/msg target [message] | Sends a message to the user or channel (specified by target). Some channels will let you send messages to them without actually being in the room, too. |
/join channel [password] | Allows you to join the channel. Channels can contain any sort of prefix, but usually all channels begin with "#" which separates them from users. |
/nick name | Allows you to change your nick at will. |
/part [reason] | Allows you to leave the room, with an optional reason that gets broadcast to it. |
/quit [reason] | Like part, except it's for closing the program. Some clients just disconnect you instead. |
/list | Shows a list of channels and their topics. |
/away [message] | If no message is specified, you become "available" again, otherwise it sets you to "away" and sends the message to anyone to tries to get your attention. |
/topic [topic] | Changes the topic if one is specified, otherwise it tells you what the current topic is. Some rooms lock this to use the topic to hold rule lists and such. |
/names | If you're in the room, it tells you who all is in it, which is useful for clients that don't have a userlist on the side. |
/msg nickserv recover [yournickhere] kittykitty | Sometimes, when your connection gets messed up, you can end up with a ghost. Since only one person can use a nick at a time, the server sees the ghost as a user who's still connected (eventually it disconnects, but you might want to feel like yourself again rather quickly. This command will kick your ghost off the server and change your nick accordingly. |
/msg nickserv identify kittykitty | If you didn't ghost, that recovery command isn't going to log you in with nickserv. Using this command, it'll automatically log you in if nothing went wrong in the first place. |
/join #lobby | You might choose a different room, but this is a good starting location. You can have more than one, too. I recommend making sure the login commands work, first, otherwise if you keep screwing your password up, you may annoy people in the lobby with your constant connecting and disconnecting just to get the nickserv sorted out. |