frequently asked questions

• What is irc?
  If you've come this far, then you've probably been on #texas, and already know what irc is. But if you're still confused or want more information, do a search on "irc" or visit www.irchelp.org.

• Who gets on #texas?
  Specifically, #texas has a large number of people from Texas universities and colleges on it, from Texas A&M and U.T. Austin to U.T. El Paso. But people who just live in Texas, or have lived in Texas, or knew someone from Texas once, or named their dog the Latin variant of Texas have also been known to get on. You may have heard of various Texas school rivalries, like how much people from A&M and U.T. hate each other. Well, fair enough. We even rag on each other a bit about it. But we don’t like to let that sort of thing get out of hand, and generally any newbie who gets on talking smack about a school is gonna get a boot in the butt.

  Many different types of people get on #texas... conservatives and liberals, gays and straights and bis, blacks and whites and hispanics and asians and... well, you get the idea. If you have a problem with any of these sorts, please keep it to yourself. If you don’t, we may show you how intolerant WE are of dumbasses.

• What are ops / Can I get ops?
  The word "ops" is short for channel operator status; anyone with ops is a channel operator and can do all the nifty things that go along with that. On #texas, that amounts to opping other people, changing the topic, kicking people (perhaps you yourself have been kicked once), and banning the truly obnoxious. As to when you can get ops, that pretty much depends on you. People with ops give other people ops. If you stick it out for a while on the channel (this means a few weeks or months, not a few hours one day), then you will eventually get ops.. maybe.

• Flooding
  Flooding should be self-explanatory; it amounts to sending a large number of public messages to the channel in a short amount of time. Don’t do it. Macht es nicht. Et cetera. We don’t like it, because it contributes to scroll, which means the screen rolls by too fast to be easily read. Flooding includes putting the same message a large number of times to the channel and trying to draw clever little pictures with aliases. We’ve been around, we’ve seen it all, and we aren’t impressed. Don’t do it. Seriously. If you are guilty of repeatedly flooding the channel or anyone who frequents the channel, you will be banned from #texas and quite possibly be permanently banned.

• Frequently asked stupid questions
  This part is pretty much a list of advised etiquette. Many newbies (the term we use for people who are not regulars on the channel) get on and ask many of the same (stupid) questions over and over. Among them are, "Where is everybody from?" "What does everybody do here?" "How old is everyone?" and the very worst offender, "Are there any cute women here tonight?" Perhaps you notice a pattern... most people don’t show up at a party and ask "So, where are all you from?" Do on the channel what you might do at the hypothetical party. Find someone who interests you and ask them your questions privately (learn to love the /msg command or prefacing comments with the name of your intended).
  Rest assured that stunningly lame questions like the ones listed above will earn you a kick in almost no time at all, perhaps even a string of kicks from bored regulars who can do better than "Are you lonely tonight?"

• Caps Lock
  Ok, look, this key is at the bottom left hand of your keyboard. Make sure it’s not depressed. Otherwise, you’re gonna get kicked. Period.

• What's with all the kicking?
  You are going to get kicked. EVERYONE gets kicked. Most of the people who now have ops on #texas were kicked regularly for three days before they got to stick around and chat. Just think of it as an initiation peroid. If you avoid flooding and being just all-around annoying, you might escape all but the occasional kick. It’s happened before! If you DO get kicked, do not start messaging everyone about how unfair it is, or could they retaliate for you or op you or something. If you REALLY don’t like getting kicked, go create your own channel. :)

• Ack! I got banned!
  Yeah? And? Ok, look, here’s my guess. You were trying to hack, or you were being racist, or homophobic, or making incredibly lame jokes about Texas or were trying to pick up any woman desperate enough to have you, or you were just plain annoying. My advice? Cope. If you want, you can *try* /msg’ing someone and asking them to unban you, but don’t count on it working. The ban will be cleared within 24 hours, so don’t sweat it. If you are chronically annoying, you will be permanently banned, so try to pick up what is considered bad form quickly.

• Foreign Languages
  Texas is in the United States. English is the unofficial Official Language of the United States. That means it’s the language we use. Generally, you are going to get kicked if you start speaking in another language. It annoys those who do not speak Swedish to see it flying by. So don’t.

Don't forget to also check out the rules section. Ok, it may sound like the people on channel #texas are assholes. Much to the contrary, the majority of us have met each other and get together regularly. If you’re willing to stick out a few kicks, you could make a number of good friends!