Synopsis:
   ping <nickname|channel>

Description:
   PING is used to determine (roughly) how long messages from your side of
   the network to the recipient's take to arrive.  In a sense, it allows
   you to measure how fast or slow the network is relative to you.

Examples:
   To see how far away your friend booya is from you:
      /ping booya

   To see how far away everyone in channel #blah is:
      /ping #blah

Aliases:
   This command is identical to CTCP PING.

See Also:
   ctcp(1) ping

Restrictions:
   This command makes use of CTCP (client-to-client protocol), which is not
   part of the IRC protocol.  Most modern IRC clients understand CTCP, but
   not all do, while others might not support the same CTCP commands that
   ircII-EPIC supports.  If you receive an error of some sort, then the
   client on the receiving end is unable to properly handle your CTCP
   message.