ChatNaNo

chatnano is an IRC server almost solely used for NaNoWriMo.

Chatnano can be reached by going to chatnano.net

It's hosted on irc.kydance.net. There is no primary channel, all Municipal Liaisons are encouraged to make individual ones for their region. Registered users automatically join into their home region upon logging in but are free to join other channels.

Chatnano is equipped with Timmy the Word War bot. If allowed into the room by the local Municipal Liaison, Timmy greets everyone, throws pillows, fridges, and sometimes participants. If desired, Timmy can relay messages from certain Twitter accounts, and of course, he can run word wars.

Timmy also keeps a record of velociraptor sightings. Many are running around chatnano, and sometimes they swarm other channels/regions, killing local velociraptors.

Some channels

• #nanowrimo
• #nanowordsprints - Timmy relays the Twitter account to this room
• #chatnanoml - ML only chatroom. MLs auto-join if registered.
• #malswarroom
• #2k1hr

A full list of regional rooms can be found here.

History of chatnano

Chatnano began in October 2006 when karalianne, then second-year ML for Canada :: Alberta :: Calgary, began looking for ways to connect with her WriMos online since her co-ML was looking after in-person events. She found information about hosting IRC channels and set up a page for her region on her personal web site. Then she told the other ML's and a few of them asked her to make them channels as well.

In 2007 and 2008, she hand-coded all of the chat pages for everyone who wanted a channel and set up the chatnano.net URL.

In 2009, her fiancé set up a form so that people could register their own channels and everything would be automated. There was still some work to do by hand, but everything was a lot easier after that.

Then Utoxin offered his IRC server, and her fiancé worked with him over the next few years to get things working smoothly.