Chris Pirillo » WyldRyde

Changes in Our IRC Network Channel

Chris — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:32:14 +0000

Changes in Our IRC Network Channel is a post from Chris Pirillo

As many of you know by now, my live chat room changed networks today. For many years, my various channels were located on the WyldRyde network. For the most part, things worked very well between myself, the network, and its staff.

There have been many changes recently, and I’m not going to make much comment on them. It’s frankly not my business, nor my place, to attempt to guess as to every “real” reason, and everything that happened behind the scenes. However, moving networks was not a decision I came to lightly. This also wasn’t done solely to please one or two people, as some are trying to claim.

I want my chat users to have the best possible experience when they visit my channel. There were some things that transpired at WyldRyde today that I knew would prevent that positive experience, changes which could potentially place much pressure and stress on my staff, my users and even myself.

The owners and administrators of the new network, GeekShed, are people I have come to know very well over the years. These people know what they’re doing, and they do it very well. I have complete confidence in them, and in their ability to properly maintain the new network.

GeekShed IRC was started by a majority of the former WyldRyde Network staff. They felt that the WyldRyde management was not handling issues and complaints (made by staff, users and channel owners) over a period of several months. These complaints were ignored, and not dealt with in any satisfactory manner. The recent (and undisclosed to the users and majority of the staff) acquisition of WyldRyde by BestTechie played only a small part in the actual decision and subsequent move.

I am very happy thus far with my new IRC home, and I certainly hope you will join us there. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can leave them here in a follow-up comment. For questions related to the network itself (not my channel, specifically), you can join the new network: irc.geekshed.net and join the #help channel there to speak with the staff.

Edited to add: You will not need to re-register, no. The nicknames, channels, passwords, etc were all moved to the new network. Your nickname is already registered on GeekShed if it was registered on WyldRyde, and you will use the same password to log in. Also, the voiced user list was moved for my channel, and will continue to operate the same as it has in the past.

As always, I will continue to be streaming live… 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… at live.pirillo.com.

How to Create a Chat Room for Free

Chris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:31:28 +0000

How to Create a Chat Room for Free is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The chat room that we run is on an IRC network found on WyldRyde. You can join us using an IRC client, or by joining on the Flash client embedded on my website. I’ve been using WyldRyde for many years, and have had a great experience there. The people who run the network are helpful and friendly, and certainly know their stuff. I’m indebted to them for all the help they’ve given me over the years. It’s a very well-run network, with tons of options for you to use in your own channels. You can quickly set up a channel to embed on your website, and connect using any IRC client. Then, connect to the server nearest you.

However, if you need your own chat room and don’t want to use IRC, it’s easy to do! You may just want something simple, that can be set up quick without needing to register for anything. In that case, you’ll want to check out TinyChat. With TinyChat, you can create your own chat room in seconds and invite others to join you, using one simple link.

After you leave the chat room, all the chat data is gone, so its perfect for secure chats. Why would you use this? Its the easiest way to have a group chat with multiple people. No more worrying about who has what messenger, or what everyones screen name is. Just send them a link!

Once people change their usernames, I get a list of the names, along with country flags. It tells me where people are from! I started a TinyChat of my own prior to starting this video, and threw the link out into my normal chat room. I had 39 users in the channel at the time. There were options for me to change my nickname, save the chat log, or even embed the chat room into a website (or even on my MySpace page!).

If you need chat, you want chat, and you don’t know where to start with chat – it doesn’t get any easier than TinyChat!

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Subservient Chris Raising Money for WyldRyde

Chris — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:31:32 +0000

Subservient Chris Raising Money for WyldRyde is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you were with us last New Years’ Eve, you know what we have in store for you this year! If you weren’t, you truly have no idea what you missed! What is a Subservient Chris, you might be asking right now… well, let me take a few moments to fill you in!

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Burger King Subservient Chicken. This idea was based off of that lovely little chicken! The WyldRyde IRC Network is where my live chat is hosted – for free! The people who maintain this network are hard working and dedicated, and each of them volunteer their time and expertise. I am indebted to them for everything they do for me, day in and day out. WyldRyde depends on money raised via donations and ad revenue in order to keep the servers running. WyldRyde is home to more than 700 chat rooms, all of which are absolutely free to set up and use!

Last year, I learned that the head of the network, usrbingeek had been paying a large portion of the network’s bills out of his own pocket. I decided that since he and his staff give so much to me, it was time I give back to them. Thus, the idea of Subservient Chris was born! For a minimum $10.00 donation to the network, people could make silly demands of me. I had to sing, dance, put my dog on my head, and even ended the night in a dress! Any request is granted once a donation is made, as long as it’s nothing illegal or degrading. Remember, I have final veto power on any and all requests!

