IRC happy stuff

MexDownunda · none Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 46

Let me tell you a story, one that began on IRC nearly 9 years ago.

When I first started chatting on IRC it was at TalkCity, in a seniors channel, even though I was not yet a senior. The channel was full of friendly people, older folks, many of them home bound and lonely. We became a "family" of sorts, with those friendships still going on today, although many of the originals have since passed away. I functioned as a "troll buster" as the TC IRCops were totally useless, and kids were always coming into the channel to harass the olds.

We have all since moved on to other networks, but many of the friendships continue via visits to each others networks, email and telephone.

A couple of years ago one of my "roomies" in the USA told me she had a nephew in Oz who she lost contact with many years before and she asked me to locate him for her. I was happy to do so. Took me a whole 20 minutes to find his phone number and give him a ring. There was a happy young man on the other end of the line who had also been searching for his Aunty. I passed on her number and quick smart there was a very happy reunion via long distance.

Since then the nephew and I have kept in contact. His wonderful Aunty has been ill, had a couple of heart attacks and strokes and I have often been the one person who can keep them both informed of what is happening in their respective lives. He does not IRC.

Now a bit of personal: My husband and I live in a duplex, he on one side with his 4 puters, me on the other with my 2, my 4 cats and my 1 sheep. We rent, as we are both on disability pensions and can not afford to buy a home. The owner of this duplex was looking to sell up, and the first potential buyer was going to evict us, something we really did not want to happen, as we love our home and it is convenient for us to be able to look out after each other.

TG that offer to buy fell through. A week after it fell through the nephew rang me up and told me he and his wife were looking for investment property, and wanted some information about the town where I live, prices, availability, etc. What they wanted was rental property with LONG TERM tenants.

To cut the story short, they have bought this place. We do not have to move, ever, for the rest of our lives if we so choose. I can keep my cats and my sheep, even add a few chooks and such to the mix, and feel safe and secure.

This is all due to IRC and a best type mate who I have never even met in person.

Why am I telling you this story? One thing many networks and opers and users forget is that IRC is not just full of addicts, nut cases, weirdos and people with no lives. It is also a life line for many. It is the only support some people have, people who are ill, disabled, home bound, or are half a world away from families. For us this is the only contact we have with many of the people who care about us, and people we care about.

My friends include people suffering from SBT after car accidents and are confined to nursing homes at very young ages. My friends include people who are autistic and can ONLY communicate via their keyboards.

IRC channels run the gauntlet of dissability and disorder support groups, from AA and OA to fibromialga and lupus and even cancer patients. You name it and somewhere there is a support channel for it. For these people IRC is a lifeline.

So, to all of the admins on all of the networks who provide for these channels, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to you many have a reason to stay alive one more day.

One day all of you young folk will be like us, old, ill, disabled, homebound, if you live so long. Please remember that when you set up your networks. How you treat people like us is how you will be treated when you get to be one of us.