#Pali (and ##buddhism) real-time chatroom on Freenode

Hello folks. I’m a user of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), a communication system where one connects to a chat server and joins various channels to participate in real time discussion on some subject or other.

One of the big IRC servers out there, Freenode, has a channel called #buddhism that I ‘lurk’ in. One of the other regulars there recently advised of the existence of the pali channel.

Each IRC channel has a topic, and the topic of pali is currently set to “Paṭisanthāro! This is where we practise Pāḷi language, an ancient Indian language similar to Sanskrit.|| Daily Pāli lessons: https://paliloka.wordpress.com

Whilst I’m not seeking to learn Pali myself, other than picking up a few words here and there, I thought some people on here might be interested in participating in the chat, so I’m making this post.

An easy way to join in would be to use the web based IRC client.

N.b. there was a spam abuse problem on Freenode recently, so many channels require one to register with the ‘nickserv’ using a simple e-mail confirmation. While pali is not one of those channels, #buddhism is one of those channels (note, that is a double # for that channel).

P.S. I bolded the channel names, because the forum software automaticaly bolded #buddhism (and made it a tag link), and I felt leaving pali unbolded might cause a small amount of confusion.

10 Likes

Thank you. I learn by interaction and this may be easier than the online course others have recommended.

3 Likes

You might want to make a guide or reference one here. IRC (and things like registering with the nickserv), like most geek things, is not exactly intuitive to the commonfolk.

2 Likes

I linked to the Freenode help page regarding nickserv. Do you feel this is not enough, or was the link missed on first reading?

While I don’t think, with the webchat link, there is a barrier to a basic participation, if anyone wishes for an overview of IRC and the commands one can use, then irchelp.org is a fair start. Otherwise, the Freenode site has further specific usage notes.

4 Likes

Thanks so much for letting us know!

2 Likes