A frequent problem on most IRC networks. You go to an IRC channel, say #disney or #animaniacs, and the people in there never talk about the subject the channel is named after. And when you try to talk about it, everyone acts disinterested and you get ousted out of their little clique. Why name your channel after a well-known topic and then act like an asshole? The world will never know.

The #disney channel is the place the obsessive Disney geeks go to to feel like they're actually socializing, which they can obviously do only with other geeks who share their obsessions. So in order not to be reminded of their real social deviance, they scorn anyone who discusses their beloved subject in their channel, which they actually need to discuss important subjects like "I'm hungry" and "I forgot to shave again".

Actually, that was just flamebait. In most channels, people do talk about the subjects they are named after, but obviously not all of the time. Off-topic discussions are fairly normal in all unmoderated communcation channels. Also, most channels have certain initiation rites for newbies (like kicking them every 5 minutes, then banning them for a week and then, only if they answer "Yes" to the question "Have you learned your lesson", raising their status, maybe even giving them that little + sign that indicates you have "voice" in a moderated channel but which is really totally worthless in an unmoderated one).

So don't worry. The best thing you can do is idle for 72 hours and then evaluate the logs you have produced. (People will also tend to memorize your nickname although you have never spoken a word. They might greet you with "Hello Zorin, old pal, nice to see you, seen the Director's Cut of of Notre Dame already, you can see Esmeralda's titties!" the next time you come in. If you idle long enough, you will eventually get operator status and be able to ban everyone who mentions the word Pokemon, which is probably something some bot is already configured to do anyway.)

As a member of such a channel (to remain nameless), I will provide some insight. Often the topics regarding the show, book, etc has already been discussed to the point that talking any more about the subject would be a case of sadoequinecrophelia. Of course, many people in these channels are there for the same reason some people use Everything... for lack of human contact, and when newbies don't instantly conform to their little world, they become upset

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.