[UbuntuWomen] IRC Channel Op Course - Part Two

[Elizabeth Bevilacqua]

Welcome to the second part of our two part IRC Op course! This week
we're focusing on the technical side of being an Op. Please feel free
to ask questions on list or drop by the IRC channel.

This course is designed for people who are reasonably familiar with
IRC and wish to someday apply for Channel Op positions in #*ubuntu*
channels (including #Ubuntu-Women). For a more general overview of
IRC, including how and where to connect, please visit our Introduction
to IRC Course:

http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Courses/IRC/

To read last week's course check out our archives:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-women/2007-August/001041.html

=== Tools ===

These are outlined in last week's course, but I repeat them here as a
quick reference.

'''Chanserv''' Chanserv is an IRC Service that handles access on
registered channels

 *{{{/msg chanserv help}}} - Read through Chanserv's help information
on all commands and become familiar with them
 *{{{/msg chanserv op #channelname}}} - If you are on the access list
for a channel, use this command to Op yourself
 *{{{/msg chanserv access #channelname list}}} - Lists users with
access to the channel
 *...and many more less frequently used but powerful commands

'''Nickserv''' Nickserv is an IRC Service that handles registered nicknames

 *Your nickname must be registered to become an Op
 *It is highly recommended that you set up your IRC client to {{{/msg
nickserv identify PASSWORD}}} upon connecting to the server
 *{{{/msg nickserv info yournickname}}} - Replace "yournickname" with
your nick and you will see what channels you have access to, if any

'''Topic''' To change the channel topic

 * The channel topic in most Ubuntu channels gives helpful links about
the specific Project and meeting times, these will need to be updated
by an Op from time to time
 * {{{/topic Type your new topic here}}} (if this doesn't work,
consult your IRC documentation on how to set channel topics)

'''Remove''' A command on FreeNode for removing users from a channel

 *"Kicking" a user from a channel using the kick command that comes
with most IRC clients can be seen as hostile and many clients
automatically rejoin  after a kick is issued, it's best not to use it
 *FreeNode has the "Remove" command that is preferred, it shows up as
a "part" by the client with "Requested by OpNick" as the reason
 *Usage: {{{/remove #channelname nickname}}} (or, depending on your
client, {{{/quote remove #channelname nickname}}})

'''Mute (+q)''' A channel mode to block message from a specific user
from coming to the channel

 *This is a useful command to simply silence the offending party
without removing them from channel, useful to silence unintentional
flooding
 *Usage: {{{/mode +q nickname_or_host}}} (if this doesn't work,
consult your IRC documentation on how to set channel modes)

'''Ban''' Prevents a user from rejoining the channel

 * Use wisely, bans are generally reserved for repeat or particularly
nasty offenders
   * In most cases a simple Remove will be enough to send the message
to a user that they are not welcome!
 * {{{/ban nickname_or_host}}} or {{{/mode +b
nickname!ident at hostname}}} (or consult your IRC documentation on how
to set bans)

=== Writing good Bans and Mutes ===

Learning to set bans that will actually keep an offender out of a
channel is an important skill. Most clients have a {{{/ban}}} command
that will ban a user based on what it thinks are good parameters, but
this is not always sufficient. The following are some tips for
well-formed bans.

 * Basic ban format: nickname!ident at hostname
  * For example, when you see someone join a channel it might look
something like this:
   * badgirl (lala at example.isp.com) has joined #channel
   * In this example a very strict ban for them would be
"badgirl!lala at example.isp.com"
 * Now lets say they were being sneaky and decided to change their
nickname to badgirl2, the ban for "badgirl!lala at example.isp.com" would
no longer work, since it wouldn't match "badgirl" but not "badgirl2"
  * A ban for: "badgirl*!lala at example.isp.com" would keep out any
nickname starting in "badgirl"
 * Now lets say they decided to change their ident!
  * A ban for: "badgirl*!*@example.isp.com" would keep out any
nickname starting in "badgirl" using any ident
 * What if they were at their friend's house and decided to hop online
on their connection, so the hostname portion of their mask changed and
they became badgirl3 (badgirl at example.isp2.com)
  * A ban for: "badgirl*!*@*" would ban any nickname starting in
"badgirl" using any ident on any hostname

This is just a general overview of banning, and it can get tricky when
a user changes their information considerably and often. In these
cases you may want to report the frequent "ban evasion" to #ubuntu-ops
and have FreeNode staffers handle the situation, since ban evasion of
well-formed bans is very much frowned upon.


A wiki version of this course can be found on our wiki:
http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Courses/IRCOp

-- 
Elizabeth Bevilacqua
http://www.princessleia.com