RelayServ

RelayServ is a network service that allows for the interlinking of channels available on other IRC networks and potentially other mediums, such as Twitch. Networks linked are identified in the user list by their "short name". For example, "freenode" has a short name of "fn". Techtronix is referred to as "ttx".

RelayServ is not controllable by end-users. If you would like a channel linked to or from another network, please contact network staff in #help.

The information below is oriented towards network operators.

Types of Links

There are two types of links that are available from RelayServ: client bot, and server-to-server (s2s).

Client bot

A relay bot created from the relay service connects to the remote channel and relays content back and forth. Users in the remote channel appear as channel members on Techtronix*, but all messages appear from the relay bot to the remote channel. Typically, the name of this bot is ttx or techtx. Client bot relays are the easiest to implement, but they don't offer the most seamless integrations. A server-to-server connection is the most seamless.

*Note: Twitch links will not show end users in the channel. This is due to how the Twitch chat system works. Viewers appear as users in stream chats and show as joining when they start viewing and leaving when they leave the page. This causes a lot of join and quit spam, and is generally undesirable. Users from Twitch will appear from RelayServ instead.

Server-to-Server

The actual relay server itself connects to one of the IRC servers of the network hosting the remote channel, as opposed to just a simple bot sitting in the remote channel. Users on both sides of the relay appear organically in the user list. Sending private messages to remote users is also more fluid this way, as talking to a remote user on a client bot relay requires the user to message the relay bot itself, beginning all messages with a command to make sure that the message is routed to the correct person.