IRC
IRC Instructions:
The IRC is no longer hosted on Freenode (evidently Freenode suffered a hostile takeover in 2021 and most of the staff left). https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-been-taken-over-by-the-crown-prince-of-korea/
It is now hosted on Libera.Chat #jaxlug
So, fire up your IRC client of choice, look for the #jaxlug channel, and try out a nickname:
i.e. /nick <your proposed nickname> (you can't use robmckennon... that's mine!) :)
If successful, then register that nickname by: /msg NickServ REGISTER <Pas$w0rd> <yourEmail@blah.com> (for a confirmation email to be sent)
Copy the line in the email that looks like this: /msg NickServ VERIFY REGISTER <nickname> <randomStringOfDigits> into the chat window, and you should see something like: <nickname> has now been verified.
That's it!