The Minecraft community is very active on several IRC channels, mainly on the servers of EsperNet. Before entering any of the channels, make sure to read EsperNet's Charter and Acceptable Use Policy.
In order to join any of these channels, you must have an IRC client installed. A good IRC client that's available on Windows, OSX and Linux is Xchat. You are also able to join through a web service, such as Mibbit; although standalone clients are often said to provide a better experience.
More information on IRC can be found on Wikipedia.
Channels
- #Minecraft - The original channel made by Notch, housing between 500 and 600 users each day. Discussion on this channel is not always centered around Minecraft as the channel serves as a place for Minecraft's community to just talk about whatever they want (as long as it doesn't break any rules). Generally anybody is welcome here granted they follow the channel's rules.
- #Minecrafthelp - The main support channel. Players who seek help with Minecraft are able to ask for support here and discuss any problems they may have.
- #Minecraftforums - The forums' channel. This channel provides support for the forums. Any issues you may experience on the forums can be asked about here.
- #Minecraftwiki - The wiki's channel. Several MCWiki administrators and users house this channel. Any questions about the wiki are best asked here. Another channel used by the wiki is #Minecraftwikichanges which provides a live feed of any Recent Changes across all wiki's. Please do not chat in the changes channel.
- #Risucraft - The main modding channel. This channel discusses various mods and custom servers and those who need help with them are most welcome here.