WordPress.com IRC Channel

Support is one of the best features in wordpress.com . The official documentation, the email support and the mainly volunteer driven forums make a very strong and fast support system. Except these three there is another support system in wordpress.com which almost no one is aware of. The freenode IRC channel of wordpress.com .

IRC is a text-based chat system that allows millions of people around the world to communicate in real time.

The IRC chat will enables you to communicate with other people in the chat room and get direct support, discuss about topics and a lot more.

At this time a very few people join this chat room. Also because almost no one knows about it the responses in this chat room is very delayed. This IRC chatroom is mentioned in wordpress.com supports document here : Support Options.

There it says :

If you know how use IRC (Internet Relay Chat), you can start a live chat with our staff by joining the #wordpress.com channel on irc.freenode.net.

So you can reach staffs there directly. We should get introduced with this feature which will strengthen the wordpress.com support system, and also would help to make an excellent community.

How to use

Now the question is what is this IRC chat and how to use it. The IRC chat room for wordpress.com is in irc.freenode.net server, and the chat room is #wordpress.com . First you will need an IRC client to connect. People who use GNU+Linux would have no problem. They can launch Pidgin, or Empathy and create a new account by selecting IRC, and entering irc.freenode.net as the servername. For windows, they can simply Downlaod and Install Pidgin and set it up. After you have setup an account in irc.freenode.net and connected to it, you need to join the #wordpress.com channel. No registration is required to use this channel (although many channel needs one).
Optionally you can also use the ChatZilla Firefox Plugin to connect to freenode and join #wordpress.com channel. To do this Install the ChatZilla Firefox Plugin and then do the necessary setups.
Or at the least you can use an online Java IRC chat applet found in : http://java.freenode.net/

There are other IRC chat clients as well, a quick search in google with “IRC chat clients” will bring you the list.

The IRC has some of its own commands with you would need to connect, join or do other things. Knowing them a bit would help. Here are some helps, tutorials, and FAQ links :

• IRC Help and Tutorials : http://irchelp.org/irchelp/irctutorial.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial
• IRC Frequently Asked Questions : http://irchelp.org/irchelp/altircfaq.html
• IRC help : http://irchelp.org/
• freenode Frequently Asked Questions : http://freenode.net/faq.shtml
• To register nickname in freenode : http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nicksetup

Please be aware that there is another channel #wordpress which is related to wordpress.ORG, and not wordpress.com .
To connect to freenode.net an join a channel (#wordpress.com or others) refer the help of the particular client, the configurations are very similar in all the applications. I am describing in brief how to make a connection with Pidgin and ChatZilla below:

Pidgin

Add irc.freenode.net account

1. From the Pidgin menubar go to : Accounts -> Manage Accounts and click on Add
2. Select IRC from the Protocol dropdown list. Enter the server name : irc.freenode.net (if not set by default)
3. Select any user name. keep password blank (if you have no registered nickname)
4. Click Add

Join #wordpress.com channel

1. From Pidgin menu : Buddies -> Join Chat
2. Select the IRC account from the dropdown
3. Enter #wordpress.com in the channel list and click Join

Now you are connected. Once you have created the account you can disconnect or connect from the Accounts menu. Also you can use the Buddies -> Add Chat options to auto connect and etc.

ChatZilla

Connect to irc.freenode.net

1. Install ChatZilla, and select a nickname from the ChatZilla preferences, Tools -> Addons : ChatZilla – Preferences
2. Launch ChatZilla from Tools -> ChatZilla
3. To connect to freenode type in the following command into the bottom line-edit box

   /server irc.freenode.net
   

Join #wordpress.com channel

1. To join wordpress.com channel, click the freenode tab which just opened, type in the below command

   /join #wordpress.com
   

After you are connected you can use the IRC and freenode commands there, or simply use the GUI options for further configurations. Note that this is the general way to connect to any other IRC servers and join any channels.

Some Rules

The IRC chat is a very good way to communicate get and provide support and also a great tool to make up a good community, but if and when it is used properly. You should remember that this channel is not the place to do general chat or simple time pass, or posting links, or spamming. Also everybody should stick to the topic of the channel. Please note that the same rules apply here also like the forums; patience. You don’t have re-re ask your question, just ask once, and wait for the answer, it would come if anyone knows it.

Hope that you will now be comfortable with this feature. I would ask users and especially the volunteers of wordpress.com forum to join the IRC chat, and have a look on it.