A Beginner's Guide to the Internet

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Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!convex!convex!constellation!mmmirash From: mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mandar M. Mirashi) Newsgroups: alt.irc.undernet,alt.irc.questions,alt.irc,alt.irc.ircii,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: IRC Undernet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (Part 1 of 2) Supersedes: <irc/undernet-faq-1-785911972@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu> Followup-To: poster Date: 3 Dec 1994 11:32:57 GMT Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA Lines: 1317 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Distribution: world Expires: Monday, 02 Jan 95 05:32:57 (Z) Message-ID: <irc/undernet-faq-1-786454377@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu> Reply-To: mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mandar M. Mirashi) NNTP-Posting-Host: vinson.ecn.uoknor.edu Summary: This posting contains useful information regarding IRC and an alternative network to the EFnet - the Undernet IRC network. Please read this before posting to alt.irc.undernet, alt.irc.questions, alt.irc, or alt.irc.ircii Keywords: IRC irc Undernet faq FAQ client server telnet internet X-Posting-Frequency: Posted each week to the IRC newgroups X-Content-Currency: This FAQ changes regularly. When a saved or printed copy is over 2 months old, please obtain a new one. Originator: mmmirash@vinson.ecn.uoknor.edu Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu alt.irc.undernet:360 alt.irc.questions:1879 alt.irc:23636 alt.irc.ircii:1764 alt.answers:6000 news.answers:30482 Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: irc/undernet-faq/part1 Version: $Id: undernet-faq, v3.2.0 1994/11/28 13:23 mmmirash Exp $ Undernet IRC FAQ [Part I] (updated 28th Nov 1994) - Weekly Repost Version 1 By Paul Grant (Grant) Version 2-3 - written by Mandar Mirashi (Mmmm) mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu The FAQ consists of answers to several frequently asked questions on the IRC newsgroups. Please don't ask these questions again, they've been answered plenty of times already - and please don't flame someone just because they may not have read this particular posting. Thank you. The FAQ consists of the following sections. I) IRC for the newcomer II) The Undernet (for the newcomer) III) The Undernet (for the EFnetter) IV) The Undernet (how can you participate?) V) Acknowledgements/References VI) Undernet IRC server list This article covers section I, and includes answers to: 1-1) What is IRC? 1-2) Alright, now how do I get onto IRC? 1-3) Are there any IRC telnet sites? 1-4) Hmm..I'm confused. What does a client do? What's a server? 1-5) What do I do next, once I'm connected to IRC? Is there a way to get online help? Why won't /help work for me? 1-6) Okay..can you describe what a channel is? How do I join/create one? How do I join multiple channels? 1-7) How do I find out: * Who's on a channel? (What do H and G mean?) * Who's on IRC itself? * Who's on IRC from the same site as myself? * more info about a person? 1-8) What's a channel operator? How do I become one? 1-9) Help! Someone kicked/banned me from a channel. Whom do I complain to? 1-10) Okay..can you tell me a little more about general etiquette (netiquette) over IRC? What do terms like "re", "brb", etc. mean? 1-11) What's a mode change? What are modes? 1-12) How do I perform an "Action"? 1-13) How do I "scrollback" in ircII? Are there any special key bindings available? 1-14) How do I make the output of a command in ircII pause after each screenful? How do I "cancel" further output from a command? 1-15) Ugh..all my messages seem to appear on a single status line. My term settings seem to be messed up. Help! 1-16) What are the funny characters that I see at times in channel names or nicknames over IRC? 1-17) Why do I get "No text to send" when I talk on a channel? How do I get rid of this?? Please help! 1-18) Darn..my irc session froze up :( Is there some way that I can get rid of my old nick/session? 1-19) How do other people change the text that appears in the parentheses () after their names? 1-20) How do I read my "irc" mail? 1-21) How do I find out when someone was last seen on IRC? How do I leave a message for someone not on irc? 1-22) How do I get "special effects" such as bold/reverse/underline when using ircII? 1-23) Someone on IRC asked me to type in a certain command that I do not understand. What do I do? 1-24) How do I save my ircII settings (such as nickname, default server, etc) so that they are in effect the next time I sign onto IRC? 1-25) How do I drop to the Unix prompt temporarily? 1-26) When I try connecting to a server, I get "Connection refused" or "Connection timed out" or "Unknown host". What do I do now? 1-27) What does the message "Ghosts are not allowed on IRC" or "You are banned/not welcome on this server" or "No authorisation" mean? 1-28) What is a netsplit? What's "lag"? How do I avoid either? 1-29) Why do I get that annoying ~ which shows up in front of my address on IRC? How do I get rid of it? 1-30) Hmm..what are all these "power scripts" that I keep hearing about? Do I need them? Why do people call them risky? 1-31) Oh, I see. Now what's a bot? Why do people have a love/hate attitude towards bots? Can I make a bot? 1-32) Help! This extremely obnoxious person keeps harassing me with messages/flooding me. What should I do? 1-33) Hey..I heard that you can exchange files over IRC - how is that done? What's DCC? 1-34) How can I "register" my nickname? What's Nickserv? 1-35) Where can I find pictures/gifs of people on IRC? 1-36) Where can I find an IRC manual? Where can I find more information on IRC? If you're looking for the answer to, say, question 1-5, and want to skip everything else, you can search ahead for the regular expression "^1-5". (/1-5 in case you use vi). While I have tried my best to keep the FAQ updated, there may be inadvertent mistakes or omissions. Is there a question that you find frequently asked, but not mentioned? Please send all suggested additions/ corrections/deletions/comments/etc. to mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu This FAQ (both parts) can be obtained via anonymous ftp from ftp.undernet.org or ftp.undernet.org under /irc/docs, or from rtfm.mit.edu under /pub/usenet/alt.irc/ If ftp does not work from your site, then try the mail server: send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with send usenet/news.answers/irc/undernet-faq/part1 send usenet/news.answers/irc/undernet-faq/part2 URL's on the World Wide Web for this FAQ are: http://www.undernet.org/~agifford/undernet/underfaq/ http://www2.undernet.org:8080/~cs93jtl/underfaq/ P.S. : This FAQ widely refers to the Unix ircII client and many commands might not work the same way if you aren't using ircII. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-1) What is IRC? IRC stands for the Internet Relay Chat. It is a much better, multi user implementation of the rudimentary 'talk' program. On IRC, several persons can simultaneously participate in a discussion over a particular 'channel', or even multiple channels. