3 Channels

3 Channels
3.1 join
Syntax: /join #channel1, #channel2, ... or /join channel key.
Separated with a comma, you can join several channels at once, saving you some typing. (But if you want to save typing, perhaps IRC isn’t the right place? :-) On Undernet, you’r limited to beeing on 10 channels at the same time. (See 7 for the limit on your net)
See 6.9 for allowed characters in a channelname and 3.5.1 for keys. The maximum lenght of a channel is 89 characters plus the #.
3.2 Local channels
A channel with the "&" prefix instead of “#” (e.g &chat) is a channel that is local to your server. People from other IRC-servers can't join, can’t find it in the channel-listing and can't spot you'r in it, unless they retrieve a remote whois. (2.6)
This feature might have been usefull when a server served a geographically limited userbase exclusively, for instance a specific university, but today you can connect to most servers in a net regardless of where you are. Operators on a server might stick around in a &channel, since LOCOPS and OPERS have equal powers over it, (see 4.2.7) and operators can toy around with the channel directly while the ability to toy with global channels would have messed up the security. There, they have to go through Uworld. (A service on Undernet) Don’t be surprised if this feature disappears one bright day in the middle of the night. In ircu2.10.11, you can no longer send an invite for a local channel to someone on a remote server. (That makes sense :-)
Prior to ircu2.10.11, there were also a bug making the server propagate the topic of a local channel to other servers. If a local channel with the same name existed on a server directly linked to the first one, there may have been “leaks”, but this is unconfirmed
3.3 The modeless channel. Equality by simplicity
As of ircu2.10.02 you can start a “modeless channel” This is a channel with the prefix “+” instead of #. (e.g +chat)
Such a channel can’t have any channel operators and its mode is always set to +nt.
From this, “no topic”, “no /invite”, “no external messages” and “no bans” logically follows.

The purpose for this invention is “to create an enviroment where all users are equal and not tempted to fight about ops”. Flooding should be dealt with by either leaving the channel or using /ignore or /silence. (2.12) Making it topic-free and non-invite is to avoid flooding by topic-changing or mass-invite, or any gibbering over what todays topic should be.

3.4 /part and /quit with comments
You can put a comment along when you quit irc which is visible to fellow channelmembers, with the command /quit, and as of ircu2.10.02 you can send a comment along when you /part a channel too. Perfect for getting the last word! :-)
Syntax:
/quit comment
/part #channel comment or /part #channel1,#channel2, ...

The maximun lenght of a quit-message is governed by TOPICLEN in chapter 7, and is 160 characters by the time on Undernet.
A part message could be a maximum of 65 letters and truncated with a '...' at the end if it's longer.
When a message to the channel wouldn’t have been allowed to be sent, as in cases of ban or moderated channel,
these message won’t be sent either. See 3.5 (moderated) and 3.7 (ban) for more about this.

A client-independet way to leave all channels at once is “/join 0”.

Quitting with a linebreak “//quit char$(13)” drops the parenthesis. u2.10.11.rc.1 does not display them anyway unless a reason has been specified.



3.5 Channelmodes
3.5.1 All the modes for a channel
First, a quick summary of the channelmodes:

syntax: /mode [parameter]

b []
To ban someone and display the reason.
o
To op someone
v nick
Voice someone (Speaks through ban and moderations and get a nice + by their nick)
I
Channel is invite-only
l
Channel is limited to participants at the same time
n
No messages/notices is allowed to be sent to the channel from outside.
m
Channel is moderated. Only ops and voiced people can talk.
t
Noone but the ops can change the channeltopic
p
Channel is private
s
Channel is secret
k
Set a password-key (any text) necessary to get into the channel.
r
ACCOUNT-limited channel


You are probably more than familiar with these already, so I’ll just summarize my comments on them:

b:
See 3.7 for novel use. The maximum number of simultaneous bans in a channel on Undernet is 30. See MAXBANS in chapter 7 for the limit at your net. You can easily clear a banlist by typing "/mode #channel +b-b *!*@* *!*@* ?"

Before ircu2.10.11, a nick-ban (e.g slobodan!*@*) wouldn’t take effect if the user changed into the nick inside the channel. Also, a ban did not stop external messages from a banned person from entering a -n channel.
n:
Most channels should set +n to have total control on who's talking in the channel, ircu prior to 2.10.11 let outsiders slip through +m and +b
p and s:
See 3.5.3 for the difference between these two

m:
"only ops and voiced people can talk". Before ircu2.10.11, +m didn’t stop messages from outside, now +m equals +mn

As with +b, +m censors your optional /part and /quit comments in the channel. (See 3.7) (ircu specific) and beeing in a +m channel without a voice, “censors” your quitmessage from every other channel your on too.
If that sounds confusing remember you'r quitting the net not just the channel, so sending two quitmessages about you to a person that shared two channels with you (say one +m and one not) would be like saying: "He left the net, and then he left the net again without beeing there." It wouldn't make sense.

v and o:
You can have voice and op at the same time, but then mIRC and extended /who prior to ircu2.10.11 will only display the op @, not the voice +.

k:
If you are not a channeloperator, the key will from ircu2.10.10.pl15 be displayed as * when you try to retrieve it from inside the channel.
r
+r on a user, though you can’t see that it’s set, signifies that the user has logged in with his/her account name and password on whatever service the network supports. For instance Undernet’s channelservice “X”.
+r on a channel means it’s restricted to users having usermode +r, that is, beeing registered at the channelservice.
The +r usermode together with a hidden character string persist as long as you’r connected to the IRC server, so that the channel service can recognize you even if your server splits off and rejoins the net. No need to login to X all over again.

The account name were for a short while visible in /whois, but this were discontinued. It is still easy to receive by “/msg X verify nick” though. A +r channelmode can be overridden with an invite, in fact +r is equivalent to +i if there’s no +r enabled servicebot around. (X were not +r enabled by August 2002, but it’s coming up.)

3.5.2 /Topic and retrieving channelmodes
These commands retrieve the same info as you get when you doubleclick in the channelwindow.

/mode #channel Retrieves the modes (Also when it was created when using ircu)
/mode #channel b the bans (Prohibited when you’r outside the channel)
/topic #channel the topic (Prohibited when you’r outside a +s channel)

What information is available varies from net to net. The channel-limit is shown from ircu2.10.01 and above and topic-retrieval
outside channel is also a fairly recent addition. Now it also displays when the topic were set and by whom
The key is ofcourse not available from outside. If you'r inside the channel, you probably already know the key, but it won't be displayed unless you have op. If not, someone could fetch it by sneaking into a channel during a netsplit. But since the synchronization during a netjoin will remove a channelrider's op, he won't see the key.

The maximum length of a topic on Undernet is 160 characters, the maximum for your net can be found by the variable TOPICLEN in chapter 7. For the issue of topics and netsplits, see 6.5

Tip: If you just want to know if a channel exists, please do a /mode #chan, instead of quick join/part visits.

Note: As of ircu2.10.11, topics beeing set without beeing changed is no longer displayed to the client. It should make the topicsetting of X on Undernet less annoying. It is still done behind the scenes, as topics are not automatically refreshed when the net reconnects after a netsplit.

3.5.3 Difference between +p and +s
A channel can have +p (private) or +s (secret) mode set. The difference isn't obvious:

“Secret” means Top Secret. Its existance is secret (not present in any listing), and you beeing in it is secret. (It dosn’t show up in a whois on you and you can’t take a /names #chan on it) As an extra secrery, a wildcard whois won’t return you. (see 2.7.4)

“Private” means privacy for you. The channel shows up in the channellisting, but people can’t tell you’r in it, unless they’r in the channel themselves.

p and s are mutually exclusive. Trying to send mode +ps will thus result in +s, +sp will result in +p.
Prior to ircu2.10.10, +s channels could show up in /list on rare occasions. The bug has been fixed from that version.


3.6 /invite will find a way
syntax: /invite nick #channel
Invites a person to your channel. It is nessecary to invite the person if the channel is set “invite only” (3.5).
You need to be an op in the chan to do it.

Applying to ircu2.10 and above:
When you invite a person into a channel, you’r overruling the channel limit and any ban. Give him a voice (+v) and he can speak through the ban too.

Applying to ircu2.10.10 and above:
Typing /invite with no parameters lists the channels you are currently invited to

Up until ircu2.10.11, you could invite people into non-existing #channels. The bug has been fixed
3.7 "Shutting their mouth." Powerfull chanops-feature
(Partly ircu specific.)
This feature is IMHO an important one, but not widely known. The feature is as follows:

If you ban a person in your channel, but dosn't kick him, two things take place:

1: the nick looses his/her freedom of speech in your channel. The nick can't speak in the channelwindow, and neither do a channel-notice nor a channel-ping. Even the optional /part and /quit comments are censored.

2: He/she is unable to change nick as long as beeing in your channel. This hinder nickchange-flooding. (also see 2.1)

This is usefull for a number of things, and could improve protection-routines of scripts and ops. You can have "auto-ban on flood" turned on in your script without beeing afraid of kicking a friend that's playing some ascii-art to the chan. Another idea is to implement it as a "last warning" before getting kicked, or a nice way of stopping peoples annoying /timer messages when they'r away from the keyboard, but still letting them stay.

And if you have some annoying person in your channel, you have the ability to shut his/her mouth, letting people get on with their chatting, or talking back if they feel like it, and the person, his right of babbel taken away and now ignored by everyone, leaves the channel himself. :-) In some way, it's better than to give them the attention of a kick.

NB: Any ban is overridden by a +v (see 3.6) and the /quit comment is censored for all channels (3.5.1)
A ban will not stop a person from sending external messages to the channel, use a +n mode for that.
Atleast up to ircu2.10.10.pl14, if you set a ban on a nick (bannednick*!*@*) then if somebody entered and changed their nick into bannednick, they would slip past the ban. If bannednick were an op however, the ban would kick in immediately if he were deopped. I suppose this is a bug.

3.8 kick
Removes a person from your channel. (need to be op in chan to do it) You can put a reason along if you like
Syntax: /kick #channel person [reason] The maximun lenght of the reason is 160 characters on Undernet. See KICKLEN in chapter 7 for the lenght at your net


3.9 names. Listing the inhabitants
Displays a list of nicks in a given channel.
Syntax: /names #channel1,#channel2, ...

Examples:
/names #soap.opera,#talkshow.
Displays everyone in #soap.opera and #talkshow, and all visible nicks (2.7.4) if you'r not in the channels.

In ircu, it is processed as two /names queries, and will show a person twice if in both channels.
/who #soap.opera,#talkshow (2.14) however, lists the person only once.
The list of names will be sorted according to when they joined the channel, with the newest member at the beginning.

Notes:
Wildcards dosn’t work. Sending the query to a remote server, (/names #chan server) is prohibited on Undernet, but is mentioned in RFC1459, so others might allow it. (Practical use related to “local channels” (3.2) )
“/names 0” floods you off trying to list every channel on the net. prior to ircu2.10.11, typing /names were enough to do this.


3.10 Cnotice/Cprivmsg. A "too many targets" exception
New in ircu2.10.02, +v ability added in 2.10.05
Syntax:
/CNOTICE
/CPRIVMSG

What and Why:
Undernet implemented an anti-flood measure in ircu2.10, so that you can’t message more than so and so many people in a short interval. (20 per 2 minutes on Undernet but 10 immediately when you logon). This caused problems for those that NEED to do this, for instance bots in gaming channels. Because of this, CNOTICE/CPRIVMSG were implemented. If you’r a channel operator or has voice (+v) you can mass-message people in your channel using CNOTICE and CPRIVMSG without getting the “too many targets” error.
The restrictions on number of targets should not be confused with the restriction on how much data that is allowed to pass to and from the client in a given time before it starts lagging or the client-server connection is dropped altogether. To avoid this, your bot should somehow pace the information it sends out, not pushing a hundred lines of text at once.

Note: Regardless of your status in a channel you can always /msg +k services without worrying about running out of targets (2.5.1)
Also see /wallchops (3.11) and the logon procedure (7)

3.11 Wallchops
From version 2.10 of ircu, this early attempt at an ad-hoc solution to a special case of the problem mentioned in 3.10 were added.
This sends a mass message to every channeloperator in a channel. It is supposed to replace any “message the ops” script you might have.

Syntax:
/raw wallchops #chan or /notice @#chan Sending a NOTICE in both cases.

These are two ways to send the same command. Restrictions apply as for any /notice. But if you'r using mIRC and type /wallchops directly, you are in fact using mIRCs own wallchops. mIRC will demand that you'r an op in the channel for you to use it.
Thanks to Daniel Corkill for pointing out this to me.

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