Being a regular user if IRC (Inter Relay Chat), I'll try to fill in some
of the missing information.  I'm not an expert by any means, but this
should be enough to get started.

First, you will need the proper software to connect.  if you point your
browser to  http://www.mirc.co.uk  you will find the software called
mIRC.  This can be downloaded and used without charge, although I believe
it is "shareware".  There is also lots and lots of information here on
how to use the software.  (This is by no means the only IRC software
available, but is probably the most popular)

SERVERS:  An IRC SERVER is simply a computer somewhere on the Internet
which is dedicated to the task of managing the information sent over the
IRC network.  Most likely, the Internet Service Provider you are with
does not have its own server.  However, once you are connected to the
Internet, its easy to get on a server.  The above mentioned software
allows you to scroll through a list of server locations to select a
server.  The software comes with a large list of servers.

NETWORKS:  There are several different 'networks' available for chatting.
Among them are DalNet, UnderNet, NewNet, EFNet, and several others.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each.  The larger ones have
many more servers available to connect through and most likely you can
find one close to where you are (speeding things up) but have the
disadvantage that since they are so large, there can be thousands of
people on at any given time, slowing things down.

CHANNELS:  Once you have connected to your ISP and have selected the
network you wish to be on, you can then get  a list of all the channels
available.  Channel names (almost always) start with the "#" character.
Some examples of channels are #catholic, #chess, #games, etc..

AN INTERJECTION: There are MANY channels which are devoted entirely to
"adult talk" and are not suitable for children -- many adults will even
find a good portion of the channels to be distasteful.

TO CONTINUE:  Once you have a list of channels, or if you know the name
of the channel you wish to go to, you simply type a slash (/) followed by
the name of the channel and a new window will open up.  From this point
on, everything you type will be seen by all other persons on the channel,
and you will see everything typed by the others on the channel.

Channels can either be registered (making them available at all times)
or unregistered.  For the purposes of this group, an unregistered channel
would be just fine, as long as it is understood that (for instance) #MMD
is open on a certain day(s) between certain times.

If someone were to 'take charge' of getting such a thing going, the
following steps would need to be taken:

  1: Choose a network

  2: Choose a channel name

  3: Ascertain what is the best time for the users

  4: Finally, someone would need to be responsible at the given day and
time to get on and "set up" the channel.  (This is very, very easy to do
-- if you 'join' a channel that does not exist, it is simply created).
It would be best to have one or two people "in charge" of getting it
going at the proper time as well as informing the MMD subscribers of its
existence and days and times it is available.

Jon W. Miller
Saint Paul MN