This FAQ consists of
answers to several frequently asked questions on the IRC
newsgroups and the DALnet IRC Network help channels. Please email
questions to help@dal.net.
Section
I: General Information
Section
II: Services
Section
III: Other Resources
Section
IV: Administration
1.1
- What is IRC?
IRC stands for
Internet Relay Chat. IRC is a program that provides a forum for
many people to talk to each other. IRC allows hundreds and
thousands of people to chat together in a forum called an IRC Net.
The IRC net is made
up of several servers linked together. Typing /links will show you
a list of the servers connected to that particular IRC Net. There
are several IRC nets - three of which you are probably most
familiar with are called EFnet, UnderNet and DALnet.
If you are coming
from AOL or Prodigy, you may already be familiar with the
"rooms" feature. In IRC these are not called
"Rooms", rather they are referred to as
"Channels". Each Channel is designated with a # sign or
a & sign in front of its name. DALnet has a special channel
feature which allows + channels instead of # or & channels.
What's the difference? Simple - a # channel has all privileges of
a regular channel - it can set modes and carry op status. A +
channel has no modes and no ops.
1.1a
- Why can't I join a + channel?
Some clients aren't
able to handle the + channels properly. Try type /quote join
+channelname or /raw part +channelname to join and leave.
1.2
- Do I need software?
Yes you will need
some sort of IRC Software in order to access IRC directly. If you are accessing IRC through a Unix
account/school vax account, ask your system administrator if they
have an IRC Client installed already. If so on most systems you
can type 'irc' and enter into IRC from there.
From your web browser
you can use DALnet's Java client;
you do not need any new software for this.
DALnet allows you to
TELNET into IRC as well. To do this simply type telnet
telnet.DAL.net - login as dalnet and choose your nick from
there. Note: While using the telnet client, you cannot change
servers.
You may want to
contact your system administrator before setting up any IRC
Clients on your computer. They may have a client they recommend
and/or can guide you through some of the proper setup
instructions.
1.3
- Where can I get the software?
You can download a
client for any platform (Unix, VMS, Windows98, Windows95, Windows
3.x or Macintosh) from our Clients
section. Or contact your system administrator - find out what
they recommend.
1.4
- How do I setup my software?
You can check the
website of the specific client; get the URLs in our Clients
section, or you may contact your system administrator for
specific setup information. Always read the README files that are
included with most software packages - especially shareware
packages. They can be of great use at times.
1.4a - I'm having
trouble connecting...
A: Have you specified
port 7000? If you are unsure of a port, visit our DALnet
Servers Listing and check for the correct port to use. The
syntax in specifing a port is:
/server servername.DAL.net 6667
Where
servername.dal.net is the server you are using and 6667 is the
port at which you'll be connecting at.
1.4b - I have specified
port 7000 but I still can't connect!
1.4c - I have port 7000
specified and I tried another server but I'm *still* not connecting!
1.5
- What is DALnet?
DALnet began early in
1995 by Dalvenjah FoxFire.
It was then that Dalvenjah
and his friends MirclMax, Morpher
and Lefler first realized that
IRC could be safe from the havoc of Efnet. Soon afterwards DALnet
had channel and NickServ registration services, with MemoServ to
follow soon afterwards. DALnet began to grow quickly during the
summer of 1995, both in users and in servers. Soon MirclMax found
his one wish rewarded as DALnet hit 5000 users just days before
Max was to graduate. We continue to grow and remain loyal to our
users.
Through DALnet
Services we provide a safe enviroment for users to chat. With
Channel and Nickname registration, users can once again control
their chat time. Our motto is "The Friendly Net" and our
goal is to remain that.
1.6
- How can I get to DALnet?
You have three ways
to reach DALnet in order to chat.
a) IRC Client -
Point your IRC Client to irc.DAL.net 7000 - this will randomly
choose a server within DALnet for you to use.
b) Java
Client - chat quickly and easily from your own web browser.
c) Telnet Client -
telnet to DALnet by typing telnet
telnet.DAL.net - login as dalnet and choose your nick. NOTE:
when using the telnet client, you cannot change servers.
1.7
- Where can I find information about DALnet?
Information about
DALnet can be found at http://www.DAL.net.
