What's the difference between <USERNAME> and -!- USERNAME [SOMETHING_ELSE] ? reddit / irc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- user01110 · 2018-08-07 22:54 This is my first time using IRC, I've just installed the irssi client, and I have connected to a channel. There I see that usernames are displayed using two formats: - - -!- USERNAME [SOMETHING_ELSE] What's the difference between the two of them? If I want to send a private message, I just type: /msg USERNAME myMessage for both formats? What is that something_else? Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A-UNDERSCORE-D · 2018-08-07 22:57 IRSSI uses `-!-` for status messages among other things, the something else may be a whois response or similar. or it may be their ident, either way the correct way to `/msg` someone is by their nick only ---------------------------------------------------------------------- user01110 · 2018-08-07 23:12 Ah I see. Thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cachinnate · 2018-08-08 12:17 What you're calling USERNAME is usually referred to on IRC as your "nick" (short for nickname). IRC identities are generally displayed like - nick!user@host But irssi displays joins/quits/etc like this: - -!- nick [user@host] Your nick is just your display name. You can change your nick at any time with /nick and the user@host part of your ID will remain the same. Some clients may set the user part for you. (Irssi doesn't, you can [set that with "-user" during network config](https://irssi.org/documentation/help/network/).) The host part may be your IP address, or a masked version, or any variety of custom vhosts (depending on the network--many let you request a custom vhost). You can view this information for any user with /whois . It comes in handy when someone changes their nick and you don't remember who they are. If you usually talk to Bob!Robert@IRCfan (who will display in chat only as Bob) and you join one day to find someone you don't recognize named Tom, you might /whois Tom only to discover it's Tom!Robert@IRCfan (Bob changed his nick)! u/A-UNDERSCORE-D's advice was also correct. Irssi's -!- doesn't really mean anything, it's just "hey, this is a status line!" and I believe you can change it if you dig into the config. To /msg someone, all you need is /msg , the other stuff isn't important for that (it comes in handy with stuff like bans & invites where you need a channel mode to apply to someone regardless of what their nick might be at the moment).