SCENE: #ectomo on EFNet, also reachable through ectochat, early in the AM. Qais (Qnonymous) begins describing in details his eyebrow-dying process: no one is paying attention. Finally, the New Scum testily snaps…

Qnonymous: Nothing drives me up the fucking wall more than being ignored

Brownlee: Nic0, did you hear something?

nic0: nope?

nic0: where?

nic0: here?

Brownlee: Must have been some sort of gay technicolor sheep bleating outside.

Brownlee: JUST IGNORE IT.

nic0: OK

Qnonymous: Also being interrupted

Qnonymous: SOMETHING YOU JERKS CAN’T DO HERE

[10:57] * Florian has kicked Qnonymous from #ectomo (Qnonymous)

[10:57] * Qnonymous (~mister.sw@blah.net) has joined #ectomo

[10:57] * Qais gives channel operator status to Qnonymous

Brownlee: CHECKMATE.

Come join us in Ectochat! There’s usually a couple dozen of us alternately chatting or idling, all day, every day.

Our homespun solution to ectochat is now live. Just click the big green ectochat button in the sidebar and you should find yourself automatically whisked away to our chatroom, with no other input required (though you may want to change your nick when you arrive by typing in “/nick whatever”). The IRC client will open in a small new window, which will allow you to idle with the best of us as you continue on your Internet travels.

We just installed this, so if it doesn’t work for you, let us know in the comment section here. We’d like to make this as accessible as possible. You’ll need to have Java installed. If you don’t (Firefox will automatically prompt you), or it doesn’t work, you can continue to use the chat.efnet.org solution, or you can load up a real IRC client like mIRC (for Windows) or Colloquy (for Mac) and access room #ectomo on EFnet.

Come join us. There’s usually at least 15 people there, and while we’re sometimes idling or sleeping, we’re just as often not. Make sure to bring Eliza a piece of cake. See you there!

Join Ectochat [#ectomo on EFNet]

Last night, we officially announced ectochat and had a banner night, with a high of 25 people in the chat room at the same time.

The experience was so successful that we immediately decided that the ectochat proof of concept was over, and we needed to set up an #ectomo chat room on IRC pronto. The problem? We didn’t have a flawless IRC solution for it yet, something office drones stuck behind their browser at work could just click to come chat.

And we still don’t. That’s coming this weekend. In the meantime, we have a stopgap solution on how even people without an IRC client can visit ectochat through the comfort of their browser.

1) Go to chat.efnet.org.

2) Enter your desired nickname.

3) Add some semblance of a possibly real realname.

4) Under “Channel,” select “Other…”

5) Enter “#ectomo” in the pop-up, then click “OK”

6) Click “Login.” You’re there!

Or use an IRC client, if you’re not at work. You want to connect to an EFnet server: irc.efnet.net is a good one. The IRC option is officially superseding the crappy Meebo Room option until futher notice, and the ectochat button in the sidebar will go to this post until we provide our own solution. See you there!