irc.debian.org server not responding to /connect command [ was Re: Documentation is inaccurate ]

Greetings, Paul,

thank you for your answer.

On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 08:42:24AM +0800, Paul Wise wrote:
>On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 12:26 AM Filippo Rusconi wrote:
>
>> when trying to connect to  irc.debian.org, the alias seems to not be followed,
>> because the server is never connected to.
>
>Could you explain what you mean by this?
>
>> /server irc.debian.org

When I read the page

https://www.debian.org/support#irc

I tried to follow the instructions:

doc: To connect, you need an IRC client. Some of the most popular clients are
doc: HexChat, ircII, irssi, epic5 and KVIrc, all of which have been packaged for
doc: Debian. OFTC also offers a WebChat web interface which allows you to connect to
doc: IRC with a browser without the need to install any local client.
doc: 
doc: Once you have the client installed, you need to tell it to connect to the
doc: server. In most clients, you can do that by typing:
doc: 
doc: /server irc.debian.org
doc: 
doc: Once you are connected, join channel #debian by typing
doc: 
doc: /join #debian

This is what I tried in irssi. But the /server command is not recognized: when I
enter 

/server irc.debian.org

I get 

17:41 -!- Irssi: Unknown command: server irc.debian.org

So I try /connect irc.debian.org and that also fails differently:

7:43 -!- Irssi: Unable to connect server irc.debian.org port 6667 [Connection timed out]

But, if I now try /connect irc.oftc.net, that work immediately:

17:39 -!- Irssi: Connection to irc.oftc.net established

I can then /join #debian-devel

There must be something I do not grasp here.

Cheers,
Filippo

PS I have gone through all the steps of IRSSI manual at 

https://irssi.org/documentation/startup/
section

1. First steps

replacing irc.example.net by irc.debian.org to no avail.