IRC FAQ

From Encyclopedia Dramatica

Hello user! This is about the 30th FAQ I've written for this bloody website, so excuse me if I'm a bit brief with you. Read it, though. If you come and ask for help in a way that demonstrates you haven't read this FAQ I'm going to fucking gline you. --Yiri

ED IRC is probably the best way to get fast (if not instantaneous) help on the wiki. It also contains channels for the Dramatica community.

Some popular channels include:

#ed - general irc community
#forum - for the forum users
#wiki - for assistance with this website.

There are also some others: #encyclopediadramatica is another chat channel and #arbchat is used for Arbitration, which is a rare event these days.

Getting Started

If you want to be able to do just about anything, register your nickname. This is not hard. You type the following:

/msg nickserv register <password> <email>

where obviously you replace the words in the angle-brackets with your password and your email.

I'm Registered!

Yay! Now you need to remember to identify. Your IRC client might have a "password" place you can put the password in, or a way to send it automatically on startup. The full command is:

/msg nickserv identify <password>

If you're identified you can get channel privileges. These privileges are not handed out to just any new user on the server for the first time. Take some time getting to know your fellow chatters and become a trusted user of the IRC channels on the server. Then, once you have earned VOP, you will be added to the list by a channel operator (should have a @ before their name) who will do this at his or her own discretion by executing the following command:

/msg chanserv vop #channel add <your-nick>

You won't immediately be voiced, to voice yourself after being added (If you weren't kicked and forced to rejoin already), type this:

/msg chanserv voice #channel

Now you should be voiced. This means that when the next botflood happens, you won't be blocked from chatting. This is a good thing.

You can also get a hostmask. A hostmask is the bit after your nickname, which appears in the following format: lol!d0ngs@lol.dongs.com. "lol" is your nickname, "d0ngs" is your ident, and lol.dongs.com is your hostmask. You can however request a hostmask that only covers the part after the @ symbol; in this case, lol.dongs.com. A hostmask can be just about anything so long as it has at least one period (.) in it. Request a hostmask with the following command:

/msg hostserv request example.hostmask

This will save your request. You should then /msg Yiri to ask me to approve your request. Don't nag. Once the hostmask is approved, type "on" in a message to hostserv to activate it.

Grouping Users

In the event that you want to change your nickname, you can make your new username part of the old username's group: this will keep your channel privileges and minimize the irritation to the sysops. This is a Good Thing. Change your nickname to the desired one and type:

/msg nickserv group <main_nickname> <password>

where <password> is the password you registered <main_nickname> with.

Ghosting

Sometimes your connection might break and you reconnect, only to see that you appear to still be on the server. This will mean you can't have your usual nick. Type the following command to "kill" (disconnect) the lost session:

/msg nickserv ghost <nickname> <password>

where <password> is the registered one for <nickname>. This means you shouldn't ever share your password; if you do, other users can /kill you at will.

So What Are All These Fancy Modes Anyway?

There are many different modes available to users and channels alike. These listed here are the only ones that matter and are important to know of if you don't want to sound like a tool on ED IRC.

Letter	Name	Mode Type	Description	Symbol (if applicable)	Syntax
v	Voice	User	Gives/Removes voice status	+	/mode #chan +/-v <nick>
h	Half-Operator	User	Gives/Removes Half-Op status	%	/mode #chan +/-h <nick>
o	Operator	User	Gives/Removes ChanOp status	@	/mode #chan +/-o <nick>
a	Administrator	User	Gives/Removes Administrator status	&	/mode #chan +/-a <nick>
q	Owner	User	Gives/Removes Owner status	~	/mode #chan +/-q <nick>
b	Ban	User	Bans nick/hostmask from channel; usually accompanied with a kick.	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-b { <nick> \| <hostmask> }
e	Exception	User	Allows nick/hostmask to override bans, invite only, moderated, etc.	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-e { <nick \| <hostmask> }
l	Channel Limit	Channel	Limit channel participants	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-l <number>
m	Moderated	Channel	Silence channel; only those with voice and higher can speak	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-m
i	Invitation	Channel	Sets channel as invite-only; only those invited to the channel are able to join	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-i
n	No External Messages	Channel	Users outside of the channel cannot send messages to it	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-n
r	Registered	User/Channel	Indicates that the user/channel is registered with Nick/ChanServ	<no symbol>	This mode can only be set by Services
p	Private	Channel	Channel appears as "private channel" in /whois output	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-p
s	Secret	Channel	Channel does not appear in /whois output, nor does it appear in /list output	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-s
t	Topic	Channel	Only Ops can change the channel topic	<no symbol>	/mode #chan +/-t