You can also read our newsgroup alt.irc.dalnet.
If you do not get this newsgroup, submit a request to your
server's News administrator - they should be able to recieve the
group within a few days.
1.8-
How can I find out what's happening on DALnet?
Another way to keep
in touch with DALnet is by subscribing to our mailing lists. The
dalnet-announce mailing list is made primarily for users wanting
to keep up with all the latest information about DALnet. The
dalnet-administration list gives information on new services
commands, and how to use them, security help, where to find help
if you need it and the status of applying servers.
To subscribe to any of our mailing lists check our mailing
lists page.
1.9
- Why is it called DALnet?
1.10
- What are some good channels to try first?
1.11
- Where can I get a list of servers?
You may visit http://www.dal.net/servers/serversindex.html
to find a list of DALnet servers.
Another way to obtain
a list of DALnet servers is by typing /links or /map while on IRC.
Beware, this may cause your IRC Client to scroll unexpectedly.
1.12
- Who wrote DALnet's ircd?
The IRCD Coding team
consists of:
Lucas (Team Leader)
Raistlin_Mejere
epiphani
sedition
1.13
- Who is person in charge of DALnet?
The Founder of DALnet
is Dalvenjah FoxFire. He
along with the Executive Board
(current members: JoeBlow, taz, Watchman toolman ) control all the
main arms of the network.
1.14
- How can I help out?
1.15
- What are those @ symbols?
The @ you see is used
in IRC to denote who in the channel has op status.
In IRC Channels are
controled by channel operators, they have the ability to kick
people out, ban them from a channel and/or change the channel
topic (For channels that are +t)
A rule of thumb:
Don't go into a channel demanding or requesting ops. That will
come in time. Be kind and hang around and eventually you'll be
trusted with the Channel operator status.
Please Note: Channel
operators are NOT IRCops.
1.16
- What is a bot?
A bot is a program
used to simulate a user while on IRC. It connects just like a user
would however bots are not real people. The owner of the bot
programs it to do certain functions, relay messages between
channels, relay messages between the IRC Nets, or just for fun,
i.e. a bartender bot or a random quote bot. DALnet has a STRICT
policy against clone bots or war bots. ALL BOTS ON DALnet MUST BE
REGISTERED.
A Clone bot is just
like a regular bot, however it has the ability to spawn off
several copies of itself onto an IRC Server. Sometimes this can
range into the hundreds. They are mainly used to cause trouble,
flood a user off IRC, annoy people or just give someone a very
unpleasant experience. War Bots operate much in the same way but
are more focused on the job. War Bots can also be clone bots and a
clone bot can be a war bot - it all depends on how much damage
occurs.
NOTE: If you are
caught running War bots or Clone bots on DALnet - you will face a
kline and/or possible termination from your ISP. DALnet does work
closely with many ISP's to get rid of trouble users.
FAQ - Services
This FAQ consists of
answers to several frequently asked questions on the IRC
newsgroups and the DALnet IRC Network help channels. Please email
questions to help@dal.net. Send
revisions, comments, additions, or deletions to faq@DAL.net
2.1
- What are Services?
Services is what
allows a user to "own" and "control" their
nickname and channel. It consists of four services for users to
access, NickServ, ChanServ, MemoServ and HelpServ. - Do not be
fooled by imitations.
NickServ provides
nickname registration and enforcement. The owner of a registered
nickname can manually kill anyone using his or her nickname or
configure NickServ to do so automatically. Nickname registration
is also required before you can register a channel or access
MemoServ.
ChanServ provides
channel registration. The person who registers a channel (known as
the "founder") can control what modes are allowed on the
channel, who is a channel operator, as well as set other channel
parameters. ChanServ also supports a list of people to be
automatically kicked or banned from the channel.
MemoServ allows
people with registered nicknames to exchange memos. These are
short messages that are stored for subsequent retrieval.
HelpServ provides the
standard ircII help service. Note not all clients are able to
access or use this information.
DALnet was the first
IRC Network to use such devices as these services (excluding
HelpServ) to control its enirvonment. (And actually use them so
that they *worked* properly) Services allows a user to eliminate
hostile channel takeovers and nick collides. Channel wars are very
difficult to have as Services will overrule anyone not authorized.
