Resources

Your best resource on IRC will probably be other users. With this in mind, here are some pieces of advice for IRC newbies:

Defender:"GET A FIREWALL. and...ACCEPT NO EXECUTABLE FILES."

LadyGwen:"relax, enjoy, don't be afraid of not knowing everything it will come along..... be courteous"

Anonymous1:"my one piece of advice would be: Go watch the way things are done first for awhile before deciding to impact on the way things are... and also try to remain true to yourself (the real you) as far as possible."

Anonymous2:"Sit back and just watch for a bit and learn the "lay of the land". It is quite easy to pick up the proper way to act to be accept by others."

Jamesey:"Dont act like a n00b! dont enter a warez server and ask "anyone got windows XP?" Dont act like you own a chat room if you are new to it. Even if you really do know more about the topic than the people who made the channel, dont make them look silly."

Sophosis:"don't fall in with wrong crowd.. choose your channels wisely.. don't give too much information to just anyone"

Anonymous3:"don't beg for ops and don't ask asl"

shard:"Three L's. Look, listen and learn. Chatting online is easy, just remember that staying out of trouble is as much the users responsibility as everybody elses." MissMinx:"say whatever you want to say and have fun, just don't be a pain..... "

Now on to some more traditional resources, websites:

First Stop for IRC help: http://www.irchelp.org
ShadowFire.Org: http://www.shadowfire.org
To Obtain PIRCH98: http://www.pirchat.com/

Guides to the Internet:
CyberAngels.Org- IRC Division
Dave's Beginners Guide to the Internet
Beginners Central, a Users' Guide to the Internet
Internet 101
Beginners & Internet Help Information by snowhawk
Beginners' Guide to the Internet
Chat 101
WiredGuide's Instruction Page


Guide for Unix:
The Unix Info Zone


IRC Guides:
NewIRCUsers.com
Tjerk Vonck's IRC introduction
NetKnowledgeBase
Nicole Manktelow's Beginning Guide to IRC
SpaceSpider.net's Beginners' Guide to IRC
Internet Relay Chat Information
Basic IRC Help and Help Links
IRC Simplified
IRC Central
AnyKey
IRC Links


IRC Clients:
Windows Based:
XiRCON
LeafChat
mIRC
Pirch98

For Unix
ircII

For Mac
Ircle
Snak
A Listing of some IRC clients for the Mac


Various IRC elements:
DALNet's IRC operator manual.
Simone Puterman's Extended Essay on IRC Nicks
IRC Scripters Guild, Mac IRC Scripts
The IRC Command Cosmos
IRC Services on ShadowFire
DALNet's suggestions for managing annoyances
Free-Scripts.net


Bots:
Bots on IRC
An Introduction to Bots
Eggdrop Bot information


Sample Network Policies:
ShadowFire's Network Policy
ShadowFire's Acceptable Use Policy


Acronyms and Smileys:
WellnessWeb's guide to Web acronyms and smileys
Steve Grossman's Chat Dictionary


Virus Myths and Hoaxes:
Symantec's Internet Hoax Listing
Virus myths


Netiquette:
The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette
The Core Rules of Netiquette
DALNet's View of Netiquette


PIRCH Links:
Ariadne's PIRCH Help
PIRCH98 Links
David's PIRCH Help
Spanner's PIRCH and Pil Pages
KoachsWorkshop
Toni's PIRCH Links

Well if you made it through all of those and still couldn't find what you need, I can be found on ShadowFire as mynx. I can try to answer your questions, but fair warning I don't have all the answers. I'm still learning day by day :)