guide to services

Before You Begin

Before you start reading this guide, you should have basic knowledge about Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Learn general information about IRC here.

Syntax Notes

/ at the beginning introduces a command.

A <term> should be replaced completely - as e.g.
<email> becomes foo@bar.com and not <foo@bar.com>

A { value1 | value2 } indicates several options.

[value] is an optional indication.

Note, that /ns is an acronym for /NickServ - this is specially important for clients with own cs/ns/ms instructions - /msg NickServ, /msg ChanServ and so on.

Alternatively you could type /quote ns, if your client won't be able to work with /ns (NickServ), /cs (ChanServ) , or /ms (MemoServ).

Choose one of the questions or topics below to quickly jump to it.

Introducing Services

Additional Assistance

Introducing Services

Remember, you can always receive help for commands by typing /ns help or /cs help or /ms help

For each command that you send to the services, you will receive a reply a server notice. Depending on your IRC, client, this may appear in a separate screen unique to server messages or in the currently viewed screen.

There are 3 basic services:

NickServ
ChanServ
MemoServ

Each service performs a unique function:

NickServ administers the registration, settings, and enforcement of nicknames.

ChanServ administers the registration, settings, and enforcement of chat rooms.

MemoServ allows users to send and receive offline messages to NickServ-registered nicknames.

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NickServ

How can I register a nickname?

With NickServ, you can prevent other users from using your nickname when you are offline by requiring a password every time you join the chat. In order to maintain your registration, you must log in at least once every 30 days.

Once you have set up your nickname password, click 'Change Chat Settings' on the chat login page and type the password into the 'Nickname Password' box.

To proceed with registering your nickname, type the following from inside the chat. You must replace 'password' with a password of your choice and 'email' with your email address.
/ns REGISTER <password> <email>

IMPORTANT: In order to complete the registration, you must confirm your email address by responding to an email sent to it.

How can I request my nickname password?

If you forget your password, you request it again using the following command:
/ns SENDPASS <nickname>
You will then receive the password via email. If you do not have access to the email address on the nickname, contact a network administrator in #help.

A nickname will, by default, be deleted automatically after 30 days if it is not in use.

If you are planning on leaving for an extended period of time, a staff member may, at their discretion, configure NickServ to not automatically remove your nickname. If you cannot contact a staff member, a trusted friend can link your nickname to theirs, provided that they are online within 30 days, to prevent it from being purged.

How can I de-register my nickname?

To cancel a registered nickname (immediately) type:
/ns DROP

How do I identify that a nickname is mine upon logging into the IRC server?

When you register for NickServ, you initiate a requirement for identifying yourself to the server by sending your nickname password upon each logon. Other chatters who try to use your nickname will not know the password and will be removed from the chat if they do not provide the correct password.

When you connect to the server, you will receive a message from NickServ prompting you for your password.

To send your password to NickServ, type the following:
/ns IDENTIFY <password>

You can also set NickServ to identify you by your IP (Internet Protocol) address, a unique address assigned to your Internet session. Since this number can change, we recommend the password method. You can also change the period of time for which the server allows you to identify yourself with the nickname password.

Type the following to review the nickname protection settings:
/ns HELP COMMANDS

How can I change the nickname password?

The password can be changed after you have identified correctly:
/ns SET PASSWORD <new-password>

How can I disconnect another user with my nickname from the IRC server?

If you receive disconnected from the Internet, the chat server may not immediately show that you are disconnected. Therefore, if you reconnect immediately, what is called a ghost of your nickname may be still on the server. To automatically request this user with your nickname to be disconnected from the server, use the following command:
/ns GHOST nickname <password>

How can I link my nickname's rights with another nickname?

To give one nickname the rights of another nickname, you can link it. Change to the nick that should receive the rights and use the following command:
/ns LINK <nick> <password>
Now the second nick receives the rights and memos of the current nick.

To delete the link, simply type:
/ns UNLINK <nick> <password>

What are NickServ's security options and how can I turn them on and off?

The Access List in NickServ allows you to automatically identify yourself if the host mask matches the entry in the access list. In order to use this feature, you must type /ns status <nickname> 2, which tells NickServ that you will be recognised via access list only. In this mode, you may not need to identify via password.

