In order to make your stay on DALnet more enjoyable, and to help ease the burden on other IRC Operators, the following tips are suggested.
1. Don't give out your password! Giving out your channel/nickname password, even to a close friend, is the cause of a lot of problems that opers have to deal with. IRC Operators cannot help you with your channel/nickname password, if you have been sharing it with anybody else. Be secure when entering passwords. Don't allow anybody to watch you type them in, and don't leave them written where other people can see them.
2. Use the /chanserv and /nickserv commands. Many malicious users will attempt to steal your nickname/channel password, by impersonating NickServ or ChanServ. In order to best protect yourself, use the command /nickserv instead of /msg nickserv, and the command /chanserv instead of /msg chanserv. This way, if you misspell NickServ or ChanServ, your password will not be sent. For example, /chanserv identify #channel password is much more secure than /msg chanserv identify #channel password
3. Do not add *!*@* to your channels SOP or AOP lists. While this will allow any user to have ops in your channel, it allows users access to masskick and massdeop commands, which can easily become a disaster. If a channel is found to have *!*@* in the SOP or AOP list, the list will be erased by an IRC Operator.
