GeekShed IRC Network
Can I have a forum for my channel?
Nov 7th
Providing your channel has an average of 40 or more users, you can.
You must first talk to a staff member in #help and request the forum be added. Providing you meet the above requirement, a forum will be added for your channel. We will also add a user group of moderators for your forum. This can include up to 5 registered forum users. You may request a single change to this moderator group every 30 days. A single change is counted as adding a user, deleting a user or swapping one user for another.
If you have any questions, come see us in #help.
Guidelines for #help
Nov 2nd
Why visit #help?
#help welcomes discussion of GeekShed IRC related help—whether it’s related to the GeekShed network, your client, a script, or IRCD. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to GeekShed IRC.
Looking for something else?
- If you’re looking for a place for general discussion, please try #TheShed (/join #TheShed).
- If you’re looking for help with your computer, you might try a channel like #247fixes, #atribune, #geekstogo or #bleepingcomputer.
- If you’re looking for another channel, try typing /list to see all the channels on the GeekShed network. Note, though, that the /list command does not work on all clients.
- If you’ve been banned in a channel on GeekShed, please talk to someone from the channel where you were banned. You can also check the GeekShed forums, since some channels have special ways for you to appeal. The network staff in #help cannot remove bans for other channels.
Is there any special way to ask a question?
Not really. Just ask whatever it is you want to know or say what you need help with. There are lots of people in the channel, and any one of them can help you. Don’t worry about finding the “right” person. Everyone is in the channel to help, so there’s never just one “right” person!
It’s true that some questions will require a GeekShed network operator (like IRC password resets), but go ahead and ask your question. Once you ask, we’ll know to go find who you need.
What if it’s an emergency?!
If you have an emergency, like a botnet flood in your channel, and no one responds to your request for help, you can type !911 in any channel on GeekShed. This will be caught by the spam filter and will instantly alert network staff. Just like prank calling the fire brigade, misuse of this command will carry severe repercussions.
Are there any special rules for #help?
Generally speaking, please be polite and patient. There is usually someone around in #help to answer your questions, but you may need to wait a few minutes.
We also ask that you follow these basic guidelines:
- Use nice, family-friendly language. Save the censored words for another channel.
- Just ask your question once, and be patient. It may take a few minutes for someone to be able to help. If a lot of time passes (say 30 minutes), it’s okay to ask again. Usually though, you don’t need to repeat your question.
- Follow the rules of polite online discussion. That means, for example, that we ask that use all caps sparingly and that you don’t flood the channel.
My question is complex. Can I paste something in #help?
If you’re getting an error message, sure, it’s fine to paste the message into the channel with your question.
If you need to share something longer though, like part of a log from your channel, please use pastebin, and just give us the URL to the information. That way you won’t be kicked accidentally for flooding, and the information will be easier for everyone to read.
Should I just jump in and help if I know an answer?
Everyone is welcome to help with questions in #help. Be sensible though. If someone else is already answering a user’s questions, try not to interrupt. It can be very confusing when more than one person is telling someone with a question what to do. If you are not 100% sure that the answer you are giving is correct, it’s probably best to stay quiet.
In particular, if a member of the GeekShed staff is already helping someone, please stay quiet and let the staff member take care of the question. As the topic in #help says, “If something doesn’t concern you, keep quiet or be banned without warning—yes, really.”
Can my GeekShed channel have more than one founder?
Nov 2nd
Yes, it can! You can have as many people with founder access as you like.
Each channel will still have 1 founder – i.e. the person listed in /cs info #channel and GeekShed staff will only deal with this person for channel administration issues.
However, if you set a user to access level 9999, they too will have founder permissions on the channel. To do this, you must temorarily turn off XOP, if you have it on. To do this, type:
/cs SET #channel XOP OFF
Now you can set the user to access level 9999 with the following command:
/cs ACCESS #channel ADD nickname 9999
Once this is done, the user MUST cycle the channel for the changes to become active.
Once the user has cycled the channel they will be given +q each time they join.
It is important that you do not turn xop back on as, once a user has logged out of their nickname, their founder status will be lost and not restored.
