Also known as the PPC chatroom, the PPC Lounge is a hangout for agents and a great place for oldbies and newbies to meet up and discuss Sue-slaying; the current chatroom is a Discord server. There is also a Lounge in HQ, usually called the HQ Lounge or just the Lounge to avoid confusion; it was once set on fire by Unger.
The Discord Server
The PPC has a Discord server; it supplanted the IRC channel for the most part. Joining is easy — just ask the mods or the owner for an invite. Registration is easy and recommended, both to ensure that your handle stays unique to you and to reduce clutter in the user list of the channel; however, it is not strictly required as long as you have an invite.
The rules are simple: abide by the Constitution and don't be nasty. There are mods that will enforce those rules; they can manage the channel and kick misbehaving members. Bans, however, are only enacted as a community-wide ban and are only implemented by the owner of the server. It is owned by PoorCynic and is modded by Cat-on-the-Keyboard, Maslab, and Delta Juliette.
There are three main channels in the server:
- #generic_channel: general conversation and daily talk about pretty much anything.
- #rudis: RP channel, set in Rudi's pub. No Permission is necessary to join, because the RP isn't canon unless it is integrated into a canon piece. #rudis is sometimes used for RPs set elsewhere in the PPC.
- #recs_n_plugs: exactly what it says on the tin. Mostly music plugs, but there have been book recommendations, funny clips and other such things. Excessive badfic quoting gets put here so as not to clutter up the main chat.
There are also four minor channels:
- #notice_board: a channel for announcements.
- #generic_salt: a channel, for, well, being salty. It's also used as a chatroom for PPCers playing online games together.
- #other_rp: also exactly what it says on the tin; a channel for RPs that aren't related to the PPC at all.
- #upstairs: publicly visible moderator channel and a record of moderator action.
The HQ Lounge
Often used as a setting in the old chatroom, the exact details of the HQ Lounge are largely subject to the needs of whatever role-play or random silliness is taking place there. However, based on various agent journals and word-of-mouth, a few details seem generally consistent. For one, it contains a bar, which may or may not have someone behind it to run things; if not, it's self-serve, and its contents may be hazardous if reached into blindly. It stocks itself.
The Lounge also has a variety of comfortable couches, bean-bags, and other seating, and possibly a pillow-fort. The furniture is often subject to accidents, such as being set on fire, and has to be replaced frequently. (At one time it had a nice couch, but it was later replaced with a demonic one, which was exorcised and then set on fire.) The chatroom has been rebuilt to Swedish specifications by Dann.
It has high rafters, which serve as a refuge for the shy or just a handy perch for people who like high places, particularly those with avian or feline dispositions. It isn't quite clear exactly how high the rafters go up, or how people without wings get up there in the first place.
There may or may not be attached rooms for those who desire privacy, bathrooms, and/or a kitchen with a self-filling fridge. The doors seem to come and go.
It is also riddled with plotholes and destination-shifting Doors, capital D, to other dimensions, so just about anyone can turn up there, from agents to authors to canons.
The Bravenet Chatroom
The Old PPC Lounge is mostly vacant these days, but it has been used in the past to celebrate PPC anniversaries, birthdays, and plain old bacchanalia.
The old PPC Lounge can be found here.
The IRC Chatroom
The PPC IRC chatroom can be easily found through here (but if you know how to use IRC, the main channel is #PPC on irc.sorcery.net); it, too, is mostly vacant these days.
IRC Clients
If you are interested in using IRC in a separate client, but have no idea where to start, do not fear! It is quite simple. There are a variety of IRC clients available online. The ones outlined below are used by other IRC users in the PPC. The instructions to set them up are on their various websites.
If you use Firefox, Chatzilla is an easy to use client that operates as a plugin through the browser. Their website has instructions on how to set the client up. With Chatzilla, you can set up to join multiple rooms at start, automatically identify yourself to the servers you are on, and set up a multitude of words that ping your computer.
If you use a Windows machine but do not use Firefox or have no interest in using a client that is built into the browser, IceChat may be of interest to you. Again, you can set it up to join multiple rooms at start, automatically idenitfy yourself to the servers you join, and set up words that ping your computer.
If you are wanting to do this on a Mac, Colloquy is the client you want. It too is able to join multiple rooms at start, ID yourself to the servers you join, and probably ping your computer with highlighted words.
XChat is also an option, if you are on a Linux build. It is able to do all of the above and toast bread.
Using IRC
IRC, once you have a vague idea of what you are doing, is a fairly simple to use. To join or rejoin a channel, typing "/join #channelname" into the text box will open that channel. "/nick name" changes your name. To perform actions, such as "Person does this" instead of "Person: *does this*", one just has to type "/me does this".
