Once logged in, you need to know commands native to the computer your accessing. Telnet is not very useful to general internet users but does serve one special purposes. If a RidgeNet user wishes to change their password they may do so by using telnet. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat . IRC sites are places on the internet where you can go and chat with other people in real-time.
Communication is restricted to typed text but the conversation is live and can include many people.
IRCs often have groups or channels where the conversation is focused on particular topics. You can think of IRCs as live Newsgroups. RidgeNet has it's own IRC located at irc.ridgenet.net. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator . URLs are used to identify many different types of internet resources using one method.