GeekShed IRC Network
Setting a Simple Channel Ban
Sep 28th
Channel bans allow you to block someone from joining your channel. These bans offer a lot of flexibility, letting you ban someone in several different ways. This article will explain a simple ban. You can check the Extended Ban tutorial for additional options. You can also use the AKICK command to ban someone permanently.
To ban someone from your channel, you need to know the hostmask for the connection. Use the WHOIS command to get the details. For the user LordBaconCheeseburger, you’d use this command:
/whois LordBaconCheeseburger
In your status window, you’ll see something like this in response:
LordBaconCheeseburger is ~TFlash@protectedhost-BACONYUM.hsd1.ze.comcast.net LordBaconCheeseburger is a registered nick
LordBaconCheeseburger on #jupiterbroadcasting #theshed
LordBaconCheeseburger using Komma.GeekShed.net Subwolf.org
LordBaconCheeseburger has been idle 3mins, signed on Fri Sep 28 21:00:28
LordBaconCheeseburger End of /WHOIS list.
You need the information from the first line to set your ban. The information listed after the @ symbol is the hostmask. To set a simple ban for your channel, use this command:
/mode #channel +b *!*@hostmask
If you wanted to ban LordBaconCheeseburger from the channel #topgear, for instance, you’d type:
/mode #topgear +b *!*@protectedhost-BACONYUM.hsd1.ze.comcast.net
That’s all there is to it. Anyone with that hostmask is now banned from #topgear. Next week’s post will explain more complicated channel bans, so be sure to come back!
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Are You Using Our Round Robins?
Jun 1st
This is an archived post. Please see the February 17, 2015 post for details on the current round robin configuration.
As we explain on our Servers page, you often achieve the best connection by connecting to the server geographically closest to you. To do this, you can find the closest server on the map and then connect to servername.geekshed.net – for example, enterprise.geekshed.net would be a good choice if you were in Europe.
Geographical Round Robins
You can also choose a pool of servers that are near you by using our round robin addresses. The biggest round robin pool is also the most general one (and the one most clients use on their prepopulated server lists): irc.geekshed.net. That round robin includes all the GeekShed servers.
If you want to choose a smaller pool, you can use one of these round robins, based on your geographical area:
- ap.geekshed.net if you’re in Asia or the Pacific
- ca.geekshed.net if you’re in Canada
- eu.geekshed.net if you’re in Europe
- us.geekshed.net if you’re in the United States
Special Connection Round Robins
We also have round robins based on pools of servers with special capabilities. If you need these features, use one of these options:
- ipv6.geekshed.net if you want an IPv6 server
- lightirc.geekshed.net if you’re configuring your copy of the LightIRC client
You may also notice that if you’re using GeekShed’s free BNC service, you’ll be connected to bnc.geekshed.net. That’s the pool for our BNC service.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
[Photo: Robin mom by photofarmer, on Flickr]
FAQs about GeekShed’s Spamfilter
May 27th
GeekShed maintains a spamfilter of URLs and phrases that are blocked network wide. Most of the entries on the list got there because someone was spamming the information on the network. Some entries are added because they link to malware, porn, or another kind of less than desirable site.
What happens when someone triggers the spamfilter in a channel?
If you make a statement or action in a channel that includes a URL or phrase on the spamfilter list, your text will be blocked completely. No one in the channel will see what you said (though you will probably see it). Immediately after the text, you’ll see one of these messages:
* Message blocked: Spamfilter match. Do NOT attempt to
get around this filter. If you think it is an error,
tell us in #help
* Message blocked: Spam URL
What happens when someone triggers the spamfilter in a private message?
Your text will also be blocked completely if you send a private message (PM) that includes a URL or phrase on the spamfilter list. The person you were trying to message will not see the message at all and will not know you tried to send a PM.
You’ll see this message in your status window or a query window, with <nick> replaced with the person you were sending the message:
* Message to <nick> blocked: Spamfilter match. Do NOT
attempt to get around this filter. If you think it is
an error, tell us in #help
What happens when someone triggers the spamfilter in a channel topic?
Your topic will not be set if you try to include text that is on the spamfilter list. Instead, you’ll see this message in your status window or in the channel:
* Setting of topic on #channel to that text is blocked:
Spamfilter match. Do NOT attempt to get around this
filter. If you think it is an error, tell us in #help
What is the punishment for triggering the spamfilter?
If you accidentally trigger the spamfilter, generally nothing happens. Just take note of the warning, and do not attempt to get around the filter or continue posting the blocked text.
If you continue to trigger the spamfilter, you may be banned from the network.
Does anyone else know when someone triggers the spamfilter?
