Create Your Own Channel Guide - Version 1.0

1. Introduction
So you are thinking about starting a channel on Gamers-IRC for your Guild, Pa, Clan, Group?
Then this is the right guide to read.

Depending on your level of IRC knowledge the usefulness of this guide will vary a bit. But we shall try to make it interesting for the advanced user as well as for the beginner as the guide contains some handy best practices for administrating a channel.
This guide aims at providing you the reader with guidance on how to set up and maintain your own channel on Gamers-IRC IRC network. So we ask you to please first take a few moments to look at the Gamers-IRC IRC network policy to make sure you are familiar with the general policy regarding channels and behavior on the Gamers-IRC IRC network.
You can find them at this link

First things first:
To register a channel you need to have a registered nickname on the network. If you have that then you can skip on to the next section. If not however we shall quickly go through the steps to register a nickname. This is easier than it might look.

* Connect to Gamers-IRC IRC network
* In the input field of your client (Mirc for example) type /nick DesiredNicknameHere . This means that if you typed in /nick Frodo than your nickname would be changed to Frodo. You might get a message saying this nickname is in use or that it belongs to someone else. This means someone already registered it and you have to choose another nickname.
* Now that you have the nickname Frodo or what ever nickname you have chosen. Type /msg NickServ register yourpassword . Yourpassword being a password made up by you. You have to remember this password for later use.
* All done! Next time you visit the network type /msg NickServ identify yourpassword . This helps the various services like NickServ and ChanServ recognize you and also ensures that you are who you claim to be to others on the network.


Registering the channel
If you are ready then let's register that channel!



2. Your Channel Name: The first thing you need to do is to come up with a name for your channel. A good choice would be the name of your Guild, Pa, Clan, Group. Put a # sign before that and you've got your channel name. All channel names must begin with a # sign. Try not to choose the name of the game as Gamers-IRC has sponsored channels for most large MMOs out there.
If you are a game developer or if you have a good reason to choose the name of a game in question as channel name then please contact any of the ops in the channel #irc-help. Ops being the ones with a @ in front of their names.



3. Join the channel Guidelines for channel names can be found in the Gamers-IRC Network policy.
Be sure to have identified for your nick before this step as shown in the previous section. Now that you are sure of a name then you join the channel by typing /Join #yourchannelname . Be sure to have identified for your nick before this step as shown in the previous section.
This will make you join the channel.

Now that you are in the channel you should have gotten a @ in front of your nickname. Type /msg ChanServ REGISTER #yourchannelname password description. Again you make up a password and also make up a description. Something like The Skull Crusher Clans dwelling for example. If you are the skull crusher clan of course :) ChanServ now joins the channel.
Now you will notice that ChanServ will join your channel. ChanServ is now your channel helper so to say. ChanServ is a network service that keeps track of a lot of things for your channel as you soon will notice.



4. Finding help and guidance There is a guide on how to operate ChanServ to be found here or help can be reached by either typing in /msg ChanServ HELP for a list of topics. If none of this helps, you can get online help at the channel #irc-help. Please be patient when asking for help there as the staff might be occupied with other help requests or are otherwise unavailable at the moment. So state your question or cry for help in the channel and wait for assistance. This can come quickly or might take some time depending on time of day and so on.

This guide gives help and examples on most of the commands that you can use. While the ChanServ manual is very comprehensive we shall here try to point out some of the most usual settings and commands for a channel depending on what you will use it for.



5. Settings and general channel configurations
As mentioned before depending on the type of channel you intend to run you might want to choose different settings accordingly. We will in this section look at some different scenarios as well as some best practice settings.

5a. Adding other ops and voices
Ops and voices what are these? One might ask. Ops are the ones moderating the channel and they have power over all other in the channel including each other in some cases. There are different levels of ops. The founder of the channel ( yes, that's you!) have naturally op status in the channel. And can do as he likes with the channel including a range of settings others can not.

On Gamers-IRC IRC network we do not use AOP, SOP list ( if you know what they are) as they are not working as intended and mostly do more harm than good. Instead we use something called the access list. Access list is a list that ChanServ keeps with nicknames and their level of access to the channel.
To add people to this list is simple. You type in /msg ChanServ access #channelname add nickname level . Example /msg ChanServ access #TheSkullCrushers add Frodo 10 . This would give Frodo automatic op status in the channel when he joins the channel.
The levels are as follows:
* Access level 1 : Inviting yourself if the Channel is set to +i invite-only. This mode is covered later in the guide
* Access level 5 : Level 1 features and will be granted auto-voice +v by ChanServ.
* Access level 10: Level 1,5 features, will be granted auto-op +o by ChanServ, access to normal Channel Operator Commands.
* Access level 20: Level 1,5,10 features and access to Akick. No permission to modify the Access List.
* Access level 30: Level 1,5,10,20 features and ability to modify the Access List.

Voices are people with a + in front of their name and the only thing that is really good for is that they can type to the channel even if it is set to +m. The mode +m makes everyone not @ op or + Voice unable to speak (type) in the channel. Other than that they can voice others. The voice level is mostly used as a perk to people in the channel that deserve something extra but not op status.
More on this can be found at this link

5b. Modes
We mentioned modes in the previous section and will here try to show what modes to use in different situations. The modes can be set temporarily by ops or permanently by the founder. The permanent kind is something called a MLOCK. Again more on this can be found in the ChanServ Guide.
Some of them are shown in the following scenario templates.

