New Staff: Amyashi, Holst, and Coyote`
Nov 25th
Amyashi, Holst, and Coyote` have all recently kindly accepted our offer to join the GeekShed staff team. Network administration is not an easy job, and we are thankful for the time they have dedicated to us.
Please welcome Amyashi, Holst, and Coyote` to our staff and congratulate them on their new positions.
Round Robin Improvements
Feb 17th
Bye, bye birdie! GeekShed is moving to an auto-geo-ip system that determines the best server to connect users too.
You no longer have to find the best round robin for your location. The new system should detect your location and route you to the best server for your location and situation.
The system includes some load balancing as well, so if the closest server is full, you will be routed to another, faster server.
To set up your client, simply use the irc.geekshed.net address no matter where you are. Note that we do not support ipv6 at this time.
Special Connection Round Robins
We also have round robins based on pools of servers with special capabilities. If you need these features, use one of these options:
- lightirc.geekshed.net if you’re configuring your copy of the LightIRC client
- bnc.geekshed.net if you’re using GeekShed’s free BNC service
If you have any difficulties with any of the servers, just join #help and someone will assist you.
Photo: Robin by John Haslam, on Flickr
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
The GeekShed Forums Are Back!
Sep 27th
GeekShed’s Forums are back up and running, thanks to some investigation and work from Subwolf.
So go get online, post some news, add some comments and suggestions, give someone some script help, hang out in a channel forum, or ask for some network help. The Forums are ready for your messages!
Everything in the Forums should be restored and working as it did before our several-week hiatus. If you notice anything amiss, you can report what you see in #help. Thanks for your patience while we got things updated and back online.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Twitter Bot Upgraded
Jun 15th
Twitter bot, the network bot that posts your Twitter updates in your channel, works with the new Twitter API now, thanks to some code wrangling by the admin, the tech, and the teacher, Allan Jude (also network staff). Hooray!
The bad news is that in the process of updating things recently, we discovered some corrupt information in the database the bot uses to determine which channels to join. Unfortunately some records were lost. If the Twitter bot hasn’t joined your channel again, you will need to register again. We apologize for the inconvenience.
If you weren’t using the Twitter bot, register now to have your status updates shared in your channel. It’s a simple process. Let us know in #help if you have any questions.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Featured Channel: #JupiterBroadcasting
Mar 3rd
#JupiterBroadcasting is the online chat and IRC home of Jupiter Broadcasting, the podcasting network currently producing six shows and streaming 24/7. The channel was founded by ChrisLAS on April 29, 2009.
What happens in the channel?
We’re a community focused around Jupiter Broadcasting, a podcasting network that produces high quality shows such as the “Linux Action Show” as well as many others. Our current lineup includes these shows:
- Linux Action Show (LAS)—The world’s #1 Linux podcast covers the best in the open source and Linux world.
- Coder Radio—A pragmatic look at the art and business of Software Development and related technologies.
- SciByte—Science and technology, in bite-sized (and delicious) chunks.
- Unfilter—A media watchdog, meme spotter, and topic deep diver.
- TechSNAP—The Systems, Network, and Administration Podcast covers stories that impact the tech industry.
- FauxShow—The network’s unofficial talk show, which features the chat room prominently in “The Lower Third.”
Each show is streamed live, and the channel is frequently featured, meaning you can chime in with your opinion while a show is being recorded. Between shows, the chat is always active with various topics of discussion, from Linux, to tech, to politics, to bacon.
What are the channel policies?
Our chat is very friendly and welcoming to people with differing opinions, as long as you are polite and courteous to your fellow chat members.
Anything else you want folks to know?
Join us live for our 100th episode of TechSNAP, a Systems, Network, and Administration Podcast! It’s sure to be a good time! Mark your calendar for March 7th, 4PM EST (or 2100 UTC)!
You can also find more resources on these pages:
- http://jblive.tv—Watch live or tune in in the off-time to watch some re-runs
- http://jblive.info—Catch the audio stream for live shows, or listen to the Jupiter Radio
- http://bit.ly/jbreddits—Submit a story to the subreddits for some of the Jupiter Broadcasting shows. Vote ’em up, and join the community!
- http://jbgame.tv—Join our new Gaming Community on Google+!
