Channel Operator Class v3.0 by Itsy [1] OVERVIEW This course is for operators, managers, and users of StarLink-IRC Channels. It is not a detailed tutorial on IRC.. there are a number of FAQs and other such information widely available. CS (the channel bot) has a limited command list that is relatively self explanatory and a FAQ is available for that as well. Check the following web locations for StarLink-IRC and related information. StarLink-IRC Pages: Includes charters for StarLink-IRC and Channel Services, Channel Listings, FAQS, and links to useful sites. StarLink-IRC Page http://www.starlink-irc.org/ [2] BASIC PRINCIPLES The StarLink-IRC community relationship between ALL members is one in which the independence is equal , the dependence mutual, and the obligation reciprocal. The StarLink-IRC Charter describes respective roles and responsibilities of all members of our IRC community. OBLIGATION Registration (Ownership) of a StarLink-IRC channel is a mutual obligation between its owner and the rest of StarLink-IRC. By supporting your channel in a manner beneficial to StarLink-IRC, you make the whole network a nice place for people to visit. In return, StarLink-IRC operations will do its very best to provide a stable environment and assist you in maintaining control of your channel. RESPONSIBILITY Owning a channel obligates the manager to take due care in selecting operators and ensuring that the channel maintains a friendly atmosphere for its users. As such, channel operator status is a responsibility and not a privilege to be given lightly. Visitors to your channel see the operators as representatives of the channel itself and, indirectly, its manager. [3] CHANNEL TYPES AND SUPPORT Unregistered: Any channel created with /join command. Registered: Has Channel Service bot (CStar) assigned. Unregistered Channels: Established on an as-needed basis by anyone, they will be supported in a limited manner. However, since 'ownership' of such channels is always ambiguous, StarLink-IRC will not attempt to restore control of a non-registered channel to an individual or group. Registered Channels: These are formally established through registration and assignment of a permanent channel bot (CStar). StarLink-IRC will assist channel managers and operators in restoring control of their channels and in general operation of CStar. All are expected to be familiar with the CStar commands described in the ChanFAQ. All Channels: StarLink-IRC will NOT become involved in channel politics and legitimate internal operations as long as such activities are compliant with the Charter. [4] INTERACTION WITH StarLink-IRC OPERATIONS Reporting: We do NOT care about internal battles or discussions that you may have within your channel, as long as they don't violate StarLink-IRC policies. However, we DO want to know if you are aware of anyone systematically disrupting or flooding multiple channels. Come to #Channels or #TerraNova or message any on-line IRCop with such information. (Type /stats o to see a list of IRCops or /motd to see the list of admins and ops for a server) Casual Visits: StarLink-IRC representatives may visit your channel for any number of reasons. They may be regular visitors or otherwise 'known' to the channel or and just want to visit and chat, like anyone else. Note that in this capacity, a StarLink-IRC representative has NO other right or authority within your channel than that of any other user. Official Visits: StarLink-IRC representatives routinely visit channels at random, just to see that everything is all right. In general, StarLink-IRC reps will announce the reason for an unexpected visit if queried. In some cases, they may be very busy identifying or solving a network wide problem, so don't be too discouraged if there is no immediate answer. Mass Visits: You may get a visit from multiple StarLink-IRC reps all at once. This generally indicates a serious (or potentially serious) problem of some sort. The senior channel op present should identify themselves by typing "Can I help you?" or something similar. Explanations and Complaints: You are ALWAYS entitled to an explanation of the behavior of any StarLink-IRC representative. During a crisis, please give us some time to sort out the problem before pressing us for answers .. we may not know what happened yet. Please report ANY real or apparent abuse of authority by a StarLink-IRC representative as soon as possible. If you are uncomfortable talking on channel, then message an active StarLink-IRC rep that you know and trust. [5] AUTHORITY OF CHANNEL MANAGERS The Channel manager is the individual who initially registers a channel and are automatically given Level 500 access to CStar. Note: There are NO commands specific to Level 500. Administratively, we require that only ONE individual, the owner, be at level 500. You may put co-managers at level 499 or below. Channel managers select operators to assist in maintaining the channel or helping users. Keep in mind that anyone with ops status is going to be considered by visitors as a 'representative' of your channel, so choose wisely. Do not hesitate to remove ops status, even temporarily, from those who do not accurately or effectively represent YOUR wishes on how the channel should be run. [6] AUTHORITY OF OPERATORS Anyone with ops on a channel can kick users and set/clear channel modes, topics, and bans, regardless of their access to CStar CStar allows