and wanted to talk to a representative of the VAAF, would you trust this person to competently perform that role"? If not, don't Op.
- Voice is granted much more freely, to any pilots who are known to the VAAF community. Generally speaking once a nugget has had a flight with a member, they can be Voiced.
Please do not misuse Ops. Also, do not be offended if you are de-opped, or someone will not op you. It is not a judgement of your character, it is a relative thing - you may be a great guy, a talented pilot and enthusiastic about the VAAF, but have you shown the same long-term commitment relative to the other Ops? If you believe you should be on the Op list, please talk to one of the Ops about it. It's not an exclusive boys club - anyone who meets the criteria is welcome.
Current IRC Op List
These people are recognised Ops for #vaaf on oz.org:
Software
Chatzilla
Chatzilla is a firefox plugin that can be used to access IRC from a browser window.
Chatzilla is probably the easiest way to access IRC if you use Firefox. Do the following:
- Go to | addons.mozilla.org in Firefox and search for Chatzilla (as at the time of writing, the direct link is: | here
- Install using the link on that page and restart Firefox
- Open the following link in Firefox (add it to your Bookmarks): [1] - the Chatzilla window will pop up and connect to irc.oz.org
- Type the following in the text entry box at the bottom: /join #vaaf
Start chatting! And remember: if you don't get an answer, DON'T LEAVE! We're probably just away from the keyboard. Just leave Chatzilla minimised and check it every now and then, that's what we do.
mIRC
mIRC is an extremely popular shareware IRC client.
HydraIRC
HydraIRC is a freeware IRC client for Windows.