Network staff will see a message that says you triggered the spamfilter. No one else will know (unless you tell them).
Can I see the list of words, phrases, and URLs on the spamfilter list?
No, we don’t provide a list to avoid abuse or misuse of the information. Do you honestly think we’d want to post a list of malware, porn, and undesirable sites?
Can someone add URLs or phrases to the spamfilter list for their channel?
Not exactly. Only network staff can add text to the GeekShed spamfilter. However, you can use the extended ban type ~T to block specific phrases from your channel, essentially, creating your own private spamfilter.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
How Long Have You Been On GeekShed?
May 21st
Some of the features on GeekShed require that you are a registered user on the network for a specific period of time. For example, GeekShed offers all of its users who have had a registered nickname longer than 90 days free access to our BNC service and a free vhost.
So how do you figure out how long you’ve been a registered user on GeekShed? Check the information for your nick using the INFO command, replacing nick with your nickname on the network:
/ns info NICK
For example, the user LordBaconCheeseburger would use this command:
/ns info LordBaconCheeseburger
Nickserv will return the basic information about your nick either in the channel where you typed the command or in your status window. For LordBaconCheeseburger, the response looks something like this:
-NickServ- LordBaconCheeseburger is TFlash NextGen
-NickServ- LordBaconCheeseburger is currently online.
-NickServ- Time registered: Feb 17 02:46:36 2012 UTC
-NickServ- Last quit message: Client exited
-NickServ- URL: http://www.baconfreak.com/
-NickServ- For more verbose information, type /msg NickServ INFO LordBaconCheeseburger ALL.
The third line (in bold above) gives you the information that you need to answer the question. In this example, the nick LordBaconCheeseburger was registered on February 17, 2012. All you have to do is calculate the difference between that date and today to determine how long you have been registered on GeekShed. You can use a site like Online Conversion to help you make the calculation.
For our example, LordBaconCheeseburger has been registered for 94 days, so he’s eligible for a BNC and a vhost—Hurrah!
If you are trying to find out if you are eligible for BNC or vhost, note that the server is very specific about its calculations. It will determine if you’re eligible based on the exact second that you registered. Changes in daylight savings time will also effect the calculation.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Watch What You Click!
May 13th
It’s time for a reminder to be careful when you click on links that people share. Recently Naive_One came to #help because he had clicked on a link A_Bad_Guy shared (names changed to protect the innocent). A_Bad_Guy used his server logs to get Naive_One’s IP address and attack his network. Unfortunately for Naive_One, there was nothing GeekShed staff could do. It was Naive_One’s poor judgement in clicking the link that caused the problem.
The morale of this story is clear: If you don’t know the person well or don’t recognize the link, don’t click on it. The link you click can give someone else information about your machine or it may cause your machine to download spyware, malware, or a virus that corrupts your system.
Usually it’s safe to click on these links on GeekShed:
- Links to the GeekShed website.
- Links shared by network staff.
- Links to well-known sites, like Wikipedia or Jupiter Broadcasting.
Unless you know the person who shares the link, it’s best NOT to click on shortened links, because you cannot tell where they will take you. A bit.ly link might take you to Wikipedia or it could take you to a malware site. There’s no way to guess just by looking at the URL.
Finally, let me share a reminder from the GeekShed Terms of Service:
GeekShed is not responsible for the content you may transmit or receive. Due to the real time nature of IRC, we cannot monitor or police the exchange of data. To protect yourself, we highly recommend that you run a current antivirus program and never click on links from people you do not know.
So click safely, and make sure you keep your machine and network protected!
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
How to Choose Staff for Your Channel
Apr 7th
Once you register your channel, you can add staff to help you keep order or enforce any rules you have for your channel. The commands for making someone a permanent admin, operator or half-operator are relatively simple. You can even add someone as a founder (though we don’t recommend it).
The harder part is choosing people who will make good staff. Promoting someone in your channel gives them control over what happens there. To make sure your channel stays YOURS and that it’s run the way you want it to be, you need to be cautious about choosing your staff.
Before you make someone an op or hop, ask yourself these questions:
- Do I know the person well?
- Do I trust the person?
- Does the person have good judgment?
- Is the person polite, helpful, and knowledgeable?
- Is the person cool under stress?
- Will the person follow my instructions?
- Does the person follow the channel and network rules?
- Has the person been in my channel for a while?
- Is the person active regularly?
If you can honestly answer “Yes” to all those questions, then the person could make a good member of your channel staff. If you answer “No” to even one, you should probably choose someone else.