With SECURE set, you must enter your password before you will be recognized as the owner of the nick, regardless of whether your address is on the access list. However, if you are on the access list, NickServ will not auto-kill you regardless of the setting of the KILL option.
/ns SET SECURE { ON | OFF }

When should I use the access list? How can I view the access list?

You should only use the access list if you have a static IP address. If you have a dynamic IP address, you should delete the access list entries. If you do not know which one you have, then it is safe to assume that you have a dynamic IP address.
To see a list of your access list entries, use this command:
/ns ACCESS LIST

How can I add someone to the access list and how can I delete someone?

You can add/remove entries as follows:
/ns ACCESS { ADD | DEL } <ident@hostname>
NickServ knows the real host of a user and only uses only the address stated on your whois. It cannot do reverse lookups of the hostname in your whois or IP equivalent.
It is therefore necessary to create both IP and hostname equivalents for your access list as the server may not always be able to reverse your IP upon connection.
Remember, if you are not identified and want use NickServ/ChanServ commands that require authorisation, services will deny them.

Where can I find additional information on specific settings which could be set for nicknames?

You can find further options by typing:
/ns HELP SET
(including SET KILL)

How can I change the language of the help commands?

You can change the language of services messages, with the following command:
/ns SET LANGUAGE <number>

1) English 2) Nederlands (Dutch) 3) Français (French) 4) Deutsch (German) 5) Magyar (Hungarian) 6) Italian 7) Japanese / EUC encoding 8) Japanese / SJIS encoding 9) Portugues (Portuguese) 10) Español (Spanish) 11) Turkce (Turkish)

Now help texts for NickServ functions will be presented in the desired language, but the language of the commands themselves remain in English.

How can I check to see if a nickname has been identified for?

You can detect in which state of identify a nick is after typing:
/ns STATUS <nick> [ <nick> ]

0 - The given nick is not online or it is not registered 1 - The nick holder is not identified as nick owner 2 - The nick holder is identified via NickServ access list 3 - The nick holder is identifies via NickServ password

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ChanServ

How can I register a chat room?

After your nickname is registered (you can see that e.g. in the whois), you will be able to open/register a chat room (chat).
To create a chat room, you simply join it. If the chat room is empty, the chat room is yours automatically. Otherwise, the chat room is most likely already registered.
If you have host privileges in the chat room (@), just enter this line:
/cs REGISTER <#room> <password> <description>
Password is another password - it's better not to use the same word such as your nickname password. Description means the description of the chat room. Type any text which characterises the topic of the chat room.

How can I de-register a chat room?

You can drop (undo registration) a chat room immediately using the following command:
/cs DROP <#room>

If you want to drop it again, you must identify to ChanServ first:
/cs IDENTIFY <#room> <chat roompassword>

A chat room will be dropped automatically after 14 days if no access list user or the founder have joined it.

How and why should I set a successor for my chat room?

You should determine a successor. This nickname receives founder-rights if the founder's nick is dropped or expires.
/cs SET <#room> SUCCESSOR <nick>

Where can I find all user and chat room modes?

There are various modes to protect a chat room.
Some of them may be locked, e.g. they can only manipulate via ChanServ and not with /mode <#room> {+|-}<mode>

For a thorough description of available user and chat room modes, see the chat room Mode Guide.

How can I prevent users from changing modes on my chat room?

In order to lock modes, you can use:
/cs SET <#room> MLOCK +<modes>-<modes> [my-key]|[key]
e.g. +knst-ilmp
That are all modes which you can set with mlock. +f doesn't belongs to!
All modes, which are behind the -, can't set manually! If you set mlock like in the example above you also can't set +m temporarily. If this is still desired, you've to leave out the m.
It's recommendable to start with this MLock: +nt-k.

How can I prevent users from changing the topic of my chat room?

The topic of the chat room can be locked as well
/cs SET <#room> TOPICLOCK { ON | OFF }

How can I change my topic if I have prevented users from changing the topic?

If TOPICLOCK is enabled, the topic can only be changed by typing:
/cs SET <#room> TOPIC <topic>
But there will be eked a "(Nickname") at the end, so everyone can see the author of the actually topic.

