Rampancy.net is now hosting a node of the IRC network run by Subnova, which hosts channels for Bungie fans, and is the official IRC network for the Seventh Column. Channels include #hbo (http://halo.bungie.org) #rampancy (http://rampancy.net), #subnova (http://subnova.com) and #7thColumn, among others.
You may connect to this network using the server name rampancy.net and port number 6667, which is a standard IRC port.
If you're new to IRC, you can find lists of commands to help you out.
In order to get the most use from these channels, you may find it helpful to register your nickname. You can do this by typing the following command in most IRC clients:
/msg nickserv register password emailaddress
Once you have done this, you may issue the following command to use your registered nickname. You may enter this manually, but many IRC clients can be configured to issue these commands automatically when connecting to a server, in addition to automatically joining one or more channels.
/msg nickserv identify password
Nick put together a video guide on doing this.
If you don't have an IRC program on your computer, you can connect to the network using a java-based client. Click on the following link to connect to the server, from which you can list channels and join whichever one you choose. Other channels that might be of interest would be #hbo, #7thColumn and #subnova.
The server restricts access to the IRC server to only one user per IP when using the Java web client, so repeated attempts to load or re-load the page can end up temporarily banning you from the server. If you want to join the #rampancy channel directly, use this link: