Op Policy
As an op, think of yourself first as a tour guide and second as a policeman. Pleasantly, but firmly, keep people
on the path and everyone will have an enjoyable experience; but if a genuine need arises, use your authority to
enforce the rules.
This is not a cybersex or warez channel and you have the right to enforce that by warning people who attempt
to use it for that purpose. If your warnings are ignored, you can kick and/or ban, as you see fit. However, remember
that we are not the morals police of IRC; an occasional remark or isolated incident of inappropriate language or
behavior should not be overreacted to.
Do not op anyone yourself, unless W is not online, or lagging badly. This includes people currently authorized
as ops as well as members of the channel who request ops. All authorized ops can request ops through W or through
OpGuardian.
Do not use any "auto-op" or "protect" features of your IRC software if they will affect this
channel.
"Auto-op" will automatically give ops to nicks and/or addresses from a list in your software. As noted
above, all ops should be requested via W or OpGuardian, not granted by you or your auto-op routine.
"Protect" features generally work by kicking anyone who deops or kicks someone on your protect list,
then re-inviting or re-opping the protected person. If you have this feature on and another op de-ops someone on
your list, your protect feature will deop/kick that op (W cannot be deopped or kicked).
You may choose to gain ops while in the channel or remain an "invisible" op, using the bots to carry
out op functions for you. Having a visible op in the channel lets users know whom they can consult regarding questions
or problems, as well as providing a deterrent for bashers; however, when the channel is not too busy, having too
many ops can be intimidating to new members (who wants to feel like the only outsider of a club?). Use your discretion
and judgment about opping yourself.
If your interest or availability as an op ceases, please let the channel managers know. We will be happy to put
your op status on reserve until you wish to re-activate it, or we will remove you from the ops list if you wish.
If someone you respect expresses interest in ops, please ask him/her to contact a channel manager via e-mail; it
would be helpful if you also give us your opinion about that person's suitability. We prefer people who will actively
participate in the channel, joining in the chat, rather than simply being an aloof op. For that reason, we prefer
someone who is not already opping several channels.
Kicks & bans
Kick people only for serious misbehavior. Kicks are not for fun or to be used simply because you disagree with
someone's ideas or personality.
If disagreements between people are becoming offensive and disruptive, suggest the parties involved take it to
private chat and warn that they may be kicked if they persist. If you are personally involved in a dispute, be
sure that you would kick the other person even if you were uninvolved but the situation was otherwise the same.
As ops, we have a responsibility to be fair and not abuse our authority.
Ban only for severe problems, such as bashing or repeated disruptive behavior. Generally, you will want to ban
using the person's user@host address, rather than nick, so that he or she can not simply change nicks and rejoin
the channel.
You may wish to also /ignore the person after the ban, so that you are not harassed by messages. The user@host
ban (*!*Striezel@*.loop.com) is generally effective. Occasionally, you may need to ban an entire site (*!*@*.loop.com)
if a troublemaker is changing his user name and returning to the channel. Be very sparing in using site bans since
they potentially prohibit many other innocent users from joining the channel.
Modes & topics
Leave the channel in mode +tn. This code means that only ops can set the channel topic and that no external messages
may be broadcast as public conversation in the channel. Type "/mode #Hicksville +tn" to set the modes.
The channel topic shows when people list the channels available on IRC and usually is displayed on the IRC client
when a user is in the channel.
Ops script
Click here for the ops script for mIRC and NexGen. Save it in your mIRC or NexGen folder as OpGuardian.mrc. It
contains menu items for your popup menus which will be useful for you as an op. It's a simple text file and can
edited with Notepad if you wish to change some of the items.
To install the script, type /load -rs OpGuardian.mrc in any window in mIRC. You only need to do this once; mIRC
will remember that you installed this script and will automatically load it in the future.
To uninstall it, type /unload -rs OpGuardian.mrc.
You will find a new set of menu items at the bottom of your Channel, Query, and Nicknames menus (the ones you get
when you right-click in any of those window types). The new menu items are all under the heading OpGuardian.
After installing, join the channel and right-click in the channel window. From the OpGuardian menu, select Bot
logins and passwords and use the menu item to store your passwords for W. You only need to do this once...the passwords
will be saved permanently (you can use the same popup to change them) and used in various other menu items for
such things as getting ops from W. This does not set or change your passwords with the bots...it merely stores
your passwords as mIRC variables for use with the new script.
W
W is the Undernet's official bot for registered channels. W may be considered a "super-op" who provides
services to you as an authorized channel operator.
W can no longer be kicked, deopped, or banned, due to changes in the Undernet's IRC program code. However, don't
test this...if somehow you succeed, you can be sure an IRC op or Channel
Services representative will promptly contact you for a very unfriendly discussion!
Set your W password to something difficult for anyone to guess: try a combination of letters and numbers, or a
nonsense "word". Do not use obvious words such as your name, nick, city, etc. A clever hacker can duplicate
your user@host, but with a carefully selected password, he will still not gain access to W.
Authenticate yourself (login) to W using the OpGuardian script rather than typing the command, if possible. The
reason is that your /msg to W (containing your password) can be inadverently broadcast to the entire channel as
a public message if you mistype the command. The same principle applies for changing your password with W.
W recognizes your password as a match to your user@host address; therefore, you can use any nick you like and W
will still know you. However, if you change ISP's (Internet Service Provider) or your user name at your ISP, you
will need to inform a channel manager so that your address can be updated with W. Also, ISP servers will sometimes
list your address in a numeric IP format and sometimes in a text format ("striezel@204.136.*" vs. "striezel@*.loop.com").
If your ISP does this, you will need two accounts, since W does not
'resolve' the numeric and text addresses; you can use the same password for both accounts.
You can use W to perform most of the op functions. Refer to the "W Commands Guide" for instructions.
You do not need to be opped to use W for any functions. Once you have authenticated yourself to W, all of its functions
are available as long as you remain on IRC; in fact, most W functions do not require you to be in the channel.
W is set to always be an op on the channel. If it ever loses ops or is disconnected from the channel, it will automatically
rejoin and op itself.
W provides certain protections for the channel. Persons who disrupt the channel in the following ways will be kicked
by W:
De-opping more than 3 people in 15 seconds.
Changing nicks more than 4 times in 15 seconds.
Sending more than 7 change lines (/mode, /topic, etc.) to the channel in 15 seconds. Public messages (regular conversation)
do not trigger this.
W is provided as a service through the Wildstar server. Occasionally, Wildstar may be offline, or a netsplit may
be in progress, and W will be unavailable. If so:
When you send W a /msg, you will get a response that W is unavailable and the message has been intercepted by a
'nick placeholder' for W. When W returns to IRC, it will reset the topic and ops to what they were when W went
offline. This may mean you will be de-opped if you had gained ops on another segment of IRC. Simply identify yourself
to W and request ops again.
If there are problems with W, you can request assistance from IRC ops by visiting #wasteland and asking for help.
#wasteland is the official IRC op channel and may appear to be silent; simply state your question and if an IRC
op is available, you will be contacted. IRC ops may be identified by the "/whois nick" command: you will
see the statement "nick is an IRC Operator" near the end of the /whois information.
You may be contacted by a Channel Services representative in regard to W. Do whatever is requested by the representative
after verifying his/her authority ("/msg W verify nick"). Please send a note to a channel manager describing
the incident and include the nick/address of the CS representative.