Yes – you guessed it! We’re going to revive Subservient Chris again this year! Join us on New Years’ Eve from 11pm – 2am EST (8pm – 11pm PST) while we ring in the new year by raising money to help meet WyldRyde’s fundraising goals! I promise, this is going to be an event you won’t want to miss!

Once again, thank you so much to usrbingeek and his entire Staff for everything you do. You guys are amazing, and I am so thankful to call WyldRyde my home!

Changes in Our IRC Network Channel

IRC Chat Safety and Security

How Can You be a Good Member of our Live Community?

Why Can’t I Talk in the Chat Room?

How to Create a Chat Room for Free

How to Chat on the iPhone or iPod Touch

How Should You Act on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)?

Accessing IRC Chat via a Web Browser: Mibbit

Chat Room Rules and Guidelines

Flash IRC Script

How Can You be a Good Member of our Live Community?

Chris — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:16:36 +0000

How Can You be a Good Member of our Live Community? is a post from Chris Pirillo

One of our community members took it upon himself to put together a top five list of tips for being a part of our live community. You’ll see new people come into the chat room all the time, demanding a “show”, or telling me to hurry up and “DO SOMETHING ALREADY”. What you have to realize is my live stream isn’t about always putting on a show. I am simply streaming my life. If I am busy working, I am probably not paying attention to the camera or the chat. I do interact with everyone as much as I possibly can, though. Keep in mind that I’m human! I have a life outside my stream, just like you do. Here are Zeph’s tips to all of you:

You don’t need to sit there and watch the stream the entire time. Sometimes Chris’ stream works as a nice “radio station” of sorts, and just listening throughout your day can be quite entertaining or informative. As long as you have a generally good internet connection, you should be able to do regular browsing of the internet at the same time.
Use an IRC client for the chat. Although the Flash IRC under the stream window is good, it does not have the functionality of a regular IRC client. There are plenty of different clients for each operating system, some free, some not. I personally use mIRC in Windows, and Konversation in Linux. There are also Colloquy and Linkinus for Macs. There are plenty more out there, try them all and see what you feel comfortable with. The IRC server is WyldRyde.
Be respectful in the chat. The channel Mods greatly prefer users to keep a level of etiquette while using the chat room. This does not mean you cannot have fun, but be friendly about it. Keep the caps lock off, as it is considered rude, and viewed as yelling. Do not spam the chat room, and do not keep repeating the same question over and over again. This will only make people think less of you. Above all, do not ask for voice for the chat. This will only set you further away from being a trusted user.
Don’t just direct your questions to Chris. There are plenty of technologically inclined people in the #Chris chat room. First you should try “Googling” about your question. If you do not get any good results, or do not think you understand what the results are telling you, ask us in the chat room. There is likely some one that can help you, and there are plenty that are willing to.
Finally, please understand that Chris is a busy man. People need to make a living, and Chris is no exception. When he is not helping the tech community, he often has many things to deal with that pertain to his work. Just remember that Chris has his own life, and cannot be looking at the chat twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If Chris does not respond to you in chat, do not complain. If Chris is away from his desk, don’t worry, he’ll be back.

Those are all excellent tips, Zeph. A few other things to make note of here:

Be sure you are familiar with the WyldRyde Network Rules. My channel is one of hundreds on the network. You not only have to follow my channel rules, but those of the network as well.
WyldRyde also has a nice FAQ page to help you understand how things work on IRC, and WyldRyde in particular.
Feel free to sign up for a free account on the WyldRyde forums. Once you do, you’ll have access to the area set aside just for us.

Most importantly, make yourself familiar with our channel rules and guidelines. Being a part of the live community is a lot of fun, and can be very rewarding. However, being a member isn’t a given right… it’s a privilege.

Why Can’t I Talk in the Chat Room?

Chris — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:42:21 +0000

Why Can’t I Talk in the Chat Room? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – While recording a video earlier, a chatter emailed me to ask why his messages wouldn’t appear in the chat room, and what the problem is. Well… it’s not a problem. It’s a feature we’ve had to enact.

Wicket is a good doggie. He behaves himself, so he is always voiced in the chat room at live.pirillo.com . When we record videos, we found that people would come into the chat room and cause problems. They would say inappropriate things, spam inappropriate links, or just misbehave in a way that made me have to record over. This got to be a huge waste of time. We now moderate the channel during video recording, and any time we have a spammer or anything that gets out of control.

What is moderation? Simple… enabling channel moderation means that no one without a voice (+), halfop (%), or full op (@) can chat. You can type in your client, but your messages will not show up in the channel. How can you get voiced? It’s easy, really. BEHAVE . Watch your language, be courteous and follow the channel rules.

