IRCnet is one of the largest IRC networks in the world, one of the so-called "Big Four." It currently has more than a hundred thousand users. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. ... QuakeNet is the largest IRC network in the world, with its average number of users well over 200,000 every day and over 180,000 channels (chat rooms). ... The Undernet is one of the largest IRC networks. ... EFnet or Eris Free network (also written EFNet) is a major IRC network, with over 100,000 users. ... Aitvaras is a popular Lithuanian IRC network. ... AfterNET is an IRC network. ... AustNet or austnet is an IRC network which aims to provide a friendly and secure alternative to other IRC networks such as DALnet and EFNet. ... DALnet is an Internet relay chat (IRC) network founded in July 1994 by members of the EFNet #startrek channel. ... Enter The Game, is an Internet Relay Chat network themed around computer games. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... GameSurge is a popular Internet Relay Chat network devoted to the Internet gaming community. ... // History IRCHighway is a large IRC-network with over 10,000 users connected every day. ... LinkNet is a secure IRC-network that support SSL-encryption. ... Phishy is a small IRC network, which is mainly used by Irish users. ... Rizon is a large IRC network, popular due to the allowance of channels for sharing warez and other copyrighted material for free. ... VKT stands for Vakarų Kompiuteriniai Tinklai (Western Computer Networks) which is localten in Vilnius, Lithuania. ... Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. ...

IRCnet was formed as a European fork of EFnet after a policy disagreement in July 1996 about how much power system operators should have. IRCnet formed with the basis that there should be a set of rules defining what sysops could and could not do. This viewpoint was opposed by many of the US-based EFnet servers. World map showing location of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... EFnet or Eris Free network (also written EFNet) is a major IRC network, with over 100,000 users. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... A SysOp is short for system operator, and is a commonly used term for the administrator of a bulletin board system (BBS) or special-interest area of an online service or, historically, the operators of any computer system, especially a mainframe computer. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ...

A rumor has persisted for some time that IRCNet got its official start when a major US EFNet hub disconnected the link to the European servers without warning, resulting in a group of European admins declaring their independence. All the European EFnet servers joined IRCNet and they were later joined by the EFnet servers in Japan and Australia.

As the new network included the world's first IRC server (tolsun.oulu.fi), they decided to adopt the name IRCnet which up to that time had been used as a generic name for an IRC network. Prior to this name they were known as the "European EFnet".

External links

• IRCnet.com
• IRCnet server list
• http://irc.tu-ilmenau.de/all_servers/ extensive IRCnet server list
• http://pasky.ukeer.de/ IRCnet server map