> If you decide you'll be hanging out on #libtechwomen a lot (or on irc.freenode.net in general), it might be a good idea to register your nick as explained here http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#userregistration because the short answer is, sometimes people are assholes.

Another important option for complete newbies is to pick a guest username (these are often generated automatically by different clients, Guest1234, etc) so that you can try it out completely anonymously. 

I, for one, am certainly happy to interact with people on an anonymous basis if that's what they want.

Cheers
stuart