i've honestly never really used IRC before either. i briefly considered making a server for the fun of it but i never did. the chat plugin is good enough for me :)
that would require knowing how to write code and be a fancy programmer, which i am not :( it might be a fun project? though i wouldn't have any idea where to start.
what IRC channels do you hang out on? i'd love to lurk a few and see whats up
most ISPs block port 6667, which i guess is the default port for IRC servers. most ISPs block a lot of useful ports, in the name of "safety". for example, here's all the shit that mine blocks:
- TCP 21 (ftp)
- TCP 25 (smtp)
- TCP 80 (www)
- TCP 110 (pop3)
- TCP 6667 (ircd)
- TCP/UDP 135-139 (dcom and netbios)
- TCP/UDP 443 (ssl)
- TCP/UDP 445 (ms-ds)
- TCP/UDP 1433-1434 (ms-sql)