i get a nifty little 'connection timeout' message, which is the ubiquitous message for every blocked connection behind this firewall. i've never been behind any others before, so i don't know if that's standard or not. i'm not too knowlegeable about the IRC world at all, really, so i have no idea if there's any more specific step-by-step log of the connection failure. *cluelessness*

However, this looks to remain fruitless. Guess i'll have to live without FFchat.