WARNING: Only give this access level to people that you trust wholeheartedly. If a user takes control of a channel and becomes the listed founder of the channel, GeekShed staff are not responsible for this and will see the listed founder as the authorized owner of the channel.
In order to prevent secondary founders from changing the listed founder of the channel, ensure SECUREFOUNDER is switched on. To do this, type:
/cs SET #channel SECUREFOUNDER ON
Since XOP is now off, you must use the access system to manage your channels access list. See access system tutorial for information on how to do this.
Extended Bans Tutorial
Nov 1st
Silencing Users with Extended Bans
You can use extended bans to set up an alternative kind of ban that will give you more options, like silencing users. You can also read about how to set a simple channel ban and how to set more specific channel bans.
When you silence a user, you allow the person to stay in the channel, but block the person’s ability to participate in the discussion or change nicks. It’s an online equivalent of a short timeout, where the person has to sit quietly for several minutes before rejoining discussion.
To silence a user manually, you’d type:
/mode #YourChannel +bb ~q:nick!ident@user.host ~n:nick!ident@user.host
That command sets two bans, which is why the host information is listed twice. The first one (~q:nick!ident@user.host) prevents the user from participating in the discussion (unless the user is +v or higher). The ~q stands for quiet. The second one (~n: nick!ident user.host) prevents the user from changing nicks. The ~n stands for nick.
In #YourChannel, bans are normally set by the user’s host, so an example ban would look like this:
/mode #YourChannel +bb ~n:*!*@protectedhost-1234578.hsd1.va.comcast.net
~q:*!*@protectedhost-1234578.hsd1.va.comcast.net
That example bans anyone (with any nick or ident) with the hostmask protectedhost-12345678.hsd1.va.comcast.net.
Removing a Silence Extended Ban
If you silence a user manually, you have to remove the ban manually as well. Since you set the ban with +b, you will remove it by using the same command, but with -b. So to remove the ban, you would type:
/mode #YourChannel -bb ~q:nick!ident@user.host ~n:nick!ident@user.host
Everything is the same. You’re just removing the ban. Here’s the way to remove the example ban from above:
/mode #YourChannel -bb ~n:*!*@protectedhost-1234578.hsd1.va.comcast.net
~q:*!*@protectedhost-1234578.hsd1.va.comcast.net
Setting a Channel Extended Ban
There are two other kinds of extended bans:
- ~c sets an extended ban based on a channel users are in
- ~r sets an extended ban based on a user’s real name
You are unlikely to need either of these bans, but for the sake of thoroughness here is how they work.
To set an extended channel ban, you’d type:
/mode #YourChannel +b ~c:#channel
That ban would prevent anyone in #channel from joining #YourChannel.
Let’s pretend there’s a channel called #YourChannelHaters. We might decide that we do not want anyone from #YourChannelHaters to join #YourChannel. We could use this extended ban to prevent them from joining #YourChannel:
/mode #YourChannel +b ~c:#YourChannelHaters
You remove this kind of ban by switching to -b, so I could remove the ban on folks from #YourChannelHaters like this:
/mode #YourChannel -b ~c:#YourChannelHaters
Setting a Real Name Extended Ban
To set an extended ban based on a user’s real name, you’d type:
/mode #YourChannel +b ~r:*real_name*
The * character works as a wildcard, just as it does in other bans. Use the underscore character ( _ ) to represent spaces in the user’s real name. The underscore is also interpreted as an actual underscore character. In other words, the ban above would block someone using either “real name” (with a space) or “real_name” (with an underscore).
Here’s an example:
/mode #YourChannel +b ~r:*Jane_Doe*
That ban would prevent anyone who was using the real name “Jane Doe” or “Jane_Doe” from joining #YourChannel. Because of the * wildcard, someone with a real name like “Jane Doe rules” or “Jane_Doe_rules” would also be banned.
You remove this kind of ban by switching to -b, so I could remove the ban on “Jane Doe ” like this:
/mode #YourChannel -b ~r:*Jane_Doe*
—posted by bunny/tengrrl