It is also a good idea to register your nick on the server to ensure that people will not be able to take it from you or impersonate you. This can be done with by entering "/msg nickserv passwordyouwant youremail". Make sure to do it in the chat window with the server name at the top and not in a channel to prevent people from finding out your password!
Once you are registered, you can identify yourself with "/msg nickserv identify mypassword" when you first connect, and regain your nick if your connection hiccups with "/msg nickserv ghost yournick yourpassword" which will kick it from the server and allow you to go back on it with "/nick name".
Chat Rules
- Main article: PPC IRC Rules
After some problems and dispute, the chatroom and all sub-rooms now have finalized rules and a system of responses to rule-breaking. Essentially, they may be summed up as follows:
- Thou shalt read the PPC Constitution. Thou shalt abide by the PPC Constitution. You should not have to be told this.
- Don't be a jerk. You should not have to be told this, either.
Please note that this brief summary is not an excuse to skip reading the rules. In fact, here's another link.
IRC Etiquette
IRC is somewhat different from other chatrooms in the sense that it is more of a prolonged environment than other chatrooms online; many people constantly stay in their IRC channels, rather than drop in and out.
Additionally, it should be kept in mind that it is also a chatroom, rather than someplace where you can do lengthy posts.
Due to this, here are a few suggestions to make use of the IRC more enjoyable for yourself and others.
- IRC channels can be slow moving at times, so don't show up and then leave if no one has said anything in five minutes. Sometimes it takes longer than that for anyone to notice that people have joined, or that others are even active.
- You don't need to say you're going "AFK" or will "BRB" unless a particularly fast paced conversation is occurring that you are taking part in. If it will be a particularly long leave of absence, consider changing your nick to indicate it, so it has |AFK appended, or perhaps |dinner, or doing some clever portmanteau of your nick and the fact that you're gone, such as 'dinnerlit' from doctorlit, or 'JulyWorksForTheMoney'.
- Use mibpaste or Pastebin.com is a good idea when you have longer things to share with the chat; this cuts back on flooding the channel (which can get you kicked by the bot!) with things that might not be of interest to everyone.
- Limit use of chatspeak and emoticons! While it is a network of chatrooms, IRC as a whole generally doesn't use much chatspeak, and this is the PPC, where we're supposed to be proud of our ability to use spelling and grammar properly! Use of 'lol' isn't impressive when it's the fifth time in as many minutes that you've used it, and the point of emoticons wears thin when every line is ended with 'XD' or ':)'.
The Channels
The two main channels are #PPC and #PPCLounge. Occasionally other chatrooms are set up when needed, such as for reviewing someone's story as a group, a planned RP, or to #gettodachoppa.
#PPC
- PPC is the main channel, and is thus the hub. Serious conversations and silliness are both allowed and encouraged in here. Discussion is always a great thing, and in the evenings this chatroom becomes quite full. It is always a good idea to ask questions in here, and there is usually someone who is willing to volunteer as a beta.
#PPCLounge
When #PPC is too busy to keep track of easily, there is a serious conversation going on that you do not want to interrupt, or you want to engage in light PPC roleplay without interrupting something that is already going on in the main channel, #PPCLounge is usually good for use when you want to keep things open.
Ops
Op, or that star/@ sign next to the names at the very top, means that that person is an Op, or Operator for the channel. That means they can give voice to others, as well as kick or ban people if it is necessary. Ops only take action when it appears warranted due to blatant rule breaking, or if intervention past what the Designated Arbitrators have done is required.
Any bans given by an op are to be reviewed by a DA to ensure that it was the proper course of action.
List of Ops
- Bot
- Data (Nifar)
- Plat (Myon)
- Dann
- Makari
- VM
- Maslab
The Bot
Bot is an automated bot. To prevent what may be seen as an arbitrary use of power to kick for swear words, the bot handles the kicking for most foul language automatically. It also kicks for spam (saying the same thing over and over in a short amount of time) and flooding (saying several different lines in a very short amount of time) to maintain the signal to noise ratio.
DAs
- Main article: Designated Arbitrator
Designated Arbitrators are the balance to the Ops. DAs have the authority to table a conversation if it gets too heated, and also to review bans. The only difference in power between the Ops and DAs is the ability to ban someone; DAs have the ability to unban someone if the ban period has ended or has been deemed unwarranted.
For a list of DAs, see the main article.
Discussions
Shakespeare Somethingdays have been proposed as a weekly discussion thing to take place in the new chatroom for anyone who is interested.
Quotations
Especially humorous or just plain wacky chat quotes can go here if it pleases anyone. Consider it propaganda to urge you to join.