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Welcome to KoshkaIRC
KoshkaIRC is a brand new Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network seeking to revive the majestic old Internet by providing a friendly and comfy yet pro-free speech environment for people all around the world to meet and communicate with other like-minded individuals. Utilising the time-tested, free, and de-centralised protocol that is IRC, KoshkaIRC embodies the free and open spirit that the Internet as a whole once proudly had.
Mentioned in the header of this page, 2003 was the year that IRC hit its absolute peak in terms of usership, and is a year that I look back at quite fondly. A time before NORPs invaded and colonised the Internet, a whimsical and wild time when netizens understood that the Internet was not serious business, and would laugh uproariously at any claim to the contrary.
In the years following 2003, usage of IRC declined dramatically, largely due to users migrating towards modern proprietary platforms such as Discord and Facebook Messenger. This has been an absolute tragedy for the Internet for a number of reasons, which I have dedicated an entire article to.
The exodus from IRC went hand-in-hand with the exodus of users away from decentralised Web forums to Reddit and social media. And with these migrations away from free and traditional communication protocols to proprietary spyware ones, came a loss of freedom and old Internet values such as freedom of speech and the aforementioned knowledge that nothing on the Internet should be taken seriously. Values that were replaced by those befitting pearl-clutching NORPs and powerful technology and advertising corporations.
Although the glorious Internet of old will never fully return, it can live on in small, dedicated pockets full of people who understand and miss its values. Much like the decentralised network of majestic Web 1.0 websites that still covertly dot the Web's landscape keep the spirit of the old Internet alive, I wanted to create my own lantern at the top of a hill as a warm and inviting beacon to any other people seeking a sanctum from the frigid and soulless modern corporate Internet.
Whether you're an autistic person seeking like-minded companionship, an old Web/computing/gaming nostalgic, or just a chatter looking for a friendly free speech environment to hang out in, KoshkaIRC welcomes you with open arms.
You can connect to KoshkaIRC via irc.koshka.love:6697 for SSL encryption (strongly recommended) and irc.koshka.love:6667 for a regular, unencrypted connection. The main channels are #speakez (anarchic), #comicchat (Microsoft Comic Chat-specific) and # (moderated), although a number of others have also been established, and everyone is free to start their own channel(s) and run them as they see fit. The (very few) network rules can be found in the MOTD at the bottom of this page.
The mascot of KoshkaIRC, Angel Cat (seen on the top left of the page), is the creation of the very talented Japanese artist Momomo, who created the character as a Microsoft Comic Chat mascot, which is often donned by both a friend of mine and myself. Seeing as the name for the network (and also my online moniker), is meant to be a memento to my deceased cat, I think it is a fitting choice.
KoshkaIRC runs on the UnrealIRCd IRC server technology, and utilises Anope IRC services for its main service bots.
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Community Events
 Comic Chat Caturday - A weekly all-day event dedicated to chatting in the dedicated Microsoft Comic Chat channel #comicchat. Although Comic Chat discussions occur in that channel (and others) throughout the week, Saturday is specifically set aside due to differing timezones making the activity difficult to accomplish on weekdays.
For the unitiated, Microsoft Comic Chat is an ingenious IRC client that displays an IRC channel as an in-progress comic strip, with each user being able to pick an avatar for themselves and punctuate everything they write with character-specific emotes. In addition to being an invaluable communication tool for autistic people, it is also prone to being absolutely hilarious, as the example screenshots on this page show.
For more information on Comic Chat, please check out KoshkaIRC's Comic Chat page and Mermeliz's massive Comic Chat site. For Linux users, my good friend ShadowM00n has also created an invaluable guide on how to set Comic Chat up using Wine. You can also find these links in the Recommended Reading section near the bottom left of this page.
KoshkaTV - Movies/anime are streamed on the Koshka's Kingdom Owncast server based on community demand, usually on the weekend. Requests for films can be made in #. Eventually, Markovka will be able to take requests and allow people to vote, but for now, everything is done by hand on IRC.