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion, or the number of channels that can be formed over IRC. All conversations take place in *real time*. That's one of the fortes of IRC, and IRC has been used extensively for live coverage of world events, news, sports commentary, etc. It also serves as an *extremely* inexpensive substitute for long distance calling. People from all corners of the world can be found over IRC. IRC was developed by Jarkko Oikarinen in Finland in the late eighties, and was originally intended to work as a better substitute for 'talk' on his bulletin board. Of course, since then, it attracted overwhelming popularity, especially after the Gulf war when IRC was used to carry live coverage of events, and its growth has been exponential after that. Since then, reports of the Russian coup, and the California earthquake have been carried *live* over IRC, with people located in Russia and California bringing in the eyewitness reports. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-2) Alright, now how do I get onto IRC? The irc program that you need to get onto irc is called an 'irc client'. First, check if your system already has an irc client installed by entering "irc" at your system prompt. If you're lucky, it could have been installed already on your system, and you may skip the remainder of this answer. If you do not have an irc client installed on your system, then you need to install one. Irc clients have been developed for a variety of platforms, and the Unix ircII client is by far the most popular one. There are also several emacs and x11 clients that run under Unix. Irc clients have been developed for MS-DOS / MSWindows, Macintoshes, (assuming that the PC/Macintosh that you use is connected to the network, i.e. you can't use a MS-Windows client if you dial in via a modem to a Unix system, although you may be on a PC - unless your PC is on the network with its own ip address (e.g. runs slip/ppp, or has TIA) VMS systems and VM/CMS systems as well. A major repository for IRC clients of all kinds is the site ftp.undernet.org. Another site that you may want to try is cs-ftp.bu.edu. You will need to FTP the code for the clients (or binaries as may be the case) from these anonymous ftp sites. A popular VMS client is the ircdough 'ircII-for-vms' client which has a lot of good features. WSirc is a good MS-Windows irc client. ircII on Unix -------------- If you're on a Unix system, and aren't familiar with the nuances of ftp, uncompress, untar, the concept of Makefiles, etc. you may wish to try the auto-magic install which will do it for you. The foll. command at your Unix prompt will auto install an ircII client: telnet sci.dixie.edu 1 | sh The unix ircII client takes up about 1.5Megs of disk space (including the help files). If you do not have enough diskspace, or have problems in compiling a client, you may try a precompiled client for your system, which is usually just 400K or so. To find out what Unix system you're on, use the command 'uname -a'. Once you do that, ftp the appropriate precompiled client from ftp.undernet.org /irc/clients/compiled. If you cannot spare even 400K for an irc binary, you may want to try the smallirc client which can be found at ftp.undernet.org under /irc/clients. This takes about 100-150K. ircII under VMS (ircdough) --------------------------- Here are the sequence of steps I took to install the ircII for vms client (you need about 1600-1800 blocks for installation. After deletion of unnecessary files, the client takes up about 500 blocks): $ create/dir [.ircii] $ set def [.ircii] $ ftp ftp.undernet.org Connection opened (Assuming 8-bit connections) <Welcome to the Dixie College Center of Excellence FTP server. <sci.dixie.edu FTP server (Version wu-2.4(1) ....ready> Username: anonymous Password: <Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. SCI.DIXIE.EDU>cd irc/clients/vms/ircII-for-vms <CWD command successful. SCI.DIXIE.EDU>confirm off [All transactions are implicitly confirmed] SCI.DIXIE.EDU>mget * [... multiple file gets deleted...] SCI.DIXIE.EDU>quit <Goodbye. $ $@install This will put you onto the main installation menu. You may exit this menu by holding the "Ctrl" key down and pressing "Z" (or by choosing selection "X"). Installation is very simple, just start with the first option 'P' and set the installation directory. Next select option 'C' and begin compiling the program. If that completes successfully you can then try and run the irc program with the next option to see if it compiled correctly. If it has, then you need to type in 'I' to install the client into the proper sub directories. You can then proceed to the next step and type in D to delete all the non-essential files to conserve your disk quota (type in 'Y' - {capital Y}, when it asks if you've done the installation step). After this, you can exit and edit your login.com to have $irc :== $disk:[username.ircii]irc.exe For example: $IRC :== $COUGAR:[SMIM.IRCII]IRC.EXE In case you're unable to compile a client, or wish to have a directly precompiled "VMS ircII" (ircdough) client, follow these steps: i) ftp to ftp.undernet.org and look under /irc/clients/vms/binaries for the right binary for your type of VMS system. Make sure you ftp it in *binary* mode (type 'bin' within ftp). Also ftp the irchelp.hlb ii) Next, look under /irc/clients/vms/common_files and ftp all the files in *ascii* mode (type 'ascii' at the ftp prompt). WSIRC under DOS/MS-WINDOWS -------------------------- (this section assembled from responses by Caesar Samsi,csamsi@clark.net, - the author of wsirc, on alt.irc. If you have problems installing it, you can email him) First, you must be running MS-Windows. WSIRC and WINSOCK.DLL are MS-Windows based software. Second, you must use an implementation of tcp/ip for MS-Windows which is called WINSOCK.DLL (it is actually the name of the file, but we refer to the protocol by the same name). Third, you must either be connected to a TCP/IP LAN or a modem. When you use a modem, you must subscribe to a SLIP/PPP account with your Internet Service Provider. You must ask them: your username, your pchostname, your permanent ip address , their DNS ip address. These will be required for WINSOCK.DLL configuration setup. Fourth, there is a configuration setup you need to do with WINSOCK.DLL, the specifics are covered by each vendor's documentation. Commercial WINSOCK software costs US$ 199.- to US$ 299.-. Shareware WINSOCK software costs US$ 20.- to US$ 40.- (Peter Tattam's WINSOCK.DLL is US $ 20.- has an internal SLIP driver and works very well). FTP sites for the complete WINSOCK distribution are: winftp.cica.indiana.edu File: twsk10a.zip ftp.cica.indiana.edu File: /pub/pc/win3/winsock/winsock.zip You can download wsirc itself, from ftp.undernet.org under /pub/irc/clients/msdos Fifth, assuming all of the configuration works. Dial up your internet service provider to your SLIP or PPP account (a script file can automate this process) if you're on a modem. Sixth, once connected, start up WSIRC. Open up the Options | Server dialog box and enter all information in the boxes provided. For server names, browse the list of servers in the appendix of this FAQ. Do not use the actual ip address (e.g 123.222.222.222), use the human text name (us.undernet.org). Use port 6667. Use the username and pcname provided by your SLIP provider. Use nicknames that are NO LONGER than 9 characters. Use no spaces in between for anything (except for the email info, but that's optional). Seventh, click on the connect button (or use File | Connect). If it doesn't connect, try another server. If 11004 error occurs, either your DNS ip address is wrong or you entered an invalid server name, enter a valid server name. If 10060 or 10061 occurs, either the server is down, busy or otherwise not responding, try another server. If the server says "Nickname in use", change your nickname on the fly with /NICK mynick. The server should then display its MOTD (message of the day) file. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-3) Are there any IRC telnet sites? This question pops up with frightening regularity on the irc newsgroups. IRC telnet sites are absolutely not recommended except as a *last ditch* effort when compiling a client doesn't work for you, or if you are simply unable to use a client for lack of an account/diskspace/etc. Before answering this question, you should consider the following *disadvantages* of using a telnet client site for IRC: * It is much much slower than using your own client. In cases, you may be connecting all across a continent to use IRC. * It is usually limited by a maximum number of users allowed on it. * It is not possible to send or receive files over irc when using a telnet client. * It is not possible to customise and tailor the client to suit your needs. * And finally, a telnet client site may simply stop providing service due to the huge abuse that often results from the client. This is more often the case than the exception. So, you are left stranded and have to hunt for new telnet sites. In short, GET YOUR OWN CLIENT. Under Unix, a client can be installed in as little as 150-200K of free diskspace. At best, telnet client sites should be used as a temporary solution until you are able to get your own client. It is with this goal in mind that the foll. list is provided: wildcat.ecn.uoknor.edu 6677 or 129.15.22.174 6677 sci.dixie.edu 6677 or 144.38.16.2 6677 ns.ensicaen.ismra.fr 6677 or 192.93.101.16 6677 obelix.wu-wien.ac.at 6677 or 137.208.8.6 6677 (obelix also runs on ports 7766, 6969 and 6996) irc.cps.cmich.edu 6788 *Tip* -> An easy way to remember telnet sites is: telnet1.us.undernet.org telnet2.us.undernet.org and so on.. The same convention applies for European sites (telnet1.eu.undernet.org, etc) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-4) Hmm..I'm confused. What does a client do? What's a server? An irc client reads in the commands that you give it, and parses them. It filters them and performs the appropriate actions, and if necessary, passes them on to a 'server'. An IRC server can serve many other clients. The server holds information about the channels and people on IRC, amongst other pieces of information. It is also responsible for routing your messages to other people on IRC. The IRC network itself consists of multiple servers which connect to one another in a 'tree'-like fashion (as an undirected acyclic graph to be precise). It is usually best if you select a server close to the site that you irc from. Here's a partial list of servers to try: us.undernet.org - Central USA pasadena.ca.us.undernet.org - West coast USA boston.ma.us.undernet.org - East coast USA eu.undernet.org - Europe ca.undernet.org - Canada au.undernet.org - Australia Usually, a countrycode.undernet.org should get you to one of the servers in your region. If not, you can try one of the servers listed above. To find out which server is closest to you once you're on IRC, use the /links command to get a list of servers. To switch to the closest server, try /server servername. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-5) What do I do next, once I'm connected to IRC? Is there a way to get online help? Why won't /help work for me? Thumb rule: All ircII commands must be preceded by a / Thus, typing /help gives you a list of available ircII commands. [If you're using ircII, and /help won't work for you, it's quite possible that your local help files have not been set up right. Try /set help_path <path-to-helpfiles> and if that won't fix it, try /set help_service ircIIhelp You will need to ftp ircII2.2.9help.tar.Z from ftp.undernet.org /irc/clients, and uncompress and untar the help files, and point the help path appropriately if you want /help to work efficiently] If you're a newcomer to IRC, you may try /help newuser and /help intro for more information on irc commands. To get you started: /LIST Lists all current irc channels, number of users, and topic. /NAMES Shows the nicknames of all users on each channel /JOIN <channel> Join the named channel. All non-commands you type will now go to everyone on that channel /MSG <nick> <msg> Sends a private message to the specified person. Only the specified nickname will see this message. /NICK Change your nickname /QUIT Exits irc. /HELP <topic> Gets help on all IRCII commands. /WHO <channel> Shows who is on a given channel, including nickname, user name and host, and realname. /WHOIS <nick> Shows the "true" indentity of someone Use this often to make sure you know who you are talking to, because nicknames are NOT owned so any number of people could use a nickname. /PART <channel> Lets you leave the specified channel. However, once you have joined a channel, you need not precede your lines with a /. Whatever you type, simply goes to the entire channel. Precede your lines with a / when you wish to execute an ircII command and when you do not wish the text to be sent to the entire channel. When you're connected, your Unix login name is usually taken as the default 'nickname' for yourself. You may wish to change this with a /nick newnick command. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-6) Okay..can you describe what a channel is? How do I join/create one? How do I join multiple channels? A channel is a place on IRC that people can meet and participate in a discussion. Channels on IRC are dynamic in the sense that anyone can create a new channel, and a channel disappears when the last person on it leaves. To get a list of channels you may try the command /list mentioned earlier. You may also *limit* the listing by the use of optional arguments as follows: /list -min 3 - shows channels with at least 3 people on them /list #a* - shows channels whose names begin with the letter a. A channel name begins with a # or a & (# channels are global, & channels are restricted to the local server). To join a particular channel use: /join #channelname If a channel with the particular name doesn't exist, then a *new* channel is created with that name. The person to first join a channel also becomes the channel operator (see 1-8) by default. If you wish to join multiple channels, make sure you type in : /set novice off ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-7) How do I find out: * Who's on a channel? (What do H and G mean?) As mentioned earlier, the command /who #channelname will list all users on the channel. This will show an output of the form: #wasteland Macro H*@ sandland@gaya.nki.no (the one and only...Macro.) The channel is #wasteland. Macro is the nickname of a person on it. The H stands for 'here'. (persons who mark themselves away will show up as G for 'gone') The @ stands for channelop, the * stands for IRCop. sandland@gaya.nki.no is his email address, and what appears in the parentheses is his customisable IRCNAME. You may also use /names #channelname for a more compact listing. * Who's on IRC itself? The command /names will list ALL users on IRC. Use this with the -min argument as discussed with the /list command, to limit the listing. (A /names output can be very large) * Who's on IRC from the same site as myself? The command /who *yoursitename* or /who -host *yoursitename* should list people from the same site as yourself. (the asterisks (*) are needed) * more info about a person? The commands /who nickname-of-person or /whois nickname-of-person will give you further information about a particular 'nickname'. A slightly more advanced command is /ctcp nick finger, which returns finger information on the given nickname. Once you know the user@host, you may even do /exec finger user@host which does the standard Unix finger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-8) What's a channel operator? How do I become one? When you do a /names #channelname, the persons with a @ prefix before their nickname are channel operators for a channel. A channel operator can decide who can be allowed to stay on a channel, and the various settings for the channel (such as whether the channel can be made secret, or invite only, etc). A channel operator can pass on the operator status to another person. By default when someone creates a new channel (by simply /join #channelname) he gets to be the channel operator. A new channel is created by specifying one that doesn't exist in a /list. So, to become a channel operator yourself, you can either (i) create a new channel or, (ii) ask an existing channel operator to op you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-9) Help! Someone kicked/banned me from a channel. Whom do I complain to? The answer to this question is the current channel operators, and them alone. Given the dynamic nature of channels, channel operators do not need to have a *reason* to kick you off. They decide what goes on over the channel. Complaining either to IRC operators or to the system administrators about being kicked/banned from a channel is considered extremely childish, and results in no action. Irc operators do not meddle with channel politics - that's the job of channel operators. Another IRC netiquette is to keep IRC issues within IRC, because system admins have little time to deal with IRC issues and many would rather shut it down rather than deal with problems arising from it. If you should get banned or kicked from a channel, you are always free to start your own channel and decide what is appropriate over it. Think of channels as houses. The owner of the house can decide to share ownership with someone else or decide to disallow any individual he chooses into his house. In your own house, *you* call the shots. :-) Feel free to create your own channel, and set up your own rules for it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-10) Okay..can you tell me a little more about general etiquette (netiquette) over IRC? What do terms like "re", "brb", etc. mean? * Language: The most widely used language over IRC is English. However, it is by no means the only one. When you join a channel, try to use the language that most people on the channel understand/ use. Most channels frown upon obscenities or profanity. Better to play safe and find out what's the accepted norm over the channel. * Greetings: Using IRCII's /ON facility to automatically say hello or goodbye to people is extremely poor etiquette. Nobody wants to receive autogreets. They are not only obviously automatic, but even if you think you are being polite you are actually sounding insincere and also interfering with the personal environment of the recipient when using autogreets. If somebody wants to be autogreeted on joining a channel, they will autogreet themselves. * Lingo: On IRC, communication speed often matters when talking to others, and as a result, many "shorthands" have been developed by IRCers to convey the most amount of information in the smallest amount of keystrokes. Here are some common shorthands: "re" - repeat hi, used when you have left a channel and rejoin it "brb" - be right back! "bbl" - be back later "bbiaf" - be back in a few minutes "ttyl" - talk to you later "rtfm" - read the f* manual "rtrfc"- read the f* RFC "oic" - Oh, I see! "imho" - In my humble opinion "rotfl"- rolling on the floor with laughter "focl" - falling off the chair laughing "nfi" - no f* idea "ayfq" - ask your f* question "wtf" - who/what the f*? "u" - you "y" - why "2" - to "b" - be "r" - are "c" - see Another common 'emoticon' in use over IRC is the "smiley", which is :-) (look at it sideways), but is often abbreviated to :) There exist many variations to smileys and "frownies" :-( * Discussion: When you come to a new channel it's advised that you listen for a while to get an impression of what's discussed. Please feel free to join in, but do not try to force your topic into the discussion if that doesn't come naturally. * The NOT's: The following is a list of "do not do's" on most channels and over IRC as a whole: o Do not flood the channel with text. This can be extremely frustrating for people over slow modem connections, and is likely to get you instantly kicked. o Do not use beeps in your messages. o Do not use profanity in your public messages. o Do not harass another user with unwanted messages/comments etc. o Do not indulge in *destructive* behaviour which reduces the functionality of IRC. (such as running clonebots/floodbots/nick colliders - this can lead to your system admin being notified). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-11) What's a mode change? What are modes? Every user and channel on IRC has a set of "modes" associated with him/it. Here's what the help page on the mode command says: Usage: MODE *|<channel> [+|-]<modechars> [<parameters>] MODE *|<channel> [+|-]b [<nick>[!<user>[@<host>]]] MODE <nick> [+|-]<umodechars> The mode command is quite complicated and it allows channel operators to change channel mode, or any user to change their personal mode. For a channel mode, <modechars> is one of the following: i - channel is invite only k <key> - Adds join key <key> to the channel. Keys can added or removed (MODE <channel> -k <key>), but not changed. l <number> - channel is limited, where <number> is the maximum number of users allowed m - channel is moderated (only channel operators talk) n - No MSGs to the channel are allowed from someone outside the channel. o <nick> - Makes <nick> a channel operator p - channel is private s - channel is secret Note: On 2.8 servers you cannot set both +p and +s modes t - topic limits, only the channel operators may change it v <nick> - Gives someone a voice to talk on a moderated channel. A + or - sign determines whether the specified mode should be added or deleted. If you supply * as channel name, modes will apply to your current channel. The second form of the MODE command allows you to ban somebody from a channel. This is done by specifying a sting of the form nick!user@host. For example: MODE #MyChannel +b *!*@gus.* bans everybody from the channel who is on IRC from any machine whose name is gus. MODE #MyChannel +b netw1z bans anybody using the nickname netw1z. MODE #MyChannel +b *!merklin@* bans anybody whose user name is merklin. MODE #MyChannel +b jerk!tug@boat.edu bans the user tug@boat.edu from the channel whenever he is using the nickname "jerk". If you are channel operator, you can list the bans in effect on a channel by: MODE #MyChannel +b To find out the existing modes on a channel try MODE #MyChannel The third form of the MODE command allows you to modify your personal parameters. You can precede any combination of the following with + or - (+to switch that mode on, - to switch it off). o - IRC operator status. You may not turn this on with mode. To assert operator status, you must use OPER w - Receive WALLOPS (messages directed at all operators. see WALLOPS. s - Receive server notices. This includes KILL notices and notices about what is happening with links to the local server. i - Render yourself invisible. This prevents you from being seen in WHO and WHOIS information, unless somebody specifies your exact nickname with WHOIS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-12) How do I perform an "Action"? Whilst on IRC, you may often see messages of the sort: *** Action: Muffin hugs everyone! or on other clients: * Muffin hugs everyone You can do the same via the /me command. /me action will send the action to your current channel. For example, try /me dances. If you wish to send a private action to someone, rather than to the channel, use the /describe command. /describe nick action will send the action to the specified nickname. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-13) How do I "scrollback" in ircII? Are there any special key bindings available? To "scrollback" under ircII, use /lastlog command. The /lastlog command keeps track of messages that appear in your ircII screen. However, it holds a limited number of messages in its buffer. To change the size of the buffer use /set lastlog <n> where <n> is some number. By default, the lastlog buffer is of size 44. /help lastlog for more information on the lastlog command. ircII can also scroll back and forth (through the lastlog) using Esc-P (for Previous 1/2 screen) and Esc-N (for Next 1/2 screen). Esc-E returns instantly to the last line (back to the current scrollage). Besides this, ircII provides for several in built default key bindings (emacs style) which are very useful: ^P recalls previous command line ^N recalls next command line ^F moves forward one character ^B moves backward one character ^A moves the cursor to the beginning of the line ^E moves the cursor to the end of the line ^D deletes the character under the cursor ^K kills from the cursor to the end ^Y reinserts the last stretch of killed text ^U clears the whole line ^L redraws the screen The caret (^) stands for the control key on your keyboard. Thus, ^P is interpreted as pressing the control key and the 'P' key together. On a related note, you may also try the help pages on the HISTORY command and the ! metacharacter. (/help history and /help !) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-14) How do I make the output of a command in ircII pause after each screenful? How do I "cancel" further output from a command? To make your output pause in screenfuls, use the following command: /set hold_mode on To cancel further output from a command (for instance if you accidentally did a /names when you hadn't intended to) use /flush * Warning: /flush flushes all output sent to the client so far from the server. This means that you may end up losing some public/private messages too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-15) Ugh..all my messages seem to appear on a single status line. My term settings seem to be messed up. Help! This information holds for unix users. For some reason, the environment settings which reflect your term type haven't been set right. If you're using a vt100 compatible terminal, you may try: unsetenv TERMCAP setenv TERM vt100 from your Unix prompt. The above commands will work if you are a csh or tcsh user. (To find what shell you use, try "echo $SHELL") If you do not use these, try: TERMCAP= TERM=vt100 You may even use the 'stty' command to tell the system how many rows your display holds. For example, stty rows 24 Another command which can be used to reset terminals is the 'tset' command. Try: tset -s -m ':vt100' You are advised to read the man pages on the tset and stty commands for more information. ("man stty" and "man tset" from your Unix prompt) You should also check your modem emulation software and associated documentation and find out which term it emulates, in case you're on a modem. Under VMS, do a SET TERMINAL /INQUIRE so it will set the terminal it expects to match your terminal emulator. If this doesn't work, do a help on the SET TERMINAL command to find out how to directly command the VAX to go to VT100 mode. Lately, many irksome users have been exploiting a well known bug with the talk facility to mess up your screen settings. Remember to type the foll. command if you're on Unix, before starting irc: mesg n If you're on VMS, try: SET TERMINAL/NOBROADCAST ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-16) What are the funny characters that I see at times in channel names or nicknames over IRC? Many people on IRC may use certain ASCII characters instead of their Scandivanian counterparts to convey the same. For instance: [, { 'a' with two dots over it ], } 'a' with a small circle above it \, | 'o' with two dots over it, or a dash ("/") through it ("[", "]", and "\" = upper case) In addition, IRC supports the ISO Latin-1 8-bit character set. Thus, Japanese IRC'ers use special ANSI escape control sequences to transmit their Kanji alphabet. However, destructive individuals often use clone processes to connect to IRC servers and spew garbage. If you see a lump of funny looking nicknames, please report them to an IRC operator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-17) Why do I get "No text to send" when I talk on a channel? How do I get rid of this?? Please help! This message is often seen when you use an old client which is no longer compatible with the current series of IRC servers. To get rid of it, get the latest version of your client! Look up 1-2) for more information on obtaining a new client. A temporary solution is /query #channelname. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-18) Darn..my irc session froze up :( Is there some way that I can get rid of my old nick/session? Occasionally, you may suddenly get disconnected from the IRC network and find yourself still "logged in" on IRC. In this case, you need to find the orphaned process and kill it, so that you can regain your nickname. Go back to the Unix shell and try "ps -ux" or "ps -f". This should show a listing similar to: /u/sodeep%> ps -f UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME COMMAND sodeep 12501 12344 14 09:46:27 p22 0:00 ps -f sodeep 12498 12344 0 09:46:18 p22 0:00 irc sodeep 12344 12342 1 09:42:55 p22 0:02 -tcsh Identify the irc process and the process identifier (PID). Then, all you need to type is "kill -9 <PID>". Thus in this case, I would have typed in "kill -9 12498". To get more information on the Unix ps and kill commands, refer the man pages ("man ps" or "man kill"). If nothing works, try "kill -9 -1" which will kill ALL processes owned by you. If you are on VMS, use the command: show user/full <username> This will display a list of processes and a list of process ids. Next choose the ghosted process, and type in: stop/id= <pid of process> If you're using a later version (>2.4) of ircii-for-vms, a /ctcp ghosted-nick PID returns the process id directly, and you can use that directly with stop/pid. If your machine crashed, and your nick is still in use on the IRC network, you'll have to wait 4 to 5 minutes for your server to recognize the fact. Getting an Operator to kill the ghost is almost never necessary, just sign on as another nickname and wait for the "Ping timeout" or "Error 0" message, then you can change your nick back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-19) How do other people change the text that appears in the parentheses () after their names? If you use the Unix csh or tcsh shells (to find out what shell you're on, try "echo $SHELL" from your Unix prompt), try the following: setenv IRCNAME "what you want here" If you don't use csh/tcsh, try: export IRCNAME="what you want here" If you want the setting to be the same each time you login, you need to put that line in your .login (for csh/tcsh users) or your .profile (for other shell users). If you don't use csh/tcsh, you will also need to add the line "export IRCNAME". Edit the .login or .profile file using your favourite editor (vi/emacs/joe/pico/etc) If you use a VMS ircII client, edit your login.com and put the line: define ircname "what you want here" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-20) How do I read my "irc" mail? This is yet another common question from newcomers using ircII. There is no mail over irc. The mail notification that you see is the number of mail messages in your Unix mailbox. To read this, exit irc, and type "mail", or "pine", or "elm", or your favourite mail reader. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-21) How do I find out when someone was last seen on IRC? How do I leave a message for someone not on irc? The command /whowas can be used if the person in question has signed off recently (this depends - usually not more than 5-10 minutes). /whowas Mmmm for example, will tell you if a person with nickname Mmmm was on irc recently. If you wish to be notified when a certain person signs onto IRC, you can use the /notify command. /notify Mmmm will notify you when Mmmm signs on. To leave a message for someone who's not on IRC currently, you can use the /note command. However, /note is highly server dependent (works on some servers, doesn't on others) and if it works on a server, it may be taken off without warning if it's found to affect the server's performance. The syntax for sending a note is /note send nickname!user@host message You are recommended to use email since it's much more reliable. To achieve the same under ircII using email, you can do: /exec echo "message" | mail user@host ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-22) How do I get "special effects" such as bold/reverse/underline when using ircII? The special effects that can be produced depend on the capabilities of the terminal. If your terminal supports the control sequences, you will be able to see messages highlighted/underlined/bold. The foll. control characters achieve the effects: ^B - Bold ^_ - Underline ^V - InVerse (on old ircII clients, ^b - inverse, ^v - underline, ^_ - bold) The caret (^) stands for the control key on your keyboard. Thus, ^B is interpreted as pressing the control key and the 'B' key together. It is quite possible that some of these control keys may have been bound already. For instance, ^B is usually bound to BACKWARD_CHARACTER. To get around the default behaviour of ^B, try /bind ^B self_insert The ^B in the line above needs to be typed in as a caret(^) followed by B (not as control-b, since this hasn't been unbound as yet, and hitting control-b will simply move your cursor back). * Warning: Lines with special effects in them are considered annoying by most people, so be frugal in their usage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-23) Someone on IRC asked me to type in a certain command that I do not understand. What do I do? One word. DON'T. If you do not know what the command does, you should not try it. It is often the case that unscrupulous persons fool newcomers to IRC into typing cryptic commands. Some of these commands can affect the security of your account, and even your system as a whole. Never try the /exec command if you do not know what it does. Contact your server administrator if you were asked to execute a cryptic command (/admin will reveal the server admin), and get more information on what the command does. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-24) How do I save my ircII settings (such as nickname, default server, etc) so that they are in effect the next time I sign onto IRC? A file named .ircrc (use "ls -a" from your Unix prompt to check if you have one) in your home directory can be used to store settings that you would like to have each time you sign on. The lines in the .ircrc file are interpreted as if you were actually typing them in when you're on IRC. The / character before commands is optional however. Thus if you wish to join a certain channel each time that you sign on, you could put in the line: join #channelname in your .ircrc file. Unix users also can play with the following shell variables: HOME where your home directory is IRCNAME (text that appears between parentheses in a WHOIS) IRCNICK your default IRC nickname IRCPATH a directory path to LOAD scripts IRCRC a file to use instead of your $HOME/.ircrc IRCSERVER a default server list for ircII TERM your terminal type See the answer to question 1-19) for help on setting a specific variable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-25) How do I drop to the Unix prompt temporarily? It is possible to suspend the ircII process temporarily by first typing the following command /bind ^Z STOP_IRC (the ^Z needs to be typed in as a caret ^ followed by Z) Then, just hit control-Z to momentarily suspend ircII and to drop to your shell prompt. Beware that the irc server checks to see if a particular client is alive by pinging it every once and then. If you suspend ircII in this fashion, you may "ping timeout", and hence be cut off from the server. You should be able to return to the ircII process by typing "fg". Note that this feature may not work on all shells. If you wish to prevent being ping timed out, you must install ircserv (compile ircserv.c which came with the client, and move it to the same directory as the irc client), and start up ircII with the command "irc -S". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-26) When I try connecting to a server, I get "Connection refused" or "Connection timed out" or "Unknown host". What do I do now? This usually happens due to one of the following reasons: * The server name you specified is wrong * Your nameserver is having problems and can't understand the name you gave it and can't translate it into a numeric address. * The server or the machine or the route to the server is down. When you see this occuring, you should check up whether a server of the specified name actually exists. If it does, you should then try the numeric address of the server (e.g 129.15.22.33) rather than its symbolic one (e.g. Norman.OK.US.undernet.org). A good thumb rule is to note down the numeric addresses of your three favourite servers. Sometimes, you may for some reason not be able to connect on the standard irc port 6667. In that case, you may try alternate ports 7000 and 7777 via /server numeric-address-of-server port# Keep trying different servers (and/or ports) using their numeric addresses, until you're able to connect. If you're still unable to connect, then your local network is probably having problems and you should contact your system admin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-27) What does the message "Ghosts are not allowed on IRC" or "You are banned/not welcome on this server" or "No authorisation" mean? You may get either of the first 2 messages when your site or you have been denied access to a particular server. The technical term for it is being "K-lined". If you find that you have been K-lined from a particular server, you can switch to another one. K-lines for entire hosts are sometimes put up by IRC admins for one of the foll. reasons: * Your site is not close to the server and you'd be better off using a different closer server. * Someone from your site has been running destructive clone processes over IRC, which used forged ids. The only way to counteract them was to k-line the entire domain. If you want the K-line for the host to be lifted, you will need to talk to your system admin and get identd installed at your site (RFC1413, ftp.std.com /src/network/ pidentd-2.2.tar.gz). If you wish to ask why you were K lined from a server, you can write to the server admin for that server. His or her email address can be obtained via the command /admin servername. The "No authorisation" message occurs due to a similar reason. The server does not give your site access. A server administrator can choose which sites can connect to his server via "I-lines" (called invitation lines). Many servers I-line only local sites. You should try to use a server close to you. A list of servers can be obtained in the appendix of this FAQ (part 2). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-28) What is a netsplit? What's "lag"? How do I avoid either? As mentioned earlier, IRC servers are arranged in the shape of an acyclic graph. Let's say a sample snapshot of connections looks like A -------------- B | | C D where A, B, C and D are servers. Let's say that you are on server C, and server A splits from server B. This "split" often occurs due to faults in the underlying *physical* network. It can also occur due to other reasons, such as if the machine on which server runs, crashes, or if it is too overloaded to handle connections (happens on bigger nets), or if an IRC operator willfully disrupts the connection between two servers (happens when operators reroute servers to achieve a better routing). Then in this case, you will see users on B and D, "sign off". Voila! That was a "netsplit". When A and B rejoin, you will see users from B and D "rejoin" the channel you were on. To cut down on the mass signoff and rejoin messages that you see during netsplits, you might try the "netsplit" script that comes with the ircII client. Use the command /load netsplit to load it. The term "lag" refers to the delay in messages reaching their destination. You might often see a bunch of messages from a certain user all together. In this case it's quite possible that the user is "lagged". If you see a flood of messages from *everyone*, then no messages for a while, then a flood again, etc., it is quite possible that *you* are lagged. To find out how well you are doing with respect to others, use the /ping command. /ping #channelname forces a response from others on the channel, and you can compare response times. Lag can occur if you are not connected to a server close to you, or if you are on a telnet client, or due to faults in the *physical* network, or if the machine on which the server runs is slow. There's not much you can do to avoid netsplits. They're a part of the way ircd was designed, and also a part of the way the Internet runs. To avoid lag, always use the server closest to you. The /links command lists all IRC servers. Use /server servername to switch servers. Both lag and netsplits are much much lesser on the Undernet, but more on this later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-29) Why do I get that annoying ~ which shows up in front of my address on IRC? How do I get rid of it? On IRC, it is often difficult for the server to verify the userid of a particular client. Malicious users often use this to their advantage by using forged userids and harassing other users, or starting destructive clone processes which flood the network with garbage. To better authenticate userids, later versions of irc servers check to see if an IDENT server runs at your site. If it does, the correct userid is queried from the IDENT server and used, and the userid given by the user ignored. A server administrator may choose to make the server tag users whose machines do not run IDENT with a ~ before their name, signifying that they may not be under a verified userid. This way, they can also deny access to troublesome sites that do not run IDENT. If you see the ~ before your email address in a /whois, and wish to get rid of it, you will need to talk to your system administrator, and ask him to install ident. The relevant RFC (request for comments) which gives more information on ident is RFC1413. The IDENT package for Unix systems can be found at: ftp.std.com /src/network/pidentd-2.2.tar.gz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-30) Hmm..what are all these "power scripts" that I keep hearing about? Do I need them? Why do people call them risky? The ircII client supports a scripting language which allows you to program useful macros, functions, etc. /help ircII programming will help you get started. Most of the scripts that you see advertised are unnecessary. No one needs a script that does mass mode changes for instance. (If you're wondering why, each mode change is transmitted to each and every server on the net. A mass of mode changes thus eats up a lot of unnecessary bandwidth. Think about this the next time you do a mode change.) The scripts which come with the client are more than sufficient to help you get by. Notable scripts that come to mind are the 'tabkey' script, which allows you to flip between people whom you sent messages to before by a press of the tab key, and the 'netsplit' script which cuts down on the mass signoffs and rejoins that you see during netsplits. When someone offers you a script, do not /load it without going over it with a fine toothcomb. Even a simple /load scriptname can cause you grief, if you do not know what the script does. Read each and every line in the script, and get a general idea of what the script does before loading it. Several scripts are known to have 'backdoors' put there intentionally or unintentionally by the authors or distributors. Loading a script which you haven't gone over is a BAD idea. To repeat, *never* load a script without reading it first. If you do not understand it, DO NOT load it. Yes, it might have "worked" for others - let them dig their own