The worst people to choose are the people who ask to be staff members. Anyone who demands, begs, or continually asks to be network staff does not have the patience for the job. Worse yet, some trolls will ask for ops in a channel only to cause trouble. Save yourself a lot of trouble, and just don’t make these folks a member of your channel staff. You’ll have a lot less drama to deal with!
[If you ended up on this page because you were looking for information on becoming a member of GeekShed network staff, visit Can I be an Oper on GeekShed?]
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Choosing a Nickname
Mar 25th
One of the first things that you do when you join us on GeekShed is choose and register a nickname. The basic guidelines are pretty simple. Just choose something that is unique, that is easy to type and remember, and that doesn’t give away private information.
Beyond that, there are some restrictions on nicknames. Your nickname
- Cannot start with a number
- Can only use letters, numbers, and these characters: [ ] { } \ | ^ ` – _
- Cannot include a space
- Can only be 30 characters long
Nicknames on GeekShed have to be unique. In other words, there can only be one login for any particular nickname. The first person to register a nickname gets it, and following people who want that nickname will have to choose something else. For example, the nickname Rob is registered on GeekShed. No one else can use the nickname Rob.
GeekShed has a list of words that cannot be used as a nickname, either because they are impolite or they could cause confusion. For instance, you cannot use many rude and explicit words as well as most racial or religious slurs. The list of forbidden nicks is not public (After all, who wants to put a list of rude, impolite words on their website?). Other words are forbidden because they can cause confusion, including server names and words associated with IRC and the services on GeekShed.
If you try to use a forbidden nick, you will see an error message in your status window that says:
Erroneous Nickname: This type of nick is not welcome on GeekShed. Please choose a different nickname.
Please choose another nickname if you encounter this situation. Nicknames will not be removed from the forbidden list. Your choice of nickname is not protected by free speech.
Protecting Network Staff Nicks
In order to guard against imposters, your nick cannot contain the name of any member of network staff. In most cases, this rule will not cause any problems, but there are some tricky cases. For instance, because a member of network staff is named Atri, you are not able to register nicknames like Patrick, Patricia, or Atrium.
While the server may allow you to use a nickname, network staff has the last word. If a member of staff asks you to change your nick, please do so immediately.
Channels May Have Additional Restrictions
Channels on GeekShed are free to create their own rules. Even though you may be using a nickname that is allowed on the network, the moderators in a channel may ask you to change your nickname or leave the channel. Channel staff are within their rights to do so. Please follow their instructions.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Using Channel Modes to Hide Your Channel
Mar 18th
You can use channel modes to make dozens of customizations to your channel. Last week, I talked about using channel modes to set a channel key, which works like a password for your channel. Today I’m going to talk about another way to keep your channel a private place: the channel modes +s and +p.
Secret vs. Private
There are two modes you can use to hide your channel: +s, for a secret channel; and +p, for a private channel.
Originally (that is, in earlier days of IRC), there was a difference between these two modes. On GeekShed, the two commands do the same thing. If you set your channel to +p or to +s, your channel will not show up:
- in the channel listing that someone gets after using the /LIST command
- on the website’s list of channels
- in a /WHOIS list for a user who is in the channel (unless the person using the command is also in the secret channel)
Since the two commands do the same thing, you can only set one or the other.
Setting the Secret or Private Mode
To set the secret mode, use this command:
/mode #channel +s
In that command, replace "channel" with your #channel. For instance, for my super-secret channel, I used this command:
/mode #baconmylove +s
To set the private mode, use this command:
/mode #channel +p
For instance, I used this command:
/mode #baconmylove +p
Restrictions on the +s and +p Modes
If you set your channel to +s and then decide to set +p, the server will respond by removing the +s setting. You’d see something like this:
* tengrrl sets mode: +s * tengrrl sets mode: +p-s
In the second line, the server set +p (adding the private setting), and -s (removing the secret setting). This is normal. Since the commands do the same thing, you only need one or the other (never both). As long as you have the channel set to +s or to +p, it will be hidden.
Removing the Secret or Private Mode
If you no longer want your channel to be hidden, you can remove the secret or private mode easily:
To remove the secret mode, use this command:
/mode #channel -s
To remove the private mode, use this command:
/mode #channel -p
Once you remove the setting, your channel will be visible to everyone on the network.
Two Tips on Using the Secret or Private Mode
- Remember that even though your channel is hidden, the people you ask to join you in the channel can tell others about it. Only invite people to join your channel if you trust them to maintain your privacy. If you cannot trust someone not to tell others about the space, don’t ask them to join your channel.
- Any moderator (half-ops, ops, and admins) on your channel can change the channel mode. Don’t add someone as a moderator in the channel if you cannot trust that person to leave the channel with the settings you want.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny