right now i find it hard to have sympathy for all those who use IRC just to download, as this problem became such a huge nightmare due in large part to all the ppl who accept every file sent to them and click on every url they see, thereby infecting themselves and others. Just because you CAN do something doesnt mean its smart to.

I couldn't agree more. That reply is perfectly accurate. I'm not of the hardline opinion that mIRC is just for chat but it's certainly not primarily for fserving either. It's a sad indictment that IRC is primarly used for filetrading these days instead of interpersonal communication. It staggers me that some IRC administrators brag on their websites about such and such number of connections but never make a distinction between bona fide 'chatters' and bots. Of course trying to make a distinction isn't exactly easy, but it doesn't make their claims any less deceptive.