Channel Moderation

When you register your channel, a user by the name of "ChanServ" will join your channel. ChanServ is a network service on Techtronix that is completely dedicated to offering channel services. Using ChanServ, you can enable special policies/settings for your channel, ban people, kick people, and so on. Here are some basic commands used most often on Techtronix. These commands are meant to be typed in the channel. All in-channel commands for ChanServ are prefixed with ! by default unless you choose to change this.

• !ban username - Bans username from the channel. By default, this will ban their IP address.

• !kick username - Kicks username from the channel. A kick is like throwing someone out. Kicks aren't a form of banning, but there are ways to use kicks as a form of time-out. That's more advanced so it won't be covered here.

• !op username - Grants username channel operator status. Think of this as marking someone as a moderator. This is temporary. A way to persistently mark them as channel operator will be explained below.

• !unban username - Unbans username from the channel. This command is a bit tricky -- it only works for folks who have a registered account on the network. For almost any other situation, you're going to have to remove bans manually using your client's ban list feature.

Channels have something called an access list which is used for persistent permission granting. Techtronix actually supports 3 individual systems that can all be used together at the same time, but in this guide, the basics will be shown.

To understand the access system being discussed here (XOP -- but you don't need to remember this), you first need to know what statuses/roles we support on Techtronix. Those are:

1. Voice (VOP)

2. Half-op (HOP)

3. Operator (AOP)

4. Admin (SOP) - aka Super Op

5. Owner (QOP)

Voice(ed) users don't actually have the ability to change channel settings. This status allows users to talk in a channel when the discussion is restricted. Half-op(ped) users are like basic moderators. They can ban people from the channel, and change some of the channel's settings. Operators are like normal moderators and can change more channel settings, etc. Admins can configure a channel's more permanent ban list, known as akick(s). They can also add users to the channel's access list, but at a lower level than them. They can add operators and below. Admins should be considered a serious role, and should not be given to people lightly. They can destroy your channel. Only give Admin status to people you trust! Owners basically control all of the channel's settings and access list. There's only one true owner to a channel though -- the channel founder. This is the person who registered the channel, and is shown to users when they type /cs info #channelname.

• !vop add username - Adds username to the voice list.

• !hop add username - Adds username to the half-operator list.

• !aop add username - Adds username to the operator list.

• !sop add username - Adds username to the admin / super operator list.

• !qop add username - Adds username to the owner list.

This is the part of channel management that gets a lot more involved/complex. Changing channel settings isn't hard in itself, but what new users typically have issues with is remembering commands.

Alright, so we've already discussed that channels have settings. You can actually get an output from the server that tells you all that you can set for your channel. This can be accessed by typing /cs help set anywhere in your client, and checking what ChanServ sends you.

Here's an abbreviated set, to be used as an example:

11:27:56 PM <ChanServ> Syntax: set option channel parameters

(...)

11:27:56 PM <ChanServ> SET DESCRIPTION Set the channel description

(...)

Based on the command above, to set the description of #channelname, I would type the following command:

/cs set description #channelname This is amateur hour

This information will now be shown in the output of /cs info #channelname. You are free and able to change this anytime you wish to do so.