Easy Way To Join the IT RoundTable Chat room

If you hadn't heard ... we have a 24/7 Church IT chat room you're invited to  join.   You'll find IT geeks hangin' out in there all hours of the day and into the midnight hours.  It's a place to ask questions, blow off some steam, and get to know other IT peers.  Last night there was a rather long discussion on HP switches and leasing strategies ... started by your's truly :-)

Setting up an IRC client might not be your cup of tea ... so here's a VERY simple way to join in the chat room via a simple website.

- Head over to www.mibbit.com
- Select the Server 'Freenode'
- Type in a Nickname you'd like to use (you might have to try a couple if the one's you want are already in use)
- Type #citrt in the channel box (citrt = church IT round table)
- Hit connect and now you're in the chat room.

That's it ... you're golden Jerry, golden.  I'd maybe recommend keeping mibbit open all day and just check back through the chat threads from time to time to see if you missed anything 'good'.  There are often some great after hours threads so perhaps let it run overnight and check the threads in the morning.  This is just another resource to try and further resource each other.  Church IT can be a lonely place, here's yet another way to connect with your peers :-)

For those wanting to use a real IRC client, Justin Moore has a great write-up on IRC tips-n-tricks

Here's what someone recently said about the chat room:
" ...In my short time participating in the chat room I've learned way too much, and feel more connected then my year of lurking around the blogs and the bi-monthly Talkshoes ..."

* NOTE: IRC can be addictive.  This is NOT intended nor should it be a distraction from your day to day tasks! 

Comments

[Derek]

Great Post Jason! In my short time participating in the chat room I've learned way too much, and feel more connected then my year of lurking around the blogs and the bi-monthly Talkshoes. And for the record....yes, it's addictive

[Jack]

I'm getting "irc.freenode.net: Terminated" when I try your instructions.

[Jason Powell]

Jack - yeah, mibbit was having issues tonight :(

[Jim Walton]

Thanks for this info, Jason! I think it took me longer to figure out how to connect to IRC than I actually spent in the chat last week, but it was a blast! I like your tip of just logging in and letting it run, I rarely have time to just hang with nothing going on, especially when I'm awake.

I'll be out again.

[Jim Walton]

Thanks for this info, Jason! I think it took me longer to figure out how to connect to IRC than I actually spent in the chat last week, but it was a blast! Fortunately, Derek guided me through the process via twitter.

I like your tip of just logging in and letting it run, I rarely have time to just hang with nothing going on, especially when I'm awake.

I'll be out again.(sorry for the double comment, I got ahead of myself)

[Jeffrey Thompson]

Here's a lot of good IRC Info** and a QuickTime Tutorial on how to install ChatZilla and then connect to CITRT IRC Channel.

** http://itdiscuss.org/index.php?t=msg&th=1243&start=0

Peace.

[axod]

Hi there,
Thanks for the kind words about Mibbit. I just wanted to mention you can now also link to a specific server/channel, so that the user only needs to change their nick if they want, and click [connect].

http://www.mibbit.com/?server=irc.freenode.net&channel=%23citrt

This should make it even *easier* :)

Thanks again

axod
http://www.mibbit.com