The first time i joined an irc network was about 1997. a friend of mine told me to. i was completely lost, mostly because i'd never used the software before, nor had i much of a concept of what irc was.
i think it's safe to say that aside from reboots and formats i've been connected to at least four networks at any given time since then
the tfp channel is a good one, although i'm not the most active user in there, it's definitley a place to be.
there are so many losers on the internet, and there are so many horrible chat room that when you find a good one, it's something to hold onto.