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title = "Where to chat or get help"
description = "Describes Docker's communication channels"
keywords = ["IRC, Google group, Twitter, blog, Stackoverflow"]
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# Where to chat or get help
There are several communications channels you can use to chat with Docker
community members and developers.
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<col width="25%">
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<td>Internet Relay Chat (IRC)</th>
<td>
<p>
IRC a direct line to our most knowledgeable Docker users.
The <code>#docker</code> and <code>#docker-dev</code> group on
<strong>irc.freenode.net</strong>. IRC was first created in 1988.
So, it is a rich chat protocol but it can overwhelm new users. You can search
<a href="https://botbot.me/freenode/docker/#" target="_blank">our chat archives</a>.
</p>
Read our IRC quickstart guide below for an easy way to get started.
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<td>Google Groups</td>
<td>
There are two groups.
<a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/docker-user" target="_blank">Docker-user</a>
is for people using Docker containers.
The <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/docker-dev" target="_blank">docker-dev</a>
group is for contributors and other people contributing to the Docker
project.
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<td>Twitter</td>
<td>
You can follow <a href="https://twitter.com/docker/" target="_blank">Docker's twitter</a>
to get updates on our products. You can also tweet us questions or just
share blogs or stories.
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<td>Stack Overflow</td>
<td>
Stack Overflow has over 7000K Docker questions listed. We regularly
monitor <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/search?tab=newest&q=docker" target="_blank">Docker questions</a>
and so do many other knowledgeable Docker users.
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## IRC Quickstart
IRC can also be overwhelming for new users. This quickstart shows you
the easiest way to connect to IRC.
1. In your browser open <a href="http://webchat.freenode.net" target="_blank">http://webchat.freenode.net</a>
2. Fill out the form.
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<td><b>Nickname</b></td>
<td>The short name you want to be known as in IRC.</td>
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<td><b>Channels</b></td>
<td><code>#docker</code></td>
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<td><b>reCAPTCHA</b></td>
<td>Use the value provided.</td>
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3. Click "Connect".
The system connects you to chat. You'll see a lot of text. At the bottom of
the display is a command line. Just above the command line the system asks
you to register.
4. In the command line, register your nickname.
/msg NickServ REGISTER password youremail@example.com
The IRC system sends an email to the address you
enter. The email contains instructions for completing your registration.
5. Open your mail client and look for the email.
6. Back in the browser, complete the registration according to the email.
/msg NickServ VERIFY REGISTER moxiegirl_ acljtppywjnr
7. Join the `#docker` group using the following command.
/j #docker
You can also join the `#docker-dev` group.
/j #docker-dev
8. To ask questions to the channel just type messages in the command line.
9. To quit, close the browser window.
### Tips and learning more about IRC
Next time you return to log into chat, you'll need to re-enter your password
on the command line using this command:
/msg NickServ identify <password>
If you forget or lose your password see <a
href="https://freenode.net/faq.shtml#sendpass" target="_blank">the FAQ on
freenode.net</a> to learn how to recover it.
This quickstart was meant to get you up and into IRC very quickly. If you find
IRC useful there is a lot more to learn. Drupal, another open source project,
actually has <a href="https://www.drupal.org/irc/setting-up" target="_blank">
written a lot of good documentation about using IRC</a> for their project
(thanks Drupal!).