These are some very basic commands you will need to know (at least they will be helpful so people dont make fun of you)...

/list this command pops up a window that lists all the public channels on a server... on a server like scifi the most you will get ever will probably be about 80 channels, which really isnt much %) some bigger servers you might find that list expanding to thousands of channels, and it'll take a long time to generate! You can type this command anywhere, in the status window or in a channel, doesnt matter %) of course if you type it in a channel and for get the / people will laugh, hehehe, of course we've all done that a few times ;)

/me this command you type in a channel, it will create an action, like... *PrincessLeia2 grabs summore cookies!
for that i'd type /me grabs summore cookies

/msg nickname this command is used to private message someone. No one else can see private messages between you and the person you are talking to. So if I wanted to talk to Time I'd say /msg Time blah blah blah and that would send a message to him saying blah blah blah. Private messages pop up in separate windows just like channels and channel lists. You can also send a private message to someone, if you are in the same room, by double clicking on their nick in the room's nicklist, that will create a window, with their nick on the top, that you can type into %)

/whois nickname this command is used when you want to find more info about a person, a /whois PrincessLeia2 would give you a resonse like can be seen here.

/who #channelname this command will tell you who is chatting in a channel called #channelname of course you just type in whatever channel you want to find out who is chatting in... you can type this in the status box or channel, and depending on your setting you will see the list in your status box or active channel, only you can see this!

/join #channelname this command will let you join/create a room called #channelname if the room exists you will join it, if it doesnt exist it will create the room for you, you will have channel ops, ops have the power to op other users, kick, ban, etc... This room is not permanent, it only stays as long as there are users in it!

/mode #channelname +o nickname one of the most common questions we get is how do you give ops to other people, this command is how. you can also click on the person's nickname in the nicklist and you will get your "popup" menu, there are ways to op people, kick, ban, etc in there... And as a general rule, asking people in a channel to give you ops is rude, dont do it %)

/kick nickname this is how you kick another user from your room if you are an op... also, if you do /kick nickname because we dont like you! It will kick the user with the reason "because we dont like you"

/nick newnickname This is how you can change your nickname from your current name to a new one