Want to have your channel profiled on the GeekShed website? Check out the requirements and use the online form to apply.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Channel Management Capabilities
Feb 21st
A channel on the network can have six different kinds of users. You might think of them as levels of permission and access. They are, in increasing amount of capabilities:
- Regular User
- Voiced, VOP or +v
- Half-Op, HOP or +h
- Op, Auto-Op, Full Op or +o
- Super-Op or Admin, SOP or +a
- Founder, or +q
Click on the links above to learn hot to set each level. Regular users and voiced users have no power over how the channel is managed. Everyone else has at least some control over who can be in the channel and general channel management.
The channel founder has the highest level of control, with the ability to remove or set any of the lower access levels. Only channel founders can set a channel successor or change the ownership of the channel, which is why we do not recommend having more than one founder for a channel. See tips on How to Choose Staff for Your Channel for more details on how to choose people to trust with your channel’s management.
The table below shows some of the channel management capabilities that are used most often:
| Capabilities | VOP | HOP | OP | SOP | Founder |
| Can speak when channel is moderated (+m) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can change channel TOPIC | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can change Channel Modes (*) | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can Kick/Ban users with lower status than themselves | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can Voice/Devoice users (+v) | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can Half-OP/DeHalf-OP users (+h) | – | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can use Botserv (/bs) commands | – | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can OP/DeOP users (+o) | – | – | – | Yes | Yes |
| Can view/add/remove AKICKs | – | – | – | Yes | Yes |
| Can SuperOP/DeSuperOP users (+a) | – | – | – | – | Yes |
| Can add successor | – | – | – | – | Yes |
| Can add founders (not recommended) | – | – | – | – | Yes |
*See the Channel Modes page for details on which modes can be set by which levels. For instance, only the founder can link the channel (+l).
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Featured Channel: #GingerGeek
Feb 11th
#GingerGeek is the official channel of (obviously) GingerGeek, a UK GCSE student who is currently developing a content management system. The channel was founded by GingerGeek on August 20, 2012.
What happens in the channel?
Conversations take place on just about everything—from bannas to culture to Star Trek. Feel free to talk to anyone in the channel. They are hopefully all friendly!
What are the channel policies?
If you’re not annoying, you will get voice pretty quickly. If you’re really nice, you will probably get hop. Ops are hard to get, and admin is just from my bots.
Want to have your channel profiled on the GeekShed website? Check out the requirements and use the online form to apply.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
Boooo! Eliminating Ghosts
Jan 18th
Have you ever had your computer, Internet or modem go down while you were on GeekShed, and then when you log back in you find out that your nickname is still connected? If so, you have been a ghost on the GeekShed network.
On IRC, a ghost session is one which is not actually connected, but which the IRC server believes is still online for one reason or another. Usually, this situation happens when your computer gets disconnected somehow while you’re on IRC. If the connection isn’t closed properly, you can remain on the network as a ghost.
These ghost connections are not really scary, but they are a little inconvenient since you cannot use your nickname until the ghost session disconnects. Fortunately you can end the session manually. To close a ghost session, use this command:
/msg NickServ GHOST nick password
For example, if LordBaconCheeseburger was the ghost session, I would type:
/msg NickServ GHOST LordBaconCheeseburger supersecretpassword
You will see the ghost session disconnect, usually with a message like this:
Quits: LordBaconCheeseburger (~yummy@baconbaconbacon.vhost) (NickServ (GHOST command used by LordDoubleBaconCheeseburger))
You can then use the /NICK command to change to your nick. The ghost has been eliminated and you didn’t even have to worry about ectoplasmic residue.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny
The Most Popular Tips Published in 2012
Jan 10th
Last year we published a list of the 10 Most Visited Tips for 2011. While the order shifted around, it turns you that you had the same top 9 questions for 2012. Why should I register my nickname and how do I do it? (#8 in 2011) rose to the #1 position, and new to the list was the question How Do I Join Channels Automatically?
Since there was little change in the overall most visited overall tips, I rounded up the most popular tips that were published in 2012. Here are the new tips that you visited the most:
- Using Channel Keys
- I’m Banned From My Own Channel
- Using Channel Modes to Hide Your Channel
- How to Block Private Messages (PMs)
- Choosing a Nickname
- Are You Using Our Round Robins?
- What To Do If You Forget Your Password
- What Is A Hostmask?
- What’s a Netsplit?
- Getting a Channel in the List of Chat Rooms
Thanks to everyone for a great 2012 on GeekShed. If you have any questions you’d like us to write about on the site, post the details in the Comments and Suggestions board on the GeekShed Forums. Also remember that you can apply to have your channel featured on the site, like our featured channels in 2012: #LordKaT, #EricJess, #mIRC, and #247fixes.
—posted by Tengrrl/Bunny