Every year, we seem to have a few people who dip their toe into the waters of IRC for the first time, in order to attend the Kerth Awards Ceremony. I always loved that little side benefit. So I wondered if we could get a headcount for that.

And please, feel free to tell your stories in the thread!

PJ

My name is David and I'm a mIRC addict.

Last year I downloaded mIRC to attend the Kerths.

It was a rocky start and the scroll was rapid fire, but I somehow managed to keep up and it was a blast. It was amazing.

I was just... blown away by the chance to meet all my favourite authors. It was amazing - did I say that already? I hung around after the ceremony and ended up eventually in #loisclark... and I've never left.

I think I made a fool of myself a million times by gushing over people, and I was *certain* I'd scared poor Chris Carr for life after meeting her. <g> But... I mean, it was *Chris Carr* and *Wendy Richards* was talking to me and golly, could you believe that *Meredith Knight* now knew my name? I was utterly star struct for the first few months. I still get stunned sometimes when I meet new people, but I'm much better at hiding my reactions now - I mean, just the other night I met *Nicole Sullivan* and I managed a rather coherent conversation.

Anyway, from there I was coerced into writing my first story and landed my first gig as a BR. mIRC - and the Kerths - was where it all started. <g>

Dave

I joined IRC for the Kerth ceremony and now I fear I might be an addict...

Darn you all for being so friendly and inviting! Next thing you know I'll have dropped out of school and be living in a van down by the river with my lap top writing fanfic....

Actually, that doesn't sound like a half bad life

I got on IRC for the Kerths two years ago. I was addicted even before the ceremony started. Damn you all. <G>

But I love it.

Julie

Oh dear. I have to capitalize on this. I've been doing IRC on and off for a number of years, mostly off lol, but the very first time I got on...I saw Pam Jernigan in there. Scared the BEJESUS out of me LOL. No. Established Archive authors cannot be human and hang with normal people and... I mustered up enough courage to go back in like a year later.

I never seem to be able to go to the Kerths, but I went to the AltKerths two ceremonies ago, and it was a complete blast!
JD

i started using irc just for the kerths!

actually, i'd been watching my brother use irc for years, and it always seemed really complicated to me, so i stuck with my microsoft comic chat, yahoo, icq, and eventually msn.

then on kerth night, i was relaxing when i suddenly remembered that the kerths were going to take place and it was 5:55pm. i thought, what the heck, and i downloaded irc and used it successfully to attend the kerth awards for the first time! i had a blast.

You'd be amazed how common a reaction that one is! The first time I went into an irc chat channel other than the Kerths the only person in there was Menolly - whose wonderful nfic I'd only just discovered. I think I embarrassed the poor woman dreadfully by freaking out and pouring gushing praise on her. Either that or she thought she had a stalker.

LabRat

I tried to get onto IRC a couple years ago, but never got it to successfully work. Since the Kerths were coming up, Wendy posted new instructions that I apparently was able to follow. Maybe a few more years of computer wisdom allowed my brain to finally function enough to get it to work.

So, in a way, I joined because of the Kerths. But I was unable to actually attend them. Maybe next year, we'll see.

But now that I'm on, it's a lot of fun. I get to talk to people from all over the world! How cool is that! And some people actually knew my name as soon as I signed on and I didn't even have to tell anyone! That part blew me away. And everyone's so nice. I just have to get a hang of it. There's so many buttons along the top I want to play with, but I'm afraid of embarassing myself while I'm on because I have no idea what they'll do.

So I'm pretty much hooked. Only problem is, I know I'll fail out of college if I allow myself to get on every night. Well, that's my IRC story. Thanks, Wendy, for posting the instructions!

~Kristen

I'm very glad that my instructions helped some of you to get on IRC! Though you should really be thanking Elena, because I just used her screencaps. It's been really nice to see so many new people on the channels over the past week or so.

Oh, tell me about it! I got on IRC first for the second-ever Kerth awards. Went to a couple of practice sessions while I got used to it, and then joined on Kerth night itself. And... oh my god, there was Sheila Harper! And she actually said hello to me! (Mind you, by then she'd BRed a story for me, and I'd thought that was the height of awesomness ). Oh, and Kathy Brown was there, and Pam Jernigan, and Zoomway, and Chris Mulder, and all these wonderful authors whose stories I loved. I'm sure I sounded like a complete idiot.


Wendy

I joined as soon as the age barrier dropped enough to allow me to join

I wasn't so much awed by the names themselves, as by the friendliness with which I was greeted. First of all, while I had installed mIRC and could join the channel, I couldn't see anyone in there It turned out I wasn't using an Undernet server. But back then I didn't know what the problem was, or how to resolve it, so I posted a message in these boards' How To section, asking for somebody who was on at that time to join me on Yahoo! Messenger and help me. Not one, but *two* people responded - Elena and Annette. Elena was the unfortunate one to respond first <G> so she had to take me to the channel step by step... God, that really took a long while! But she was very patient, and in the end I manage to arrive at #loisclark - and there was a big crowd, who apparently knew I was coming, so I was immediately greeted by a handful of messages like 'Hey, Anna, welcome! Nice to see you made it!' That was so cool and so encouraging (I'm not sure who was there; apart from Elena, I seem to remember Wendy, Labby, probably Pam... but it's been a long time, it was late <G> and I was overwhelmed, so I can't enlighten you further.) But I was sure people wouldn't notice much little newbie me, and I'd find myself sitting in a corner of the channel, watching a conversation and feeling like I didn't fit in. Which was not the case at all

