Hi. Hello? Anyone there? My server broke, can anyone help?
As a regular IRC user, I've seen this message many times. I've also seen the hateful responses these intrusions generate. IRC is an older communication form (relative to the Internet), mostly inhabited by those who've used it for decades, and are set in their ways.
IRC is also where you'll find large communities of people all interested in specific topics, usually tech-related. If you're an expert on MySQL, Ubuntu Linux, Python, etc, you're most likely found in #TOPIC on at least one IRC network.
Which is why there are newcomers everyday, logging on to seek the wisdom of these software gurus. If you're one of them, this post is for you; the IRC amateur who's venturing to Freenode or OFTC for the first time to ask for some much-needed help.