************************************************************** * * * CYBERSPACE * * A biweekly column on net culture appearing * * in the Toronto Sunday Sun * * * * Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer * * Free for online distribution * * All Rights Reserved * * Direct comments and questions to: * * * * * ************************************************************** I bad mouth IRC (Internet Relay Chat) from time to time in this column. I'm one of the dwindling number of netizens that still uses spam-choked Usenet to communicate with fellow users. As a writer, I like to "talk" in whole paragraphs. IRC's real-time nature makes it difficult to hammer out anything more than a single sentence. As a smart ass ***you can use "loud mouth know it all" if you like instead of "smart ass"***, I dearly like to debate. IRC's communal nature discourages anything more than a quick and friendly disagreement. Hogging too much of a channel with your drivel is considered bad form. The existence of "operators" or "ops" with the power to ban you from a given channel also ensures everyone makes nice. Back around the beginning of November, while browsing around an IRC network called "Undernet", I happened on an IRC channel called #toronto. #toronto hooked me on IRC (long time IRC addicts pronounce IRC as "irk"). All channels begin with a pound sign operator. The Undernet itself is one of many different IRC networks. Other networks include Efnet and Dalnet. Each network provides a chain of servers that pass on traded messages. Different networks have different rules, features, and some would argue attitudes. Like nearly everything netish, the more effective your communication skills, the more you'll enjoy IRC. Channels can have fifty people or more at one time. If nearly everyone is chatting at once, you'll need to be a virtual Robin Williams to make any head way. Merely stumbling on a channel and announcing "hey, I'm a hot male looking for a cute girl to chat with!" rarely gets one any notice. On some channels, like #toronto, such ham-fisted attempts at picking up women are strongly discouraged. You will get you booted by an op. Undernet's #toronto channel answers one of the great mysteries of the net. Studies indicate that about 40% of netizens are women. So where are the women? If a pipe bomb blew off 9 of my fingers, I'd still have enough fingers left to count the number of females I know that post regularly to net.news. I suspect women view heavily guarded IRC channels like #toronto as a reasonably safe way of having fun, chatting, and meeting people, both online and eventually offline. If a woman feels harassed, she can ask an op to ban the user. Ops readily comply. Everyone adopts nicknames or "nicks" which confer an additional layer of security not to mention a touch of mystery women find so alluring. As far as nick picking goes, women seem to be of three minds. Some are blatant: they're women and they're looking. You see nicks like "SexyF21," "SexyGina," and "ImUrGirl". Others pick feminine sounding nicks or go with their first name: You'll see nicks like "Victoria," "Katya," and "Tassha." Other women prefer gender neutral nicks -- names that don't immediate identify them as men. To protect their gender identity, I won't reveal any of those. Of course where there are women, there are naturally going to be a gaggle of men. Where there's men, there's slobbering idiots. There's a saying about IRC that goes "if you want to meet a lot of undersocialized men, log on to IRC with a name that not only identifies you as a woman, but is only recognizable as a woman's name from science fiction." If you doubt men and women live in very different worlds, I encourage you to pick a nick like "Leia" or "Yar" and jump into any channel.