There are a lot of
other nets out there proclaiming to have channel and nickname
registration, however these are NOT DALnet related. While some
claim to be DALnet and have our code for services, these rumors
are false. DALnet code is copywrited by DALnet for use on DALnet.
2.2 - How
do I register my nickname?
To
register your nickname - first find a nick that is not already
registered by someone else. You must change to that nick in order
to register.
Once
you have your nick selected you may type:
/NickServ register {password}
Please
do not type {password} :) Replace it with a word or pass code you
can remember - WRITE DOWN YOUR NICKSERV PASSWORD.
If you
run into trouble while registering /join #help - they will aide
you in registering your nick step by step, or visit our NickServ
pages and follow their examples.
2.3 - How do I register
my channel?
First you MUST have
Channel ops on the channel you wish to register. You may then
type:
/ChanServ register #{channelname} {password} {description}
{channelname} should
be replaced with the name of the channel you wish to register.
{password} should be replaced with the password you wish to use on
the channel. {description} is a sentence which describes the
channel.
If you are
successfull in registering your channel, you can type:
/ChanServ info #{channelname}
This will verify the
information you gave ChanServ (excluding the password) WRITE DOWN
YOUR CHANSERV PASSWORD.
If you run into
trouble while registering /join #help - they will aide you in
registering your channel step by step, or visit our ChanServ
pages and follow their examples.
2.4 - Why won't
services talk to me?
There are several
reasons why services will not answer.
1) you misspelled
/msg or ChanServ/NickServ/MemoServ (dont feel bad it happens a
lot :))
2) If you are using
mIRC, you might be looking in the wrong box for the services
feedback. Goto Window and select status - this should bring
forth a window for you to see services responding to you.
3) Services
sometimes gets lagged. If you get frustrated, try another
server.
4) Services is not
there. Yes even services needs a reboot sometimes. :)
5) You are being
ignored by services. Even DALnet experiences its rude and
troublesome users - to save our users from getting their nick
stolen or channels taken, services will ignore that individual.
If it appears services is ignoring you email kline@DAL.net
6) Another
possibility is that your IRC client is set to ignore the old
EFnet NickServ. Type /ignore or whatever pulls up your ignore
list and see if NickServ is there. Type /ignore NickServ none or
/ignore NickServ -all.
7) It is also
possible that you have a script or client that automatically
ignores nicknames that send you messages many times in quick
succession. If NickServ or ChanServ are on your ignore list and
keep coming back when you remove them, this is probably your
problem. Sometimes putting lines like /floodok NickServ in you .ircrc
file will solve this problem.
If you experience any
trouble with services responding, /join #help and they will gladly
aide you to asses the problem.
2.5 - How can I tell
what nicknames or channels are registered?
Services has a way of
checking for already registered channels and nicknames. If you
have a particular channel you wish to register and want to check,
type:
/ChanServ info #{channelname}
Don't forget to
replace {channelname} with the name of the channel you are looking
for.
If you have a
nickname you wish to register and want to check it's status type:
Don't forget to
replace {nick} with the nickname you are searching for.
If the nick or
channel already is registered, check back every couple of days
using the ChanServ
info or NickServ
info commands. Unused nicks and channels expire after 20 days.
2.6 - What's a SOP?
What's an AOP?
SOP
stands for Super-OPerator. A sop
is not equivalent to the channel
founder but does have more priviledges than an aop. A sop
can add aops
to the list as well as akicks.
AOP's
are Auto-OP's and have basic channel operator status. They cannot
add ops to the channel list and cannot add akicks
either.
NOTE: Please be
careful who you choose for operator status. Do not give someone
you don't trust sop
access.
2.7 - What happened to
my nickname, channel, or memo?
Nicknames that are
not used will expire after 20 days.
Channels that are not
used will expire after 20 days.
Read memos expire in
four days. Unread memos expire in ten days.
2.8 - How do I use
MemoServ?
For details on using
MemoServ, you may access DALnet's www help at http://www.dal.net/services/memoserv/index.html.
For Online IRC Help
in using MemoServ send a message with the word help like this:
If you have any
troubles while trying to access MemoServ, please visit #help for
step by step information on how to use MemoServ.
