You are using the EPIC irc client. Assuming you have the correct help files for your client, you are using version 4 of EPIC. EPIC is a variant of the ircII client that contains countless enhancements, while retaining near full backward compatibility with ircII version 2.8.2.

EPIC offers a staggering number of features, far too many to describe here. Instead, this document will show you the basics you'll need to get started with irc and with EPIC.

All commands in EPIC are prefixed with a '/'. This is called the command character, and is used to distinguish typed commands from messages intended for a channel. Here are some basic commands that you should become familiar with. In these examples, do not actually include the <> characters when you enter the command.

 /help <n> <topic>   This is the single most important command available
                     in this client.  If you don't know what a command
                     does, chances are it is documented in the online
                     help.  When all else fails, look here.  The 'n' is
                     a section number, and 'topic' is the command to
                     get help on.  If you use /help by itself, a list
                     of sections is given.

 /join <channel>     This makes you join the specified channel.  For all
                     intents and purposes, channels always start with a
                     '#' character.

 /part <channel>     This makes you leave the specified channel.

 /nick <new nick>    This lets you choose a new nickname.  You may use
                     any nickname you like, as long as someone else isn't
                     currently using it.

 /msg <someone>      This lets you send a private message to the specified
                     nickname.

 /server <server>    This lets you switch to a new irc server.

 /whois <someone>    This will give you some information about the given
                     nickname, such as the person's Internet address, the
                     channels and server s/he is on, etc.

 /names <channel>    This shows you a list of everyone on the specified
                     channel.  You will automatically see a listing for
                     any channel you join.

 /list               This lets you list all the channels on your irc
                     network.  This may not be a good idea, because some
                     networks have several thousand channels.

These commands should be sufficient to get you started. If you want to learn more about EPIC, reading the online help is a good way to start. If you have questions about irc in general, join one of the irc help channels and ask someone. On EFnet, the channel is #irchelp, on Undernet it's #wasteland, and on DALnet it's #dalnethelp.