authorized users to command it to perform any function allowed by their level of access. At the appropriate level, this allows addition and removal of CStar users having lower access levels and commanding CStar to leave or rejoin the channel. [7] CSTAR COMMAND OVERVIEW All CSTAR commands must be executed as a /msg to CStar. You MUST include the channel name in most commands. CStar always acknowledges commands with some response. The general syntax is : /msg CStar For example, to OP someone, you can type: /msg CStar op #Mychannel UserNick To use Cstar, you only have to authenticate using the AUTH command (described below) each time you connect to a StarLink-IRC server. WARNING: To avoid compromising your password, do NOT put the authenticate command in the PERFORM section or any part of your client that automatically sends it upon connecting to a network. If you connecto to other nets and someone there is using the nick CStar, they can obtain your password and possibly command access to your channel. [8] SPECIAL COMMANDS. Some commands are a bit tricky or require specific arguments: ADDUSER Adds users. Must include #Channel, UserID, , password, Level, Protect Status type: /msg CStar ADDUSER #Mychannel IDnick *!usernick@host.com userpass 100 0 Or, to add by nick only do: type: /msg CStar ADDUSER #Mychannel IDnick Nick userpass 100 0 DEL Removes users from the channel: type: /msg CStar DELUSER #Channel IDnick AUTH Authenticates (identifies) you to CStar. Type /msg CStar AUTH #Channel IDnick password Use /msg CStar SHOWCOMMANDS or /msg CStar HELP for information on how to use other commands. AUTOOP: CStar will automatically op you when you join the channel if you have authenticated. [9] HANDLING TROUBLE Dealing with channel problems is the trickiest part of the channel manager and operator job. Channel Modes: Make sure that the channel mode is set to +tn. +n ensures that messages can not be sent into the channel from outside, and +t means that only channel operators can set the topic. Noisy/Abusive people: These can be kicked or banned from the channel. If they persist via msg or dcc, you can put them on ignore. Bans: The general ban command is /mode #channel +b Usermask may range from just the nick through a full domain. Some IRC clients allow for specific types of ban by adding a parameter. For example, in mIRC, the command /ban NICK 4 will execute a ban of the domain used by NICK. See the help file for your IRC client for details. Ignore: The ignore command (general) is /ignore NICK. Each IRC client handles ignore a bit differently, so check the help file or FAQ for more information. [10] FLOODING and CLONES FLOODS: If you receive unwanted multiple DCC or /msg floods from someone, you should put them on ignore. If the flooding is in channel, you may want to ban and kick them as well. If you are being systematically flooded off of IRC please let an op in #Channels or #TerraNova know about it immediately. In an emergency, you can type /ignore *!*@* which will stop most floods. CLONES: Clones are multiple simultaneous instances of the same user. As a rule (but not always), clones can be identified by the fact that, if you do a /whois, the information shown after the @ for that user will be identical for each instance. In general, StarLink-IRC routinely allows up to 2 instances of a user (e.g.,'you' and possibly a 'bot' of some sort). In case of a disconnect, you may end up with a 'ghost' for each one if you log back in quickly enough, which would make a total of 4 (temporarily). This may get you some attention from a StarLink-IRC representative, but is nothing to worry about as long as the situation is temporary. A fifth clone of anyone, however, is guaranteed to get a GREAT DEAL of instantaneous (and VERY undesirable) attention from StarLink-IRC. That is, the offender will be warned (maybe) and probably /killed (disconnectedd) and possibly k:lined (banned from the server) if it persists. [11] NETWORK CONTROLS: kills, k:lines and glines To manage the network, StarLink-IRC opers have access to commands very similar to the kick, and ban commands available to channel ops. A kill disconnects a user and is equivalent tothe kick command. A k:line is the equivalent to a ban and prevents that user from using a specific server. A gline is a special service that, in effect, bans a user from ALL StarLink-IRC servers. It is possible that you may connect to StarLink-IRC and find that 'you' have been banned from a server. However, if you have not done anything to warrant such a ban, it was probably set in response to someone else using your ISP (internet service provider). Sadly, when some people become very abusive running clones and flooding, we have no choice but to ban them from the net. In most cases, we try to resolve problems by emailing the provider, talking to the user, etc. However, if that doesn't work and we can't ban only the specific account, there is no choice but to ban the entire host. [12] ANTI-FLOOD Usually /ignore NICK does a fine job of ignoring flooders and some clients also have decent anti-flooding support. However, if you are concerned about DCC flooding, this routine does a pretty good job of stopping or at least delaying attacks until you can do something about it. Itsy's Anti-Flood Routine (linked on the StarLink-IRC web page) is designed for mIRC but can probably be modified to support your client. [13] END Channel Operator Class.