Multiplayer Gaming - Multiplayer team-ups are organised via KoshkaIRC occasionally whenever enough people are interested. Currently, only co-op Doom games are done, but potential events for Wacky Wheels and newer games will likely begin in the future also.
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Services
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why was no one speaking when I joined? - A wiser man than myself once summarised the nature of IRC very well: "you need to understand the concept of IRC. You join, you say hey, you go to bed and wake up and get a reply." Although things are usually not quite this dire, there is indeed a good reason that most people who use IRC are perpetually connected via either a Screen/Tmux session or an IRC bouncer.
While there are definitely many periods of great activity, KoshkaIRC, like any other IRC network, is visited by people from timezones all over the world, and activity is dependent on enough people being awake and being at liberty to chat. If no one else is talking when you join, you can always choose to either wait or come back at a later time.
What IRC client should I use? - The beauty of IRC is that it is an open and ancient protocol, meaning that you are not tied to any specific client or required to use the latest and sleekest version in order to get online. Indeed, while designing this page, I spent time on IRC using multiple clients from the 90s purely out of nostalgia.
My personal IRC client recommendation is the terminal-based Linux client Irssi because it is quite lightweight, customiseable, powerful, compact, and can run inside Screen or Tmux, allowing you to login to your session from anywhere via SSH. For Windows, the most popular client is likely HexChat. WeeChat is another popular terminal client that is an alternative to Irssi. There are of course numerous other clients out there if none of these are to your liking.
Although it's not recommended, you can also get on IRC without installing a client by using a Web chat client such as KiwiIRC. You can find an embedded KiwiIRC instance for KoshkaIRC at the bottom of this page.
How do I share files/images on IRC? - While IRC was invented in an era where Internet speeds were vastly slower than those that most people have access to today, and thus did not come with support for sharing images and other files in a chatroom like some newer platforms do, IRC does allow for client-to-client file transfers between two people using the DCC command.
For sharing of images across an entire chatroom, this can still be accomplished by simply uploading an image to a free temporary storage website such as Catbox, Uguu.se, or Pasteboard (or alternately, your own server) and then pasting the link to the image on IRC.
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MOTD (Message of the Day)
Last updated on 29 January 2023
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Welcome to KoshkaIRC, a cute and comfy bastion of old Web/computing/gaming
nostalgia and autism acceptance,
and the official IRC network of Koshka's Kingdom!
The official channels for this network are # (very loosely moderated), #speakez
(completely unmoderated/anything goes), and #comicchat (Comic Chat-specific).
Los usuarios de habla hispana, por favor no se olviden de visitar la sala de
chat en español, #esquizomania!
-=-=-=Help and Resources=-=-=-
* How to use IRC: https://koshka.love/irc/help.html
* Network Rules: https://koshka.love/irc/rules.html
* Comic Chat: https://koshka.love/irc/comic-chat.html
* Markovka Commands: https://koshka.love/irc/markovka.html
-=-=-=Helpful First Steps=-=-=-
* Register your nick with NickServ (/msg nickserv register <password> <E-mail>)
+ You can later use the "group" command to link other nicks to your nick.
* Register a VHost (Virtual Host) with HostServ (/msg hostserv request <hostname>)
+ This lets you replace your default cloak hostmask with something custom.
* Log-in to NickServ upon re-connecting. (/msg nickserv identify <password>)
Please be advised that KoshkaIRC follows traditional Internet IRCOp principles.
That is to say, IRCOps are neutral entities outside of any channels that they
themselves own. IRCOps will NOT use their power to intervene in any channel
discussions, regardless of the subject, except in the case of the exceedingly
few rules being violated and/or when the security of the network and/or its users
is at stake.
Any IRC channels on KoshkaIRC not owned by an IRCOp are independent entities that
are free to govern themselves however they see fit.
Microsoft Comic Chat is a popular tradition on this server, and there
is a weekly Saturday all-day Comic Chat event in #comicchat named Comic
Chat Caturday. The network also has several other fun community events,
including streaming movies and cartoons on KTV (please submit requests
with preferred date/time in #ktv) and Doomsday (cooperative Doom games
organised in #doomsday).
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KiwiIRC WebChat Interface
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KoshkaIRC
