As per tradition, the Edmowrimo Chat Room is up and running and ready for your enjoyment! Many evenings even starting now and pretty much every night (and sometimes during the day) in late October and all of November, we'll have people hanging out, chatting, word warring, and encouraging each other on our path to novel victory! It's always a fun time, so come by and check it out!
I'm copying and pasting previous instructions for getting to the chat room because I'm lazy like that. Other suggestions for IRC clients are welcome - I've started using Colloquy for my Mac and it seems to be working well. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
Once you're there, please listen to the Operators - that's me, ChloeKEvil, KibBen, Canoegirl, shaisukebe, and occasionally Pilpingto if we need to op him for whatever reason. (He's not around in chat much.) We try not to boss too much but do ask that you listen when you ask you to do something!
Basic rules of chat etiquette apply - don't yell ALL THE TIME (capital letters are yelling, and while it is acceptable for occasional emphasis please don't do it all the time). Don't dominate the conversation - if your username is showing up twice as often as anyone else's we might ask you to tone it down a bit. Soliloquies are for your novel, not the chat room. If a conversation ONLY involves you and one other person, please take it to PM - it can get quite busy and confusing in the chat room as is, so if you don't need to share a conversation with the whole room, please don't. Also, please use your NaNoWriMo name or something similar so people know who you are. (Variations on this are fine - for example, I quite often will change my name to SJ-tv or something if I'm in the room but not really paying attention, just so people know why I am ignoring them!) But when people use totally random names or all change to similar names it is confusing, especially for new folks, who we like to be welcoming towards! And, the most basic rule of all - don't be a jerk. If an operator tells you to stop something, stop it. If you have an issue with another user, please contact one of the ops - we are all very friendly and will work together to resolve any issues.
If you are repeatedly breaking these rules we will have to ask you to leave - there aren't a lot of rules and it's not hard to abide by them. That said, this is very rarely an issue and the chatroom is almost always a very fun and laid back place to hang out, so come by and say hi! It's great for your word count (no, really - we have a ton of word wars) and a nice way to get to know other local writers.
And, finally, we do have a bot. His name is BattleJesus and he keeps track of our word wars for us. You need to register with him if you want him to keep track of your count during word wars. I'll post a little blurb about that once I refresh myself on how to do it! (It's been a while.) Anyway, if you see BattleJesus, don't be offended if he doesn't talk to you. He isn't human, but he is very useful!
HOW TO GET INTO CHAT:
Chatroom: #edmontonwrimos on irc.goodchatting.com
Please download your own IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client:
Windows - mIRC http://www.mirc.com free program, with the option to
donate to the project.
Mac users - Snak (http://www.snak.com/Snak.html) or Colloquy
(http://colloquy.info/).
Firefox - ChatZilla! can be downloaded both from the Mozilla website,
or from http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com/.
To connect to the channel, go to the server list and select the server Goodchatting. If it's not there, then add a new server by selecting the appropriate option for your chosen client. The server address is irc.goodchatting.com, and the port can be anything between 6660-6669. Just allow the chosen port to access the internet when it asks, or add the port you chose to your firewall's allowed list. You're done!
Weblink (please use only if you can’t get IRC (on a public computer is the best example of this), is: http://www.goodchatting.com/rooms/edmontonwrimos.php
Crystal (Shaisukebe) made a pair of tutorials for chat use (she rocks!):
Chatzilla: http://totchipanda.livejournal.com/234805.html
mIRC: http://totchipanda.livejournal.com/235159.html
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50,106 / 50,000
Sep 26, 2008 - 19 07
BattleJesus has a whole website dedicated to him, so if you want all the information you could ever possibly want about him, go here to read all about him. If you don't want his full biography, here's the basics.
BattleJesus will run word wars for us. Word wars are where you write as much as you can in a pre-determined amount of time, and it's a great way to get a ton of words written. You'll be amazed at how much you can push yourself in these, and it's a great way to compete with your fellow Edmowrimos!
To start a war, you will type !startwar 5 15 - with whichever numbers you want. The first number is how soon you want your word war to start, the second number is how long you want the word war to be. So in this example, a 15 minute word war will start in five minutes.
If you want to know when the next word war starts or when the current one ends, type !status and BattleJesus will tell you what's happening.
If you want BattleJesus to keep track of how much you personally have written, you must register and log in with him. To register, PM BattleJesus (depending on what program you're using this will be different, but it will always work if you type /msg BattleJesus first. Be sure that you type the /msg BattleJesus part or the entire room will see your password!) with this: !register password - where password is replaced with whatever you want your password to be.
Then, you will be registered with him! That means you can login and he'll track your word wars. To login, simply type /msg BattleJesus !login password - this will log you in for one hour.
Once you're registered and logged in, at the end of each word war, just type !count ### with your word count from that word war in place of the ###. If you just type !count, he'll tell you what your word war totals are so far.
Clear as mud, right? Let me know if you have any questions.
24,665 / 50,000
Sep 27, 2008 - 03 49
Three cheers for the ops!
Seriously kids. We're all super fun. Don't be scared of us just because we have an @ in front of our names. (That's how you can tell who is an operator, by the way!) We're your friends, and we're there to make sure everyone is having a good time.
If the topic of conversation ever makes you uncomfortable or weirds you out... then let people know. They can always move the conversation to a different channel, or talk in a private message. It works just as well, and it's Nice.
Like Sarah said, the most basic rule is Don't Be A Jerk. Remember, a lot of these people might know who you are IN REAL LIFE. It's not like the rest of the internet, where you have total anonymity.
Good luck this month! The chat room is a great motivational AND social tool. Just remember that words you type in the chat room don't count towards your novel's word count. And no, you can't just copy and paste everything that happens in the chat room into your novel. ;) Trust me, people have thought of it before. It usually doesn't work well.
Happy Writing!
-Ben
52,519 / 50,000
Sep 27, 2008 - 11 23
I made new tutorials this year for brand-spankin'-new installations of both mIRC and Chatzilla :)
mIRC 6.34 --> http://totchipanda.livejournal.com/296740.html
Chatzilla (second-most-recent-build) and Firefox 3.0 --> http://totchipanda.livejournal.com/296594.html
Feel free to send me a message here if you need help, and I will do what I can to assist :)
----------The one, the only, the amazing, the I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter Crystalkins!
@livejournal
24,665 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 04 15
Shaisukebe, let it be known that you are Loved.
50,106 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 17 15
There are usually people around most evenings now - and we're actually talking about our novels! (I know!!!) Swing by some time!
50,106 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2008 - 19 27
And if you were to come by tonight, you might get to hear a bit about Denton's trip to the Arctic!
59,943 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2008 - 19 28
Bumping this topic for anyone new who hasn't read it yet! Come join us. :)
52,519 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 19 53
I have just discovered that after 31 days, you HAVE to "purchase" mIRC. If you don't want to register it with their site for $20, you have to try/buy another service through TrialPay, and will recieve mIRC for free.
Moral of the story is, if you're short on funds, Chatzilla for firefox is your best bet.
ETA: LIES!! ALL LIES!! You can still use mIRC, but not before clicking on a button that encourages you to purchase it!
----------The one, the only, the amazing, the I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter Crystalkins!
@livejournal
50,106 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 19 56
Yeah, just to clarify that, you don't HAVE to buy it. Like most shareware, they ask that you contribute, and if you can, you should, but if you can't manage it, just wait 30 seconds and then hit continue, and you can keep using it.
50,106 / 50,000
Oct 25, 2008 - 23 22
Already missing the awesome people you met tonight? Come check out the chat room to get to know people even better!