I don’t have many channel rules. They are:

No repeating yourself. We see your question/comment. No one (including me) may have the answer right then, or have the time to answer. We will when and if we can!
Don’t post links! Tiny url links will earn you an automatic kick. Posting links to your youtube, myspace, etc can and will be considered spam. You can post links that are relevant to a conversation, such as a tutorial or help topic.
Turn off the caps lock! This is considered shouting, as most of you know. Talking in all caps will not get you noticed or answered faster. Quite the opposite will happen… you’ll probably get ignored by your fellow chatters, and / or kicked from the channel for repeated abuse.
Be NICE. Don’t be abusive or rude to other chatters. If you have a problem or disagreement with someone, that is fine. Handle yourself in an adult, civilized manner. Don’t attack anyone.
Explicit language is a no-no You know what this means. No profanity, nothing sexual, no racial slurs.
Don’t spam the bots Don’t constantly set off bot triggers, such as !rules, !register, etc. Only use them as needed. They usually trigger themselves anyway on certain keywords. When a user says “How can I register my nick?” you don’t need to do !register. The bot will pick up on it already.

Also, you should make sure you become familiar with the WyldRyde Rules as well. WyldRyde is the IRC network that hosts our live chat, and they have their own rules that must be followed in order to remain on the network. Before you ask… yes, the Constitution guarantees you the Freedom of Speech. However… WyldRyde is a private organization, and private organizations are allowed to set their own rules and standards.

You also need to make sure your nickname is registered on WyldRyde. To do this:

To register your nick type /ns register password email. Replace “password” with a unique password that you can remember and “email” with your email address. Once you have registered your nick name you will need to identify yourself every time you login to the server. To do this type, “/ns IDENTIFY password” and hit enter. If you use an IRC client, you can configure it to identify you automatically when you connect.

Last but not least, here is how you can get a Voice in the channel… and keep it!

Contribute with meaningful and intelligent conversation when the channel is not moderated.
DON’T personally attack others, flood the channel, talk in caps, use sexually explicit language, post useless links, abuse the bots, or argue with the ops.
Be responsible. If someone in the channel is breaking the rules, don’t encourage them. Ignore them, let the ops deal with them, and try to help steer the conversation back on topic.
Have a registered nick.
DON’T ASK FOR VOICE!

And there you have it… why you cannot chat during recording, and how you can become a voiced, trusted chatter!

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IRC Chat Safety and Security

Chris — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:16:58 +0000

IRC Chat Safety and Security is a post from Chris Pirillo

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Ted asks “How safe is the chat room? I mean can anyone in the room somehow access someone else’s computer? Is there a website that explains chat rooms and has all the commands listed to do the various things I’ve seen?”

My live chat is located on WyldRyde.org. WyldRyde is just one of many different IRC networks… but of course, we think it’s the best one. The people there are friendly and fun, and the staff are second to none. Many of them even hang out with us in our channel, talking the tech talk and having a good time.

When you’re on IRC, you’re as secure as you want to be. Don’t give out any personal information you don’t want others to know. In this video, I stated that your IP address could be found out by other chatters. Once I was finished recording and went back to listen, I realized I had spoken incorrectly. Yes, I made a mistake. It’s bound to happen at least once in every millenium. WyldRyde masks every chatter’s IP address, so it is not available to others.

Use a firewall, and a router if possible. Follow standard Internet safety practices. Keep in mind that most viruses that can be spread via IRC are done so with a link. Don’t click on links given to you in chat rooms or private messages, unless you are certain about the site you would be going to. If in doubt about someone who you think may be trying to send you to a bad site, you can always join the WyldRyde help channel. To do this, type /join #help into your window, and hit the enter key. You’ll still be connected to my channel, and also now to the #Help channel.

Each IRC network has its own commands. You can view a complete list of WyldRyde commands on their website. As a basic chatter in someone else’s channel, most of the commands you would need are called NickServ comands. These allow you to choose a nickname and register it for free, so that no one else can ever use that name. It allows you to group several nicks together, so that all of them are then registered to you. Other commands you may find useful are the User commands. These cover a wide variety of topics and situations, so take your time reading through them.

I know that some of the chatspeak you will see may be confusing to you. LOL is commonly typed to mean “laughing out loud”. No Dad… that doesn’t mean Lots of Love, though I suppose it could. There are several websites where you can learn chatspeak. Spikes and YourHTMLSource are both good starting points.

IRC can be a great way to make friends, meet like-minded people, and have a good time. Be careful, and you’ll be just fine. Come by and see us any time! You can join us using SC_Thor’s Flash chat applet right on live.pirillo.com, or you can check out WyldRyde’s list of IRC Clients. Be sure to read the WyldRyde Rules and check out the FAQs.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

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Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

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