Is there a way to make a persistent IRC account that I can read missed / old messages with?

So, I'm new to IRC.

I made a nickname with a password through nickserv on the channel that I usually participate in.

What I want to know is if there's a way I can read messages that I've missed when my computer's not on, or if I'm not connected?

I heard someone IRL mention that there are people with "persistent accounts" who check in every few days and read over all the stuff they've missed. How do you do this?

Sorry for the vague question. I've tried google, and started reading this and this, but I'm just not really seeing what I'm looking for. The "/help" command didn't "help" either.

Thanks!

PS: I'm using ERC and IRC client for Emacs.

Edit: After reading the answers, I found Ezbounce. Setting it up was easy, and figuring out how to use it wasn't too bad.

What you are looking for is a BNC also known as a Bouncer. It sits in the channel at all times from a shell account (as discussed in another answer) and you connect to it. You can have it log and feed you the log when you login or you can read the log on the server itself.

One note on your free shell account. I would watch out. Most shell providers block irc due to DDoS attacks.

If you don't like the bouncer idea anymore, have a look at the IRC distributed irc clients Quassel IRC or Smuxi.

They use a more heavyweight connection instead of just proxying IRC, enabling more functionality and seamlessness.

Unless the server supports it, no. You could theoretically buy a cheap shell account, then run a simple IRC bot on it that logs everything said, though.

My solution to this problem has been to keep a Raspberry Pi on 24/7 at home (costs about $10 / EUR10 per year to run) and run the IRSSI client on it. Then, I ssh into the raspberry pi from time-to-time and keep up-to-date.

Using Byobu means I can run several handy CLI applications this way without having to close any or exit the session when I log out.