A few extra notes: Your nickname can not begin with a number or a dash (-)
The client is
kind of buggy in some instances. Linux Netscape users might find that it hangs

, in which case you can use an external client like KVirc (search for it on the web with google, because I can't get to half the sites on the internet so I can't provide a direct link but avoid
www.kvirc.com, it's not what you think!)
I still firmly believe that an external IRC client like
mIRC for Windows or
BitchX for Linux (console mode, it's a text-only client) is more stable, robust, and customizable, but with the integrated client through the chat link, you are still way better off than relying on ICQ, a buggy activelist server and a Windows-based computer to chat
