Creating your own chat

Creating Your Own Chat Room

If you manage an existing community or are looking to launch an IRC-related project by creating your own chat channel, you can easily get started by following these straightforward steps:

Register a Nickname

Start by registering a nickname that you will use in the chat room. Registering a nickname allows you to own channels (rooms) and be added to access lists of different channels. Before you can create a channel, it's important to register your nickname. To begin the registration process, type:

/msg NickServ REGISTER <password> <email>

For detailed instructions on nickname registration: Nickname Registration.

Register a Channel

Once you have registered a nickname, you can proceed to register a channel. Choose an unregistered and empty channel. If a channel is unregistered but has users inside, you won't be able to register it. To register your channel, type:

/msg ChanServ REGISTER #channel

For detailed instructions on channel registration: Channel Registration.

Add a Web Interface (Optional)

If desired, you can enhance your chat room by adding a web interface to it. Simply copy and paste the generated code into the HTML code of your website. For detailed instructions, follow this link.

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How to Moderate Your Room

Both the server and services provide many useful tools for you to manage your own chatroom, which include but are not limited to:

• Setting up your channel
• Granting moderator status to others
• Kicking and banning troublemakers, either temporarily or permanently
• Utilizing various channel protection mechanisms

Setting Up Your Channel

There are various settings you can utilize to maintain and start your channel. Here are a few examples:

• Add a topic to inform users about your channel. Customize it with colors, bold, italic, underline, or emojis 💁👌🎍😍

/topic #channel Hello 👋 and welcome to my room, please follow the rules.

• Set an entry message to greet users joining your channel as a notice from services.

/cs set #channel entrymsg Welcome to my channel, thanks for joining!

• Assign a service bot to your channel.

/bs assign #channel ChanBot

• Add an email for users to contact you or your business.

/cs set #channel email some@email.address

• Set a URL to share your personal or business website.

/cs set #channel URL https://your.website.here

• Turn your channel into a forum feature by displaying the last X lines spoken by users when someone joins, creating a chat history.

/mode #channel +H 50:3d - where 50 is the maximum number of lines and 3d is the time limit in days.

There are various settings for ChanServ under SET. To view the currently available channel settings available to you:

/cs help set

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Channel Operators

Channel operators, also known as ChanOps or Ops, are moderators of a particular chatroom. They have the ability to modify various settings within the channel. Users with ChanOp status are identified by the @ symbol preceding their nickname. ChanOp status is categorized into different access levels:

• Channel Voice (VOp): Voiced users who can override channel mute/bans, channel spamfilter, and any anti-flood measures. The default access flags for VOp are +AV. To add someone to the VOp list:

/cs vop #channel add nickname

• Auto Operator (AOp): Operators who can perform the tasks mentioned above, set channel modes (excluding mlocked modes), voice other users, grant operator status (unless SECURE is ON), and kick and ban users. The default flags for AOp are +AOeiortv. To add someone to the AOp list:

/cs aop #channel add nickname

• Super Operator (SOp): Operators with additional capabilities. They can perform the tasks mentioned above, grant permanent access to others, and configure channel settings. The default access flags for SOp are +AOefiorstv. To add someone to the SOp list:

/cs sop #channel add nickname

• Successor: The +S flag designates a successor who takes over channel ownership if founders' nicknames expire or are dropped. To designate the next user as a successor:

/cs flags #channel nickname +S

For detailed instructions on channel succession: Channel Successors.

• Founder: Users with full founder access to the channel. They possess the default flags +AFORefiorstv. HybridIRC allows multiple founders (up to 5). Granting the +F flag gives complete control over the channel, including the ability to remove your own founder status.

• Custom Operator: Operators who have custom flags that can be added or removed by users with higher access. To add someone with custom flags:

/cs flags #channel nickname +AOeiorstv

For more information, see ChanServ FLAGS.

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Other Access Levels

While ChanOps are access holders who have control over channel settings and other users of the channel, there are two more access levels that exist. Status holders of these two levels are granted certain privileges in the channel, but these privileges are designed to benefit the holder and do not allow them to exercise control over other users. These two access levels are:

• Voice Operator (VoiceOp or VOp)
• Voice Operators, denoted by the + symbol in front of their nickname, have the following privileges:

 * The ability to join the channel even if there is a channel ban that matches them (+b).
 * The ability to join the channel even if the channel is set to keyed/invite only or the channel occupancy limit has been reached (+ikl).
 * The ability to talk in the channel even if the channel has the moderation mode set (+mM).
 * The ability to change nickname while on the channel even if the prohibit nickname change mode has been set (+N).

Temporary Access Levels:

• Operator, denoted by the @ symbol and mode +o.
• Voice, denoted by the + symbol and mode +v.

Temporary access does not grant users the same privileges as equivalent permanent access holders, such as those privileges granted via services. In channels where the SECURE setting is enabled, temporary operator status cannot be granted.

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SET SECURE

This setting prevents users who do not currently hold AOp or SOp from obtaining Op (+o) status in a channel. The SECURE setting is turned ON by default when a channel is registered and can be toggled as follows:

/cs set #channel SECURE ON - turn SECURE on, only users who are AOp or above can be set +o.

/cs set #channel SECURE OFF - turn SECURE off, absolutely anyone can be set +o by another.

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Other Security Measures

Kicks and Bans

The ability to deal with problem users in your chatroom is essential. Kicking a user out of a channel means removing them from the chatroom, but they may rejoin. Banning a user prevents them from joining the channel. If a user is already in the channel and gets banned but not kicked, they will be unable to talk unless they are opped or voiced.

Host Masking

HybridIRC provides a feature called host masking, which hides parts of a user's hostname or IP address to protect their privacy. For more information on banning and host masking, refer to the [Host Masking] page.

Channel Protection Properties

• ANTIFLOOD: The ANTIFLOOD setting configures flood control settings for ChanServ in a channel.

/cs set #channel ANTIFLOOD QUIET
/cs set #channel ANTIFLOOD KICKBAN
/cs set #channel ANTIFLOOD OFF
/cs set #channel ANTIFLOOD ON

There are also channel modes that work in conjunction with or without ANTIFLOOD when a flood is triggered.

• messageflood: Channel mode f (flood), which helps protect against spammers.

/mode #channel +f 4:2 - will kick a user if they type more than 4 lines in 2 seconds.

For additional protection options, refer to the Channel Protection page.

Need Help?

If you have questions or need assistance:

• * Join the help channel: #Help
• * Visit Starting your own chat room.
• or contact us via e-mail at: support@hybridirc.com