WebTV and Internet Relay Chat

By Ngan Bui (Ariell) and Joseph Lo (Jolo), with help from FraN2k and ExPeaches
last updated 4/16/98
The original version of this page is at <http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/misc/webtv.html>

WebTV opened the world of the Internet to many people through an inexpensive computer that uses your existing TV. While WebTV is generally adequate for web browsing and email, it's harder to do more complicated things, and you can't take advantage of specialized programs designed for those tasks. For example, while you can use WebTV to chat, you must go through their web interface. Compared to using a chat "client" program on a PC, WebTV provides extremely limited access to chat networks and very few commands. Imagine if you could only watch movies on video - not every movie comes to video, and even then you have to wait half a year before it's released, and watch it on a much smaller screen without any of the exciting digital sound effects. The same is true with chatting via WebTV. We therefore developed this chat guide specifically for WebTV customers so you can make the best use of your service.

Getting started
Networks And Servers
Commands for WebTV Chat
Limitations of WebTV
Finding More Help

1. Getting Started

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) allows you to communicate live with people from all over the world. It consists of many separate networks of IRC servers, machines that allow users to connect to IRC. The largest nets are EFnet, Undernet, IRCnet, and DALnet.

On IRC, people know you by a nickname. At the present time, you will always have the same name as your username. However, on WebTV, you can create up to five secondary users and use any of them to chat on the Internet.

Group conversations occur on the thousands of channels on each network. Channels can be open to everyone or only to friends. For a list of channels, see #IRChelp's channel listing page. Channels are dynamic because anyone can create a new channel, and a channel disappears when the last person on it leaves.

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2. Networks And Servers

By default WebTV users can chat on Talk City, one of the largest web-based chat servers. These servers are like the tip of the iceberg compared to the much larger and more exciting IRC networks.

To reach other IRC networks, you need to know the address of a server on that network, the port number, and the channel name. You may not be able to access all networks or servers due to restrictions placed on each server to limit the kind of people who can connect. After you have this information, do the following:

Return to the Home page
Select Community
Select Chat
Select Go to
Enter the following:

server address (something like irc.whatever.com)
port number (typically 6667, or you can try 6660-6667)
the channel name (such as #IRChelp)

Select Connect

Note that all channels names begin with a # symbol, but using the Go to feature you can optionally type the # or not (such as #IRChelp or IRChelp). You do not type the # when using the /join command mentioned below.

See the list of servers and networks for some suggestions.

Once you have connected successfully, you may talk by just typing into the text field at the bottom of the chat screen. Then choose Send (or hit the Return key on your keyboard). See the next section for specific commands you can also type.

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3. Commands for WebTV Chat

Each command begins with a slash character (/) and you just type them into the same text field at the bottom of the chat screen.

/join coolness: Command to join the existing channel #coolness. Note with this command, you do not enter the # before the channel name. If the channel did not exist before, by joining it you will create it and also have ops on that channel. You can only be on one channel at a time.
/who: This gives you the nicknames of people in the current channel only, with some information about them.
Hello everybody!: Once you join a channel, you can speak to everybody on the channel by typing any line without a leading slash character. Everybody else will see "your_nick> Hello everybody!"
/me is a pink bunny.: Everybody in the channel sees "* your_nick is a pink bunny." This is called an action.
/whois jack: You get some information about that jack, such as "jack is jk1@some.host.name." If jack is also a WebTV user, the answer will not include the hostname, just whether or not he is on-line at the moment.
/msg jack text: Sends a private message to jack only. This is sometimes called "whispering" since nobody else can hear you except jack.
/topic Dalmatians are spotted.: Sets the channel topic to "Dalmatians are spotted." if you are a channel op or if the channel mode is not +t (where only channel ops can change the topic).

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4. Limitations of WebTV

In addition to the commands described in the previous section, you also have the option of making a private channel. When you create a new channel, check off the option to create a private, unlisted channel. Unfortunately that's about all you can do with WebTV. Below we will list just some of the many things you cannot do. There's no way around this unless WebTV chooses to improve their software, or unless you get a "real" personal computer which would allow you to run a "real" IRC client program (such as mIRC for Windows or Ircle for Macintosh).

Channels: You cannot be on more than one channel at a time. You cannot exercise the powers of a channel operator, except you can change the topic in a channel with mode +t. WebTV's program doesn't have the commands for all the other things that ops normally can do, such as change channel modes (make it a secret, invite only, etc), grant or remove other people's ops, kick and ban abusive users, etc.
Colors, Fonts, and Sounds: You cannot change text color, size, font, etc., while chatting on WebTV. You cannot play sounds, nor can you hear sounds played by others.
File Transfers: You cannot use DCC (Direct Client Communication) to send or receive pictures, sounds, software programs, love letters, or any other type of files.
Script/Bot Running: You cannot run automated programs like scripts or (ro)bots to help you maintain a channel, provide shortcuts for commonly typed commands, etc.

There are many other things that WebTV users cannot do. I don't think it's necessary to list everything. Until WebTV gives more options to their users, accept the limitations and enjoy IRC with what you have. IRC is still primarily for "chatting", and you can still do that as a WebTV user. Returning to my earlier analogy, there is much more to the magic of movies than video tapes. One day when you get a real personal computer you'll be amazed at what else you can do with IRC!

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5. Finding More Help

For specific questions on WebTV and how it works with IRC, email the customer support at wecare@webtv.net. Here are all the ways to get more help.

Email: The best way to get your WebTV-specific IRC questions answered is to email wecare@webtv.net. They forward your question to somebody who actually knows IRC, who then returns your emails within a week. They are pretty detailed in their answers. For general IRC questions that don't have anything to do with WebTV, ask #IRChelp's email helper (be sure to select the general helper for general questions, the Mac helper if you're interested in switching to a Mac, etc.).
World Wide Web: Much of this information was taken with permission from WebTV's IRC help site (inexplicably blocked to outsiders?!?), which contains helpful information in the format of a "FAQ" or frequently asked questions list. Many helpful pages with general IRC information are available at the #IRChelp site including many help guides. (Just remember the limitations of WebTV when you're reading those guides.) We particularly recommend the short general introduction to IRC called The IRC Prelude. There are also lists of networks and channels there.
Phone: 1-800-GO-WEBTV is the only WebTV phone number, but it's for general information rather than customer support. You'll probably get a representative that won't know much about IRC.
IRC: The most popular help channels for WebTV are on TalkCity, which may be accessed at chat.talkcity.com ports 6667 (or 7000 for AOL users). The channels include #New2WebTV, #WebTVhelp, and #WebTVtech.

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