IRC
What is IRC?
IRC, or Internet Relay Chat is a chat protocol. IRC is a protocol and not a piece of software. There are thousands of IRC networks and hundreds of clients. An IRC network is made up of multiple channels in which people can chat. There can be both public and private channels. So for example, anyone can join #darkscience. Multiple people can join a channel and communicate at the same time. The IRC protocol also allows you to send private messages between you and another IRC user.
How can I use IRC?
To use IRC you will need an IRC client, you can see our list of recommended IRC clients. If you don't want to install any software you can use web-based IRC.
How do I connect to Dark Science in my IRC client?
Configure your IRC client to use
irc.darkscience.net with TLS on port 6697.
Basic IRC commands
/join <channel>/whois <user>/msg <user> <message>
Once you have connected to the network, you can register your nickname so no one else can use it. To do this visit the NickServ page.
Connecting with Tor
DarkScience IRC is available on Tor using the Tor hidden service. Connect your
client to darkirc6tqgpnwd3blln3yfv5ckl47eg7llfxkmtovrv7c7iwohhb6ad.onion on
port 6667.
Tor provides its own encryption layer and thus using TLS is not necessary, however you may also connect using TLS on port 6697. When doing so, you may need to disable TLS validation as the certificate does not provide the onion domain.
It is not recommended to use TLS pinning, as the certificate used will routinely be renewed and rotated.
Resources
You can find the following resources and guides for our IRC services: