Active Server Pages

#asp stands for Active Server Pages, but only in the Undernet IRC network. In other places it means Alt.Sex.Passwords. If you are looking for porn passwords, please make sure that your IRC client is NOT connecting to Undernet, it can be embarrassing.

The original purpose of #asp was to allow ASP programmers (what is now known as “classic” ASP) to hang out, compare notes (read “pick each others brains apart”) and to help n00bs learn the idiosyncrasies of the platform. The administration of the channel has varied little in close to 10 years, with no more than two channel owner changes, new ops added more or less once a year and almost no ops being removed from the rolls. I am the current channel owner (with nicks VP|bofh, VP|mbp or other variations of VP|something) and there are about a dozen regular operators and some 20 regulars that have been around for 5 or more years.

When it was obvious that classic ASP was on its way out and ASP.net was gaining strength, we decided to let it ride and see if #asp.net would take off. It didn’t, which means that most people that are looking for ASP.net help will end up in #asp instead. Most of the regulars at #asp have by now switched to open source platforms, or are doing ASP.net so, if asked the right way, an ASP.net programmer may be able to get an answer.

The basic problem is that legitimate programming traffic amounts to maybe 5% of the local transient traffic in the channel. Most of the people either come here asking for porn passwords, or trolling for whatever the hell.

A good idea is to take a look at the following (suggested) reading:

#asp articles at Veraperez.com

A guide to the #asp memes (read this so you won’t feel like we are speaking a different language)

Another good idea is to check the attitude at the door: people that volunteer to help don’t like when people that need them try to push them around. A little bit of humbleness goes a long way. And whatever you do, pay attention to what the ops tell you, and don’t assume that because somebody is not marked as an op, you can ignore their instructions. We actually got regulars that are not marked as ops that carry as much weight as any of the operators.