Does there exist any? Should it be created?


To those who don't know what Irc is, its basically a text communication program like MSN but without any unnecessary stuff. Very easy to use once you learn it.


FOR FINNS: Älkää sekoittako Irc-galleriaan. Ovat kaksi aivan eri asiaa.

If I remember correctly there was an irc channel at some point, but I don't know on which network. Nowadays, I'm guessing it's dead?

i have never know, at there is a difference between Irc and Irc-gallery.. i tough at those are the same thingamajig..

We had one maaaaaaany years ago, before the board here opened - but the technology was so new back then, that I never got it working, so I never tried it.

Maybe Lars can shed some light, or any one of the other old geezers around here?

I talked on that Irc a few times all those years ago and I remember when I and others lost interest in it. I also remember it being temporarly active again when Taggenegger released the first swedish fandub of RiD in 2005.
Honestly I think mIRC was such a mess of a program and the commands you had to type in to download things was a nightmare!

One thing I do think would be awesome is a NTFA audio podcast, where we could talk about news, a specific series and have guest appearances by members. If we can orginize conventions, sponsored by Hasbro, then I don't see why that would be so hard.

mIRC functions great. I use it every day writing with friends and others in Denmark on different channel - hardware, music, general and friends. I hang out at #hol.dk and #sargool.
I think a #NTFA channel would be great if people would use it. Real time live chattin' is a lot more fun that podcasts etc.

Using mIRC is pretty simple and easy. You don't need to download anything else than the program, but you can get a bucketload of scripts for you wouldn't imagine what. I only use win-amp script for music displaying. (Now playing: xxx-xxxx-xxxxx)

Old geezers? You disrespectful slightly younger man ! Maybe there was an #NTFA IRC channel at some point, but I was last involved with IRC on one of the DalNet servers back in the day, between 1996 and 1997. We were hanging out on #cybertron and other channels during the late hours. Ah, the memories. It was definitely fun, when you had someone to exchange a meaningful conversation with. It wasn't always like that .

IRC still exists? I must admit that I thought it had grown obsolete and abandoned.
Lack of interest wasn't the only reason why we discontinued the #NTFA channel; towards the end of the channel's existence IRC (or DalNet, to be precise) had become pretty much unusable because it stood under a constant barrage of DDoS attacks that overwhelmed the servers, made the lag unbearable and made it almost impossible to uphold the network. Those DDoS attacks had lasted for weeks if not months when I finally stopped checking.

Lars: I'm curious, why would you think IRC has grown obselete?

Yeah, me and my friends started to use Irc when we went to high school at the year 2007. Irc seems to be in good shape by the looks of it. It's not as difficult to use as it was back then.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit this, but I never bothered to learn about Irc. I always assumed it would be too hard for me to learn and use. If there's a NTFA Irc channel, I doubt I'll be using it, unless I find some "Irc for dummies" guides...

It's just installing and enter channel name and press join and theh put it into favorites... you're done.

Just logical reasoning. There have been many different forms of communication technlogies that were common/popular in older days that have become obsolete since then - usually because they have been superseded by new technologies that have been more (visually) appealing and/or easier to use.

When we started the NTFA back in 1998 you didn't have boards like this one yet. The large majority of the TransFans communicated via newsgroups, while some smaller fractions visited offshoots of old BBSes (bulletin board systems), several of which incorporated (or were built upon) MUDs and MUSHes (multi-user domains, multi-user shared hallucinations). The main Transformers newsgroup - alt.toys.transformers - had actually started as a mailing list, which was another common form of communication back then. The NTFA also started as a mailing list. And then there were those who used IRC, for a chance to chat live.

But the web has evolved a lot since then. We have WWW-based boards today, we have Facebook, Twitter, various instant messaging programs, shoutbox technologies, and so on. All which have some significant advantages over earlier technologies, whether it is aestethics, ease of installation, ease of use, a wealth of features, or something else. Eventually even many of those who are not enticed by any of these advantages cave in and follow the rest, simply because they want to associate with the majority, or friends who have already moved on to newer technologies. The old technologies may still exist, and some people still use them, but they are not nearly as important (or well-known) today as they were back in their heydays.

So: it's just logical reasoning. IRC had already been superseded by rudimentary web-chats when we abandoned the #NTFA weekend chats (even though we never moved on to web-chats ourselves), and it seemed logical that the barrage of DDoS attacks would bring down the popularity of IRC for good.
(Ponder this scenario: Imagine that Facebook is rendered completely unusable for a couple of months. How large a market share would it lose in that time, and do you think it would ever become as important again even when the service was restored?)

mIRC is still very much alive and kicking hard. I know hundreds of users of mIRC.
It's a nice channel just to have open and you can also observe activity and talks, and you can decided whether or not to join in. Many people are logged in 24/7 eventhough they're not at home... they just change status.
In essence it's like on giant MSN group talking but with no fancy graphics or functions. I just the very basic real time writing/chattin'. And best of all it require minimal system ressources.

I know nothing of these DDoS attacks you're talking of. I presume they were aimed at specific servers?
IRC is still alive and kicking, but I think it's mostly used by "nerds" and persons with more computer experience, and it doesn't really cover the same user segment or purpose as MSN/Facebook/Twitter.

Well, maybe that's only a good thing? I mean, it seperates the fans from the random surfers, right?

(having no knowledge about IRC still...)

You actually need less experience operating mIRC than facebook/twitter. I in no way use the full funtionality of mIRC with customs scripts etc.
Also I prefer realtime postings/chat's rather that pressing F5 on your facebook or twitter profile

Yeah, IRC is very easy to use. I think it's the interface (which can be customized in varying degrees depending on you client) that doesn't appeal to everyone. Also, as Fighbird said, I think the current IRC users are pretty satisfied with it being not too wide spread.

I've never used IRC in my whole life even though I've heard plenty of people saying it's good, and easy to use. Dunno why I never tried it.

Been away for a while, and when I have been around its motly been lurking but I came across this topic it.. kinda hit close to the heart..


I have been an irc'er for past.. 15 years soon maybe... and I would say its still pretty much alive it might be a bit dimished a few places but when comes to fandom its a place you kinda get stuck in.

roughly 8 years ago I joined a transformers group on irc.. called simply Transformers... it was a big channel for a while alot of members alot of ppl from all over the world , we would also dabble in the current release of recent series and had our own encodes out there... autobonation..and cybertonium.. if any of you remember those.. The channel has moved around alot..before dalnet, efnet, atomichat.. eventually we ended up on our own place


what I am getting to is that this channel still exists.. on is own server..

you can log on to irc.cybertonium.net and join #transformers there if you want.. and if anyone wants to open up an ntfa channel they are more than welcome to

Me and another of ircops are actually norwegians so i think none of us would actually mind would be nice to see some activity back in the place

as somone mentioned in an earlier posts irc is more like a big chat group where you ppl dont always reply right away.. but type some in the room and linger and somone will get back to you.. the more the merrier.

my nick over there is.. Darklight and if you need any irc tips.. let me know.. I might be getting a bit rusty on something due to the fact that I dont have as much time for as I once did... but... it still in there along with some other grey matter =)