5c. Scenario : The open for all channel
Your Guild, PA, Clan or group or what ever might for example be recruiting at the moment and wishes other players that use the network to notice this and join the channel.
First off you might want to put something interesting in the topic. The topic is a sting of text that is displayed by ChanServ in the channel to everyone that joins the channel. Here current information or any fun message can be used. Be sure to follow the network policy regarding topics stated in the Gamers-IRC IRC network policy
The topics are also seen on the networks channel list so a catchy topic might mean more people come to your channel. For this type of channel the modes cnPt are recommended.

The "c" MODE prohibits the use of colors in the channel. This might sound harsh but is in fact often used as lots of colored text can be quite irritating to read.

The "n" MODE will stop messages sent from outside the channel by people not in the channel.

The "P" mode and that is a capital P is a filter that filters out foul language and other demeaning words. Note that naturally not all words that should be in it are in there and that some of the words that are might seem misplaced. But rest assured they are there for a reason. Gamers-IRC does however not support adding or subtracting words from this filter and if you wish to use it take it for what it is. It helps but is not foolproof or complete.

At last the "t" mode is a topic lock. The t MODE lets only those with op status in the channel change the topic.

To set the MODEs so they are always on even if everyone in the channel leaves, type /Msg ChanServ SET #channelname MLOCK + modes. So in this scenario it would be /Msg ChanServ SET #TheSkullCrushers MLOCK +cnPt. If you feel you don't need all of them then just leave the ones you do not want out of it. To remove MODES do the same but with – instead of + so to remove them do /Msg ChanServ SET #TheSkullCrushers MLOCK -cnPt . Note that this can only be done by the founder.

To temporarily set a MODE anyone with op status can use type /MODE #channelname +modes . And /MODE #channelname -modes to remove them.

5d. Scenario: The guild's secret council channel
So you have a council in your guild that discusses things not to be seen by others eh? Or you might just not want anyone other than your trusted friends in your channel ? Either way here is how to ensure this by use of the MODEs.
Set your channel to MODE i in addition to any other mode like the ones in the previous example. The modes inst is recommended for this type of channel.

The "i" MODE sets the channel to invite only. This means that only people on the access list or people invited to the channel can join it. The access level of 1 is sufficient to let a person join the channel. This gives them only the right to get invited by ChanServ and nothing else.
Everyone with higher access to the channel can do the same except those with access 30 who can in addition to this set access to people. The founder can of course do this as well. To join the +i channel a person must after identifying for his/her nickname type the following:
/msg ChanServ invite #channelname.
So Frodo who we used as an example previously has access 10 to our imaginary channel #TheSkullCrushers .
To join this channel he then has to identify for his nickname Frodo and then type /msg ChanServ invite #TheSkullCrushers . Then he will get invited by ChanServ and can join the channel. To automate this a bit users of the popular IRC application Mirc can put both the identifying and the invitation in their perform. More on this can be found in Mirc help.

The "s" MODE means secret. Sounds cool eh? It has its uses. If you do not wish others to know that your channel exists, you can set this mode to prevent the channel name from appearing on the server's channel listing. This does not prevent people from joining it if they know the channel exists.

The "n" and the "t" modes were covered in the previous section. It is recommended to set these modes with the use of MLOCK as described before. Type the following /msg ChanServ SET #channelname MLOCK -inst Now you have a secret channel that only lets invited people join it!

When the trolls start trolling and the undesired are due their welcome Don't panic! You will find that you have plenty of tools to get rid of vermin in your channel.



6. Kick
For starters you can always kick the trouble maker out of the channel. This mostly serves a a warning as they can join again and many has auto join set on their clients. The command to use for this is this /kick #channelname nickname . So in our favorite test case we type /Kick #TheScullCrushers Frodo to kick Frodo from the channel #TheScullCrushers.



7. Ban
If this does not work you can ban the person from the channel. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Many of the clients out there have built in buttons or popups for this. Do not use that or you will ban yourself. Gamers-IRC IRC network has a safety feature called host mask mirroring. This means that none of the others can see your ip number and you can in turn not see theirs. This is to prevent unpleasant unwanted interaction (hacking and such). This means that if you use the built in ban feature of let us say the client Mirc you will ban yourself from the channel. So how do we then ban people?

Our trusty old friend ChanServ is here to help us with this. ChanServ can see the host mask of the user and can thus ban them. The way to do this is as follows. Type /msg ChanServ BAN nickname reason . The nickname is that of the one you wish to remove and the reason part is optional but may be used to inform the removed person of why this was done.
ChanServ will also automatically kick the person from the channel when this command is used. If the banned one tries to rejoin the channel they will be informed by ChanServ that they are banned.



8. Akick
If the user has time to leave before you have the chance to put a ban on them you can set a Akick on them. This will kick them next time they try to join and will inform them of the reason ( if you supplied one). This will be repeated until you remove the Akick. The way to do this is to type the following /Msg ChanServ AKICK #channelname ADD nickname/mask reason . A nickname or host mask can be used and the reason is optional. To remove type the same but with Del instead of ADD in the command. More on this can be found in the ChanServ Guide

Nothing helps! They keep evading and sending me private messages

If you have encountered a unusually cunning troll he/she may out smart your attempts to keep them out of your channel or they might even harass you in private messages. This is not a pleasant situation and you might feel helpless. Fear not though for Gamers-IRC IRC staff is there to help you. Concerning private messages you can simply type /ignore nickname and you will not get any more problems from them no matter what they try and send you.
If the messages are racist or otherwise threatening join the channel #irc-help by typing /join #irc-help. Describe your problem and assistance you shall have. This goes for the cases where people evade your bans as well. Depending on the number of help requests at the moment and the time of day it might take some time before you receive help but please stay in the #irc-help channel and wait for help. If someone with op status joins you can try and address them with the problem in the #irc-help channel.