Want to meet and chat with the Collectors Time staff online? Many of
us already chat online with each other at various times. We decided to
have a regular get together on Wednesday nights. And we want readers
to join us!
Come and you can ask Sheryl about the Texas whip she uses to get us to
contribute our work on time. Ask Jason what he thinks about the
lastest X-men books and where they are going. Ask Jamie about
interviewing freelancers and editors. Ask Sidra about the latest great
comic books and her wonderful Night Girl Costumes! :)
If you have mIRC, Pirch or ComicChat, the IRC Network is Dalnet. The
main server is irc.dal.net. If you have a chat program and Dal
isn't on it, type /server irc.dal.net in your server window and you
should get on.
If you need further help try:
The channel to join is #CollectorTimes, on Wednesday Nights. Time
Zones as follows:
Note: If your not living in North America and still want to chat
e-mail Sheryl Roberts at probts@hal-pc.org.
We want to set up a seperate chat time for those living overseas but we need to know what
would be a good time for you.
All Collector Times readers are invited!
Now for the Instructions:
If you don't know how to do IRC read on, it's very simple.
I'll give instructions for mIRC, I recommend it because it's easy to
use for beginners and because it downloads much quicker. If anyone
desperately wants to know Pirch98 or Microsoft Comic Chat I can teach
you that too. All these programs are shareware and they don't expire
so no registration is needed.
mIRC can be downloaded at . It can be used in
Windows 95/98 and the installation file is just over 1 Meg. If you are
still using Windows 3.x look for the mIRC 16 bit version. You'll
notice that mIRC has several international sites for you to download
from.
After downloading mIRC, you can start the installation by finding the
file using Windows Explorer, My Computer or Run from the Start Menu.
When it starts installing just click on the Next, Yes and Finish
buttons. It's not asking for your first born child ;)
At the end mIRC will startup (if not find the icon and click it).
You'll see a box with the programmers picture on it. Just close it.
That box is the most annoying part of mIRC and it's there to remind
you it's shareware.
Then you'll see a Server/Nickname box. First thing you do is fill in
the boxes asking for your Full Name, E-mail address, Nickname and
Alternative Nickname. You don't have to give your real name or e-mail
addy, in fact most people don't. I sure the hell don't.
The Nickname is what you'll log in under and what everyone will see
you as. Keep the nickname short and simple, no spaces are allowed.
I'll be logged in under JCoville, Sheryl will be there under SherylR,
Jason will be there under Foenix etc..
The Alternative Nickname is just in case you pick a name someone else
is already using. The server will use that one instead. If your
alternative nickname is being used also, you'll be asked for another
one.
Note: Some Nicknames are registered by other people. If you get a
message in the server window about your nickname being registered (and
asking for a password), change your nickname. You do this by typing
/nick <newnickname> in the server window (more info about that below).
After that's done, go to the top box where it says "All Servers" and
click on the pull down arrow. Go down until you find - Dalnet - as
this is the server we'll be using. Highlight it. The box below it will
change to Dalnet: Random Server.
Oh, while your there you might as well click on the Invisible Mode
box. It will cut down on the amount of Chat-Spam you get (people
asking you to visit their porn websites).
Then your set. Click on Connect to IRC Server button. The
Server/Nickname box will disappear and the Server Window will be in
the forefront. You should connect to a server, you'll know it by a
bunch of text coming up on screen. Wait a few seconds and you'll be
connecting to a server. If nothing happens, wait for a few more
seconds and mIRC should try and connect you to another server. If not,
simply type /server irc.dal.net in the server window chatbox, a
small strip at the bottom of the window. That's the main dalnet server
that works for sure. For a complete updated list of the Dalnet servers
go to .
Dalnet can be a difficult server to get on, don't be afraid to use
servers located in Europe if all else fails.
Note: The server window must stay open at all times if you close it
you won't be able to chat.
Once you connect to the server, mIRC will bring up a box about what
channel you want to join. To make things simple, just type
"CollectorTimes" and click Join. That's the channel we'll be chatting
in. You'll see another window pop up with your nickname on the right
side.
Like the Server window, simply type in your messages at the strip at
the bottom of the window and hit Enter. Your message will come up on
screen. That's where we'll all be chatting come Wednesday.
That should get you to the chat channel without any problems. Give it
a try during the week, if you have problems e-mail me at
jcoville@kingston.net
and I'll answer as soon as I can.
Oh one more thing, you can change to size of the windows. Make it the
size your most comfortable with. I generally make my Server window
small at the bottom and Chat window big on the top. See you Wednesday!