Connecting with the current on-site IRC

[Oniya]

Okay - last night, I reinstated my IRC nickname (first time since the new 'store your password' gadget came around).  With the old Mibbit client, when I'd sign in, there was a short period of time in which I could confirm that I was the proper owner of my nick.  With this new one, using the stored password, I immediately got the message that my nickname was 'already in use', without the aforementioned option to confirm that it's me.  Is there something I need to do to prevent this from happening in the future?

[Oniya]

Somehow, late in the day yesterday, I got back on IRC without the popup 'Nickname already in use'.  I got the little message saying that the name was already registered, and if it was me, to send a certain command to NickServ.  I think that was /msg Nickserv ID <password>.  At any rate, I did that, and it let me in, telling me that there had been 2 incorrect password attempts earlier.

So, I assumed that I had somehow typed my password into the onsite login screen wrong.   Fine.  Today, I tried going in without a stored password.  It let me onto the IRC interface, but again, 'Nickname in use' came up.  This time, the syntax for how to say 'yes, this is my nick' didn't come up, but I attempted to do it from memory.  (like above). 

It kicked me out again, saying that the ID was already in use.  Further attempts (I think 3 or 4) didn't even take me to the interface screen, but gave a popup 'Nickname already in use'.

[Xillen]

First, what a lot of people do if things go awry, is simply close the chat, and reconnect. People think that by doing so everything resets and they can restart from scratch. This is actually in fact not true! In fact, the chance is very big that you're making the matter worse!

When you close the chat (especially when using a web interface), it takes a bit of time for the server to realize that you're actually gone. In addition, if you didn't identify properly, Nickserv thinks that you're trying to steal the nickname, so Nickserv will use your nickname itself, preventing you from using it.

So if you close the chat, and want a "reset", wait at least 10 minutes before opening the chat again. If you want to go back in right away, try a different nickname if you can. Simply adding a 2 at the end of your nickname usually works.

However, the preferred option is really not to disconnect in the first place, but ask for help in the chat! If your nick is something like Nonick-BD6F31, don't fret. You can still talk. And by actually staying online, other people that know how IRC works can talk to you and help you do the right steps.

Hard and fast rule about nicknames: If something goes wrong, disconnecting and reconnecting makes it worse! So don't do it.

[Oniya]

With the new interface, since it actually warns you when you're trying to navigate away from the page, I've had fewer issues with accidentally closing the IRC.  This has been occurring after I've closed the page, shut down the computer, gone to bed, and come back at least 4-5 hours later.

[Xillen]

I just tried myself.

If you get an actual popup "Nickname already in use", then someone is already using your current nickname on SorceryNet. You must wait until whoever is currently using your nickname (most like Nickserv itself for your protection) logs off, or log in using a different nickname, such as Oniya2.

Most likely, this happened during your second and later tries, because you weren't logged in correctly during the first try. I cannot say for sure what happened the first try.

I'd recommend the latter, and then ask for help in the chat to see what's going on. It is a lot easier to help you when you're actually in the chatroom, even if under a different nickname.