Plus something that never ceases to amaze me, and it's more evident when chatting in real time than on the boards: I was just 14, and there were all these people older than me, who in other circumstances it wouldn't even cross my mind to call them something other than 'sir', 'ma'am', 'Mr. X', 'Ms. Y'... and yet, not only they don't mind me calling them by their first name, but they actually *expect* me to do that! It's kinda weird, when you think about it. (I'd made a poll about that, but I can't find it. Or maybe it wasn't a poll, but a discussion in another folder... *sigh* Nevermind.)

And... you want bumbling idiots? One of my first times on IRC (must have been the second, in fact) I was watching everybody kicking the other out of the channel as a joke. So I thought I'd join in the joke... and managed to accidentally ban Roger. The poor guy thought I had something against him.

It's great to meet all the FoLCs in real time, and very fun, too Thanks to all the people who make this possible!

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I felt exactly the same way this year. Thanks to the very explicit directions (and the fact that the timing of the ceremony allowed me to avoid my husband and brother's college basketball-a-thon), I made my way onto IRC for the first time for the Kerths. I was blown away when people greeted me by name! The presenters said such nice things about my stories, and the (rapidly scrolling) chat was so positive and uplifting - it really was a wonderful experience. This is such a great community of world-wide friends to be involved with! Susan

I had been really curious about IRC for awhile, because I always hear about people chatting there, and writing stories, helping each other, joking around, etc., and thought it sounded like a fun place... but I had no idea how to get on there. Getting there was sort of always on my To Do list <g> but never happened, but I wanted to participate in the Kerths, and the To Do became more of a DO IT NOW, YOU BIG PROCRATINATOR!

Sara Kraft totally helped me work out the technical stuff, so THANK YOU, Sara!! And I also received a lot of help from Wendy via her help-thread on the boards and email, so thank you Wendy, too!

And now... I think I'm addicted =\ It's so much fun, I'm kind of kicking myself for being such a darn procrastinator, lol

~Nicole

ps- I won't pretend that joining IRC the night before the Kerths was the smartest thing to do, as there were a few things I wasn't aware of. Like, oh, red flashing boxes are actually IMs that you should read!!

pps- It was all intentional, though.

ppps- Stop shaking your head at me!

It was my first time on mIRC as well and...it was a blast! Now, I'm addicted. I come online whenever I have the time.

And about the gushing... Yeah. Been there done--err, doing that. Right now. Oooh, look Dave's online! And Kae... And Nicole... *gushes*

Well... speaking as the first ceremony co-ordinator for the Kerths, and as an admin for #loisclark, I'm delighted to hear this, guys. (Except for the part where I scared poor Jen -- I didn't do it on purpose, honest!) It's running 50-50 with those who joined because of the Kerths and those who didn't! I hadn't expected that...

Me, I barely remember when I first got on IRC -- I tried in late '96 or early '97 and it took a while but I got the hang of it. Which is good; in the summer of '97 I'd go online when my baby had me awake at 2am and talk to the Aussie/Kiwi/Asian folcs (My baby's turning 9 years old today!)

I do remember being awed at meeting Zoomway -- I sort of knew her from CompuServe, but she was like the High Priestess of FOLCdom, so just regular chatting seemed impertinent And things could get a *lot* busier then. Zoom could get L&C broadcasts Friday night off of sattelite, somehow, and she'd do spoiler sessions on IRC ... had upwards of 70 people on at one time.

Anyway... I'm really glad to hear everyone's having such a fun time. I think this is what we were going for when we established #loisclark, three years ago, and I always *thought* we were doing a pretty good job, but it's really nice to have that confirmed.

Do I sound horribly conceited? Don't mean to... we're just blessed to have such wonderful members of our fandom -- including all you newbies!

PJ

ps., Nicole, I think that whole "red button? what red button?" joke was terrific -- much more creative than the usual dropping of envelopes or paper cuts...

I would like to try IRC again. I tried once before these boards at school in the late 90's and I was clueless! I tried for the Kerth's two years ago (?) but was never successful.

I got on IRC the night of the Kerths last year . . . had to go to someone else's house 'cause I didn't know how to get around my university's blocks (I think I have some idea of how it might be possible now). The scroll *was* fierce, as I had been warned, but I loved it and was hooked instantly. There was no going back. I, too, was amazed that all these wonderful authors actually talked to me! Wendy for one. I mean, the great *Wendy Richards*, one of the best authors I'd ever read, was was just chatting normally and everything . . . I'd had a little contact with Pam and Nan via e-mail, but don't remember who all I knew ahead of time.

As soon as I was home, I re-joined the channel, and though it took me awhile to relax and feel at home, most of my closest friends now I met online there. /me hugs the channel . . . It's wonderful to be on.