2.9 - What happens if I
forget my password?
First off don't panic
- we have ways of retrieving your password for you. You'll want to
bypass the help channels and head straight for #OperHelp and ask
for a CSop there. They can retrieve your channel or NickServ
password for you. Be prepared to verify who you are - this is for
your protection. If you cannot prove to us you are who you say you
are, we will deny access to that password. We will work with you
in everyway possible to gain control of your channel/nick. It's
not a hopeless cause :).
If you get to
#OperHelp and do not get a response regarding your need for a CSop
type:
This will list for
you the CSops on DALnet.
2.10 - Who are the
services programmers?
2.11 - Can I get a copy
of services?
No. Services is not
freeware or shareware. It is a program written by the DALnet
coding team specifically for DALnet. It is not something we give
out.
2.12 - How are DALnet
services different from other nets?
Well to start with,
ours work. DALnet was the first net to use these services from the
beginning. We continue today to use them upgrading and recoding,
or tweaking the code as we go and will continue to use it in the
future.
Unlike many other
nets, services is NOT a bot. It's a code which acts like a server.
It can experience netsplits the same as any other server. It does
however act like a bot in many ways. You can ping ChanServ just
like it were a regular bot or user. You can also message it like a
bot or user.
DALnet's services are
used for protection. Unlike many other nets claiming to have a
similar feature, DALnet's services are unique in that they act as
enforcement as well. If a user violates your nick or channel
either on purpose or accident, services will send any proper
actions to the user in order to act appropriately based on what
you've programmed it to do when you registered your nick/channel.
2.13 - There's a nick
I'd like to use but it says I can't.
Use the Info
command to find out when the user was last on. Nicks do expire
after 30 days of no use so keep checking back. If the nick becomes
available, you may register it.
FAQ - Other Resources
3.1 - Where can I find
out more about DALnet?
DALnet's website can
be found at:
DALnet's FTP site is
at:
DALnet has a
newsgroup for the use of it's users and IRCops:
3.2 - Where can I find
an IRC client?
3.3 - Where can I find
an IRC operator?
You can get the
assistance of an IRCop (IRC operator) in #OperHelp; simply type
/join #OperHelp. The IRCop whill have an '@' sign next to their
nickname, signifying a channel op. Please wait patiently for help,
as they are often quite busy.
If you cannot find
anyone in #OperHelp, try typing /who 0 o. This will give you a
list of IRCops who aren't currently set +i (invisible) - beware
though that all in all likelihood msg'ing someone from this list
will not ensure a reply.
If you need to regain
a password that you have somehow lost, typing /motd services.*
will bring up a list of all of DALnet's CSops (Chat Service
Operators). If you cannot find anyone from this list online,
#OperHelp is a good place to look.
4.1 - How can I become
an IRCop?
First off, don't
*ask* to be one. Admins tend not to pick folks as it is often a
sign to be taken as begging. This is highly frowned upon as Admins
prefer to choose someone who is around often, makes themselves
known through helping rather than pestering. A willingness to help
is a definite must. IRCops spend a lot of their time helping
users. Admins will not choose:
1) Folks who appear to want the IRCop privileges for the /kill command
2) Folks who think the IRCop priviledges is a sign of power
3) Folks who just think being an IRCop is "cyewl"
4) Folks who are not around much
5) Folks who make a nuisance of themselves.
By following proper
etiquette - kindness, helpfulness, and respect, you raise your
chances of being noticed tremendously. When an Admin feels you are
ready, they will approach you - not the other way around.
4.2 - Can I run my bot
on DALnet?
Some servers do allow
bots to be run. Some do not. ALL servers require that you register
your bot before hand. To check you can type:
server.* would be the
beginning of the server you are on - or simply visit The DALnet
Servers Listing and view the servers to see if they allow
bots.
4.3 - How do I link my
server to DALnet?
To link a server to
DALnet you must agree to the rules and regulations set forth in
the server
application section.
Also, please browse
through the DALnet
Policies and Procedures. You must be subscribed
to the dalnet@dal.net mailing list before applying.
Once you have
completely reading these documents, download the text only version
of the Server
Application and follow all instructions therein.
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