How can I prevent my topic from being lost if no one is in my chat room?

If all users have left the chat room, the topic will also be lost. You superimpose a topic as follows:
/cs SET <#room> KEEPTOPIC { ON | OFF }

Note that the first user to join the chat room will still receive host rights.

How can I give someone speak- (+) or host- (@) status permanently?

To give specific users certain rights automatically when they join, use these commands:

For AutoSpeak (vop)
/cs VOP <#room> ADD <nick>
For AutoOp (aop)
/cs AOP <#room> ADD <nick>
For SuperOp (sop)
/cs SOP <#room> ADD <nick>

How can I delete someone from the access-list?

To remove a user from the chat room's access list, use the following command:
/cs ACCESS <#room> DEL <nick>

How can I keep away someone from my chat room permanently?

You can permanently ban users by ChanServ:
/cs AKICK <#room> ADD <mask> [reason]

Mask is something like nick!ident@hostname.com
Bear in mind that bans on dynamic hosts like pcp09605814pcs.sandia01.nm.comcast.net only work until the next internet reconnect of the user! You have to use *.sandia01.nm.comcast.net instead.

When you are ready to remove the ban, do so using the following command:
/cs AKICK <#room> DEL { <mask> | <number> }

If you don't know their host mask or ban number anymore, the following will help:
/cs AKICK <#room> LIST

How can I configure an entry message?

When joining the chat room, a special entry message can be whispered to the user.
You can set or change it using the following command:
/cs SET <#room> ENTRYMSG <message>

To delete the entry message:
/cs UNSET <#room> ENTRYMSG

How can I change the chat room password?

Last but not least, let's explain how to change the founder's chat room password:
/cs SET <#room> PASSWORD <password>

What are secure and secureops and how can I enable/disable these options?

You can make ChanServ more restrictive in giving rights:
/cs SET <#room> SECURE ON
/cs SET <#room> SECUREOPS ON

SECUREOPS: Prevents users who are not on the access list from making themselves hosts.

SECURE: Requires that a user identify to NickServ in order to receive any chat room privileges.

How can I find out why ChanServ has given host or speak status to a user?

To discover why somebody got Admin, Host, or Speak status use the following:
/cs WHY <#room> <nick>

If the secure options are not activated, it may result in situations in which someone receives host privileges in an empty chat room and closes (drops) it. Setting +i mode allows you to exclude inexperienced users, but there are also other options available.
Being the founder, you have the responsibility to set the appropriate security options.

Which commands can I use from outside my chat room?

The following commands can be performed from within or from outside the chat room.

You can delete a user (if it exists) from access list:
/cs ACCESS <#room> DEL <nick>

You can remove user's status:
/cs { DEADMIN | DEOP | DEVOICE } <#room> <nick>

Vice versa, you can also give a status to any person via ChanServ:
/cs { ADMIN | OP | VOICE } <#room> <nick>

You can invite yourself:
/cs INVITE <#room>

You can delete all bans applied on yourself:
/cs UNBAN <#room>

As founder, you can delete all bans or chat room modes:
/cs CLEAR <#room> BANS

/cs CLEAR <#room> MODES

Using the following command allows you to remove all users from the chat room:
/cs CLEAR <#room> USERS

How can I kick/ban with ChanServ?

You are able to kick/ban a user with akick:
/cs AKICK <#room> ADD <mask> [reason]

With /cs AKICK <#room> ENFORCE you can make ChanServ to kickban all users which match the current akick list.

How can I set flood protection?

Another advanced feature is the flood protection.
While it is not on that scale implemented in many bots and you cannot MLOCK it, it is very useful.
Activate it as follows:
/mode <#room> +f [*]lines:seconds

The optional asterisks (*) means that a user is not only kicked but kick banned instead.
A recommendable setting for a big chat room is +f *5:3. In smaller chat rooms you may choose 10:3 which allows pasting more lines.

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MemoServ

What are memos?

With MemoServ, you are able to send ICQ-style offline messages to other nicks and chat rooms, which will are stored by MemoServ itself.
You may want to send a message to a chat room if you have been banned and you want to contact someone with host privileges in the chat room.

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