graves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-31) Oh, I see. Now what's a bot? Why do people have a love/hate attitude towards bots? Can I make a bot? The term "bot" is short for "robot". You can often come across these on IRC. A bot is a detached irc process which simulates another irc client. Some bots serve as repositories for files, or useful data, or conduct games. Dumb bots only do mode changes. Harmful bots fork clone copies of themselves or flood the irc network with garbage (clonebots/floodbots). These are almost universally hated. Most bots on IRC are a nuisance, even though their owners find their invention "cool". To quote guidelines for bots from the IRC primer: * automatons should be clearly identified as such, having "bot", "serv" or "srv" in their nickname. * they should use NOTICES to communicate with the rest of the world, and not reply to NOTICES they get. * they should be able to always be killed (craziness is a frequent disease among robots). * they should be able to be killed remotely by their owner via IRC. * they should not give access to their owner's real files, (bandits have already been able to crack people's accounts through their robots). * they should not send messages to channels (unless the channel is dedicated to that robot). * they should not flood channels with MODE changes. Please do not make yet another bot which disregards any of these. IRC has more than its share of disruptive bots. *Never* ever take bot code from someone and run it without understanding what it does. This is a common mistake amongst newbies. Security issues come into play again, not to mention that users doing this are often clueless about controlling them, and the bots become a big nuisance. If you *must* run a bot, learn ircII programming, or even better, C/perl & network programming, and make sure that your bot serves a useful purpose rather than "ops you on your channel and keeps it open when you are not there". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-32) Help! This extremely obnoxious person keeps harassing me with messages/flooding me. What should I do? One of the first commands that a newcomer to IRC must learn is the magic /ignore command. With this command you can ignore people flooding you or your channel, or harassing you, or whatever. The syntax of the ignore command is: /ignore user@host ALL To find the user@host for a person, do a /whois nickname, or a /who nickname. If you just wish to ignore messages from the person you may do a /ignore nick MSG. /help ignore will give you more information on this command. You can use wildcards (* and ?)in the user@host. Thus to ignore everyone from a *.com site, /ignore *@*.com all On the Undernet, you can also use the "/quote silence" command to counter people flooding you. This cuts flooding at the *local* server unlike /ignore where your client continues to receive messages even though you may not see them, and causes your client to ping timeout in many cases. The syntax is: /quote silence +user@host or /quote silence nick Ocassionally, malicious users may hack their userid or use different accounts to get around your /ignore. Do not despair. You can still evade people like these by going invisible and changing nicks as follows: /mode yournick +i or alternatively, /umode +i followed by, /nick newnick Once you're invisible the harasser cannot see your new nickname unless s/he's on the same channel as yourself. Simple make your channel secret and invite only (/mode #channelname +sni) for you and your friends, for a foolproof cure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-33) Hey..I heard that you can exchange files over IRC - how is that done? What's DCC? If you have a client that supports DCC (direct client-to-client), you can take advantage of it to exchange files, and even hold secure conversations with your friends. To send a file via DCC to another person, use: /dcc send nickname filename The other person who's offered the file via DCC, will need to type in /dcc get nickname filename You will see establishment of a DCC connection. Now wait patiently, until the transfer is completed. You can also use DCC to have a more secure conversation with another person. DCC opens a direct connection which means that apart from the initial requests to establish the DCC connection, further exchange takes place directly between 2 clients without involvement of intervening IRC servers. To use DCC CHAT, try /dcc chat nickname Then, to send a message via dcc to the person, use /msg =nickname message (note the '=' sign which is required, otherwise the message will not go over the dcc connection). You may also try /dmsg nick message. /help dcc should give you more information on DCC. To close a previously sent DCC connection, use the command /dcc close <type> <nick> For example, if you had sent a file called sample.txt to Mmmm, and wish to terminate the send, use /dcc close send Mmmm To list current DCC connections in use, try the command /dcc list ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-34) How can I "register" my nickname? What's Nickserv? Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee that you can use the same nickname when you're on IRC. Although it is considered extremely impolite to use someone else's nickname, it does happen occasionally on IRC. This can cause confusion, and hence you're advised to make sure that your friends recognise you by your user@host. However, all is not lost. There does exist a service call Nickserv which will register nicknames and warn other users who attempt to use the same nickname that the nickname's registered by you. On the Undernet, Nickserv's still in an experimental stage. Use /msg nickserv@undernet.org help for more information. Remember that it is not a guarantee that your nickname will not be used. Steps are underway to strengthen the undernet Nickserv, if possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-35) Where can I find pictures/gifs of people on IRC? You can find pictures of people who use IRC at the following FTP sites: ftp.undernet.org:/irc/pictures ftp.funet.fi:/pub/pics/people/misc/irc (NORDUnet only) ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de /pub/comp/networking/irc/RP If you have Mosaic, you may try the following URLs: http://www.enst.fr/~tardieu/irc/ http://www.powertech.no/IRCGallery/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1-36) Where can I find an IRC manual? Where can I find more information on IRC? You can find an ircII manual at ftp.undernet.org under /irc/clients. This manual is basically all the help files concatenated into one big file. If you'd prefer each in separate files, ftp ircII2.2.9help. tar.Z, and uncompress and untar it (uncompress ircII2.2.9help.tar.Z | tar -xf -). For more information on IRC, you can download the IRC primer and tutorials from cs-ftp.bu.edu under /irc/support. For a technical overview, you can try reading RFC1459. You can also join the Undernet mailing lists - ircnet (general irc help) and wastelanders (discussion of server routing/protocol/etc). To find out how to subscribe, send mail to listserv@undernet.org with "help" in the body. If you use Mosaic, a good URL to try is: http://eru.dd.chalmers.se/home/f88jl/Irc/ircdocs.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------