The Dextroverse FAQ

So, you want to join the Dextroverse chat. You have installed your favorite IRC client, and just when you thought you were in, some strange bot named NickServ won't let you join #Dextroverse. This isn't because the server is down, or because your program is broken. It's because you need a registered nickname to get into the channel. Chances are, if you already ran in to this problem and knew how to fix it, you wouldn't be reading this. If you need to register your nickname, which is required for the channel #Dextroverse, but you don't know how, this will hopefully help you out.

The first thing that you are going to need is an IRC client. You probably already have one, but if you don't, you're going to need to get one. One of the most popular and user-friendly ones out there is mIRC (www.mirc.com). However, mIRC is only going to work if you are on Windows. If you are not, there are most likely going to be hundreds of clients to choose from, but a nice and easy one is ChatZilla (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/16), which will run inside of Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/), which is free, and supports many operating systems.

If you don't like either of those, or are having trouble getting them to work, there is no reason to panic. The commands are going to be the same for many clients, so as long as you have at least one working IRC program, you're in the clear.

Next thing you have to do is pick a nickname, and change your old nickname to the one you pick. In most clients this can be done with a simple command; /nick NEWNICKHERE.

After you do that, you should see something like this:

Then you'll have to connect to the server, which is irc.dextroverse.org;

This can be done a little differently in different clients, but is almost always easy. If the above command doesn't work for you, consult your clients help documentation. After you do this, the MOTD (message of the day) will be shown in your browser. If you have the time or this is your first time in the Dextroverse IRC, you should read this, but if you don't want to, you aren't going to get shot.

The next step will fix the main cause of the problem, which is using an unregistered nickname. This process is very easy, and is going to be the same in any client.

(Note that those are not two separate lines, that is all one command)

All you have to do for this is to send a short command to NickServ (/msg nickserv), then tell NickServ the action you want to take (register), then provide your password, and if you want, your email. Note that you do not have to type your nickname in this command, it is inferred by NickServ.

(The top line is a result of accidentally sending the command twice)

NickServ has now accepted your registration, and will show you your password, as well as sending it to the email you gave. In this case, it's not a bad idea to give your email. NickServ isn't going to send you spam email, and it will prevent you from having to go through the long process of getting a password reset by an administrator.

That is all that you have to do by now, but just to be sure, you should test your registration. Close your client, and then open it back up again (or just disconnect and connect), and connect to the server. Then, identify with NickServ, so you can join the channel. This is done by sending a command to NickServ (/msg nickserv), telling it what action you want to take (identify), and your password. In all, it will look like this; /msg nickserv identify PASSWORDHERE. If you haven't already done this, you will get a message from NickServ when you connect. This isn't a big error, it's just not giving you rights to your nickname until you give it your password.

As you can see above, it's easy to get confused with the order that NickServ wants, but it will give you the command to get examples and help.

That's all there is to it! Now all you have to do is join the channel (/join #dextroverse) and start chatting! There are other things you may want to do in the future, such as linking two or more nicknames to a single user and password, but I'm not going to go into that.

This should be all that you need to register your nickname, but if you are still having problems, you can post a thread in Talk to Staff on the forums, or you can join a help channel (#irchelp, or #dextroverse_www) and ask for assistance.