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====== Celebrating 15 years of AfterNET! ======

AfterNET turns 15 years old this September! How should we celebrate? Stop by #AfterNET and give us ideas!

====== Welcome to AfterNET ======

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AfterNET is an Internet Relay Chat network that was founded in September 1996 and is dedicated to providing a free quality chat environment, which gives people all over the world a means to communicate with each other. We take special care to ensure that our network provides a place where the [[policies:freedom|freedom of speech]] of all our users is respected.

====== News and updates ======

  * You can now [[:help:connecting:ipv6|connect to AfterNET via IPv6]] at our regular [[irc://irc.afternet.org|irc.afternet.org]] address. This hostname has both A and AAAA records, so you no longer need to use a special address to reach us via IPv6. Check out our [[:help:connecting:ipv6|IPv6 page]] for help.
  * Be sure to follow the [[http://www.twitter.com/afternet|AfterNET IRC Network]] and [[http://www.twitter.com/channelafternet|#AfterNET channel]] on Twitter!
  * We have upgraded all the servers on our network to [[http://evilnet.sourceforge.net/|Nefarious IRCu 1.3]]. This new version of the IRC server software includes [[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/evilnet/wiki/Nefarious%20IRCu%201.3%20Changes|many new features]], and we'll be enabling several of these on AfterNET in the next few weeks.
  * AfterNET now offers **[[https://www.afternet.org/qwebirc|qwebirc]]**, a web-based IRC client similar to Mibbit! qwebirc is open source, free of advertisements, and runs directly on our own servers. Our qwebirc implementation also supports login-on-connect (check the "Auth to services" box at the login screen) and encryption. We're still working out some of the bugs, but feel free to [[https://www.afternet.org/qwebirc|test it out]] and give us your feedback. Stop by #help to report any issues. We think it's the best web-based IRC client available today!
  * The [[https://www.afternet.org/qwebirc|qwebirc]] client also makes it easy for you to create a custom chat link for your users or even embed the chat window directly into your website. Click the logo in the top left corner of the qwebirc interface and choose "Add webchat to your site" to get started.
  * We also recently upgraded our network services to X3 1.7. If you experience any problems, stop by #help and let us know!

====== Come join us ======

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To chat on AfterNET, you can either download and install an IRC client or chat directly from your browser window. Many IRC clients are available for different operating systems. Once installed, connect to **[[irc://irc.afternet.org/AfterNET|irc.afternet.org]]**. Here are some IRC clients we like:
  * Windows: [[http://www.mirc.co.uk|mIRC]], [[http://silverex.org/|XChat]], [[http://www.kvirc.net/|KVIrc]], [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/rt-messaging/chatzilla/|ChatZilla]]
  * Mac OS X: [[http://xchataqua.sourceforge.net/|XChat]], [[http://colloquy.info/|Colloquy]], [[http://www.kvirc.net/|KVIrc]], [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/rt-messaging/chatzilla/|ChatZilla]]
  * Linux: [[http://www.xchat.org/|XChat]], [[http://www.kvirc.net/|KVIrc]], [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/rt-messaging/chatzilla/|ChatZilla]], [[http://konversation.kde.org/|Konversation]], [[http://www.irssi.org/|irssi]]
  * [[WP>Comparison_of_Internet_Relay_Chat_clients|Additional IRC clients]]
If you'd rather chat from within your web browser, try one of the following:
  * [[https://qwebirc.afternet.org/|AfterNET qwebirc]]: Our new web-based IRC client. Excellent!
  * [[chat|Java Chat Applet]]: Requires that you have [[http://java.sun.com/|Java]] installed. Old and slow.
  * [[http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.afternet.org&channel=%23afternet|Mibbit.com WebChat]]: Supports multiple networks. Has advertisements and frogs.
If you want to learn more about the various connection options, [[:help:connecting|read this]], or just /join #Help on IRC.

====== About our network ======

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We pride ourselves on maintaining high-speed [[servers|IRC servers]] around the globe, with a strong emphasis on network and service stability. The network has an average of [[stats|800 people]] connected to it at once, and we are fortunate to have a very loyal group of users. Our main channel is [[channels:afternet|#AfterNET]] and our help channel is #Help.

We provide username and channel registrations via our [[help:irc:x3|AuthServ]] and [[help:irc:x3|X3]] service bots. Many organizations that host websites dedicated to music, sports, software development, gaming, or other special interests choose AfterNET as their chat network because of our "free" nature and our supportive and friendly staff. We hope you enjoy your time on our network, and please [[:contact|let us know]] if there is anything we can do for you!

====== Important notes ======

  * Please be sure to read our [[policies:aup|acceptable use]] and [[policies:privacy|privacy]] policies.