Basics of channel management

IRC is designed for group discussions. You usually join an IRC network to visit a chat room, so called channel, and not to talk to a single person. So you should know a few basics about channels, how they work, how you can create your own and how to manage them.

Creating a channel

On MadIRC we provide a platform for you and multiple communities. You can easily join a chat room by using the /join command but how to create a channel?

To create a channel you only have to join a nonexisting one. Channels are created on the first join. Let’s do an example named channel.

On MadIRC all channels are prefixed with the #-symbol to differ them from users.

/join #channel

If the channel doesn’t exist, it’s now created and you’ll get so called channel operator status. And that’s our next topic.

Moderating a channel

Once you have a channel, other people may join you there. Since there are always people who don’t follow your rules, you may want to ban them. That’s something only people with the correct rank can do. So let’s see what ranks exist:

Rank Symbol Mode Description
Founder ~ +q Highest user rank
Protected & +a Prevents users from being kicked by ops
Operator @ +o Allows all admin tasks for a channel
Half-op % +h Can kick normal users, but not other halfop or higher ranks
Voiced + +v Voiced users can even talk when the chat is moderated (+m)

So once you know the channel ranks, it becomes interesting how to set them. They are so called “channel modes” which is a number of flags you can set for a channel to give rights to the people, only allow moderated chatting, set rate limits for messages, limit channel access, etc..

To set those modes you can use the /mode command. We also provide a list of all channel modes.

Set the channel to moderated chatting:

/mode #channel +m

Give someone voice:

/mode #channel +v someone

Ban someone else:

/mode #channel +b *!*@badhost

Useful modes for protection:

/mode #channel +RNKm

Prevents unregistered users from entering the channel, doesn’t allow nick changes for people inside the channel, prevents knocking and only allow voiced or opped users to speak. This should prevent most attacks but is also very unhandy, try to set it only in emergency

Registering a channel

Once you setup a channel and maybe also give some people channel ranks, you run into the problem that the channel is gone once the last person left and you don’t get back your channel rights, once you left it yourself and the channel continues to exist.

So what you can do to keep your rights is registering your channel and let the services keep track of your channel ranks and more.

We provide a service called ChanServ. You can message him using /msg ChanServ help to get all possible commands you can use with it. Since these are native service bots integrated with the networks they have some kind of superpower and will make sure no one steals your channel. To use them, you need to sign up with NickServ. We provide a tutorial for registering your nickname as well.

So to register your channel you can simply send the following command:

/msg ChanServ register #channel

Managing channel access

Once you registered your channel you’ll get founder rank. But how to manage other peoples’ ranks?

There is a templating feature for ChanServ. A detailed list of all capabilities can be accessed by using the following command:

/msg ChanServ help flags

We provide a few templates by default which are enough for the most cases and easy to use.

Give someone voice (+v) on join:

/msg ChanServ VOP #channel add someone

Give someone halfop (+h) on join:

/msg ChanServ HOP #channel add someone

Give someone op (+o) on join:

/msg ChanServ AOP #channel add someone

You can find the rest in the ChanServ help. These 3 templates are the most used ones.

A few tips

With these few tips, you should already be able to manage a channel on your own. But it’s always useful to have someone in your channel who is familiar with IRC and knows how to use all these modes. Feel free to join some other channels and see how the mode handling is done there.

Also, keep in mind that you lead a social group when you found a channel. You have the full capabilities about your channel and we won’t limit you as long as you don’t hurt the servers. Which implies you can abuse your powers to kick and ban people for what ever reason you want. But keep in mind that it may make you looking bad when you abuse your powers. So try to stay fair, because people tend to complain about abusive channel ops.

Also please keep us out of the channel politics. We provide the platform. Our rules are clear. We don’t manage your channels as long as they are not hurting the network.

But now you know all the needed things, feel free to start your channel!

We love to talk to your community! See you on MadIRC!