IRC

When the Internet was in it’s infancy (before the World Wide Web),


about the only way to chat online was with a program called IRC

(Internet Relay Chat). It was mostly popular with university students

as this was basically the extent of the Internet back then. Many a

university student has failed subjects and even entire degrees

because they spent their lives hooked on IRC!

IRC is a simple text-based system that allows you to chat with

people in the same ‘room’. You connect to an IRC server (hundreds

around the world) using an IRC client program, and select from

one of many rooms available. Each room has a different theme like

general chat, sex, movies, computers, etc.

With today’s multitude of user friendly web and client-based

chat rooms to choose from, IRC is considered very ‘old hat’ and

archaic, really only used by the old school of computer veterans.

IRC is relatively difficult to use and understand, even with the

newer IRC client programs like MIRC. You need to learn IRC

commands, and some of the servers are unreliable and can be

difficult to find.

If you are new to the Internet and chatting then it’s advisable to stay clear of IRC, there are much better and simpler ways to


chat.

Documentation Tips

Here are some practical documentation tips to keep the serious


Internet dater ahead of the game.
 
• Make a printout of every profile that you respond to, otherwise
 
you will forget who they are when they email back a week later.


By which time they could have removed or changed their profile.

• Make a note of the email address of every person you respond

to. Writing it on the profile printout is a convenient way.

• When sending a ‘message’ to someone via an Internet dating

site (instead of direct by email), makes sure that you put their

username in there somewhere. That way you will be able to track

who they are when they reply (from the original message text, if

any), as the email address will be unfamiliar to you.

• Save a copy of their picture locally, it might come in handy later.

• Make a printout of, or at least store in a separate email folder,

every email that you send and receive to each person. This way

you can quickly read up on the email history of that person just

before your meet.

• By all means make a complete ‘Dossier’ on each and every

person. It might seem like a lot of effort, but it may come in

extremely handy. People are impressed when you remember

every little detail about them.

• Save all your chat text. People are more willing to give out

information in a chat room, and it’s to your benefit to keep it,

you won’t be able to remember it all. Most chat programs like

ICQ will have an option to save your entire chat session as a text

file. Keep these text files stored in a unique directory for easy

retrieval, or print them out

• Keep a hard copy of every profile you create of yourself.

• Keep a written track of your profile name (handle), user name,

and password for every site that you are member of. A serious

Internet dater will be a member of several sites and/or have

more than one profile. I still get email from sites I don’t even

remember joining many years ago.

• Once you get someone’s phone number and address, write it on

their profile printout. You never know when you might lose your

‘little black email book’.

• Keep notes of how the date went as soon as you get home. Odds are

you won’t remember much about them after a few other blind dates.

Setting Up an Email Account

To get an anonymous address you will need to register with the


email provider and choose a username. But with tens of millions of

users, every imaginable common name will already be taken, so you

will be forced to choose something very unique. Don’t be at all

surprised if your name spelled backwards is already taken.

Obviously if you want to stay anonymous then don’t choose a

username that gives away any part of your real name, like

johnsmith@hotmail.com

To register for your free anonymous email address just go to

either site mentioned above, choose the new user register option

and follow the instructions. Couldn’t be easier.

Be very careful to follow the online instructions, they will inform

you how to fill out the various forms as to provide total anonymity.

The golden rule being that you should never reveal your real name,

even if the form mentions it is safe to do so. So be adventurous and

make up a name, you can be anyone you ever wanted to be!

Once you have an anonymous email address then you are ready

to enter the world of Internet dating, be it a chat room, personals

site, messenger service, newsgroup or whatever. When registering

for any of these services be sure to use your new anonymous email

address. Make sure you document and remember your username

and password.

The only way someone will find out your name and other details

from now on is if you tell them.