GeekShed IRC Network
Problems with Lost Channels
Jan 25th
If no one uses a channel on GeekShed for 60 days, it is dropped from the system. A channel can also be dropped, even if people are in it, if the person who registered it does not log in for 60 days or more. The server assumes that if someone has not logged or or a channel goes unused for 60 days, that person is abandoning any channels.
So how can you regain a lost channel if this happens to you? Once a channel has been dropped from the system, any registered user can claim and register the channel. The requirement is the same as it is for starting any new channel. If no one is in the channel, you can just join the channel and register it again (after registering your nick again if necessary).
If there are people in the channel, the situation is a bit more complicated. If someone in the channel has ops, you can ask that person to give you ops so that you can reregister the channel. If no one has ops in the channel, you need to ask everyone to leave so that you can rejoin first and get ops. Once you are an op in the channel, you can register it again.
We’re frequently asked if we can kick everyone out of a channel so that someone can reregister it. We cannot. Once a channel has dropped, it doesn’t belong to anyone anymore. The original owner no longer has any special claim on the channel. Everyone has an equal right to register it, and no one on the network staff will kick everyone or give the original owner ops in this situation.
Likewise, if someone else registered a channel that has been dropped, we will not take that channel away and restore ownership to the original owner. Channel registration is first come, first serve. Everyone has an equal right to register a channel, and no one on the network staff will give the original owner back a channel in this situation.
—posted by tengrrl/bunny
Apply to Have Your Channel Featured!
Jun 11th
Want more people to know about the fun stuff going on in your channel on GeekShed? Answer a few questions about your channel here, and we’ll consider your channel for a new feature on the GeekShed site. The idea is that every few weeks, a channel will be highlighted on the website, with details about the channel, what happens there, and other details.
There are a few requirements:
- You have to be the owner of the channel or have the full permission of the channel owner.
- You have to have an average of 20 or more people in the channel regularly.
- The channel has to be at least 3 months old.
- The channel has to be open and public (no private or secret channels).
The GeekShed staff will choose channels to feature based on the application and observation of the channel. Acceptance is at the discretion of network staff. There is no promise or guarantee implied. To apply, just fill in the form below.
How to Join Channels Automatically
May 5th
The AJOIN command is a server-side command that keeps track of the channels you join each time you connect to GeekShed. If you login with your nick and identify with your password, you can join all the same channels automatically. It works no matter what client you use or where you connect from since all the details are kept on the server.
Note that your client may have an option to keep an auto-join locally. Check your documentation for details on using a client-side system if you want to keep your settings on your machine(s). This explanation will focus on the server-side system only.
What is required to join channels automatically?
Your nickname has to be registered, and you have to identify before you can use the AJOIN command. Additionally, the channel that you want to join has to be registered. Remember that you can only be in 100 channels, so you can only include 100 channels in your AJOIN list.
How do I join a channel automatically?
To add a channel to the list of those that you join every time you connect to GeekShed (your AJOIN list), use the following command:
/msg NickServ AJOIN ADD #channel
For instance, /msg NickServ AJOIN ADD #topgear would add the channel #topgear to your AJOIN list.
How do I add a channel that uses a key to my AJOIN list?
If the channel you want to add uses a key, you need to include the key when you use the command:
/msg NickServ AJOIN ADD #channel key
For instance, /msg NickServ AJOIN ADD #topgear hAmsT3r would add the channel #topgear with the channel key “hAmsT3r” to your AJOIN list.
Can I just add every channel I’m in right now?
Yes, you can. Join all the channels you want to add, and use the command:
/msg NickServ AJOIN ADDALL
The command will also automatically include the keys for any channels to your AJOIN list.
How do I see a list of all the channels I join automatically?
To see a list of all the channels on your AJOIN list, use the command:
/msg NickServ AJOIN LIST
Use wild cards with this command to list only the channels on your AJOIN list that match a specific pattern. For instance, the command /msg NickServ AJOIN LIST #top* would return all the channels on your AJOIN list that begin with “#top” (for instance, #topgear).
How do I remove a channel from my AJOIN list?
To remove a channel from your AJOIN list, use the command
/msg NickServ AJOIN DEL #channel
For instance, /msg NickServ AJOIN DEL #topgear would remove the channel #topgear from your AJOIN list.
How do I delete all the channels that I join automatically?
To remove all the channels from your AJOIN list, use this command:
/msg NickServ AJOIN CLEAR
The command will delete all the channels from your AJOIN list. When you connect to GeekShed again, you will not join any channels automatically.
What if I get banned from a channel I usually join automatically?
If you are banned from a channel, please be sure to remove it from your AJOIN list, using the AJOIN DEL command above. Keeping a channel you are banned from on your AJOIN list may result in accidentally evading the ban.
Video Demonstration of the AJOIN commands
If you’d like to see some of these commands demonstrated, take a look at UKGeek’s video below, which was entered in our birthday competition last year:
—tengrrl
Setting Up Greeting Messages
Apr 21st
When I join #theshed the channel bot, Sheldon, posts this greeting:
[11:20] Sheldon: [Bunny] Go Hokies!
That’s a channel greeting, an individualized greeting that is announced to the entire channel. It’s different from the Channel Entry Message, the private message sent to everyone who joins a channel. You’ll only see greeting messages for users with operator or founder status and only in channels where the messages are turned on.
There are two parts to setting up greeting messages: (1) a channel founder has to turn the greetings on, and (2) the channel operators have to set up the specific greetings.
Part One: Turning greeting messages on (or off) for a channel
Who can change the greeting setting for a channel?
Only the channel founder can turn greetings on or off.
How do you can turn greeting messages ON for all channel operators?
To turn channel greetings on, the channel founder first has to assign a bot to the channel. Once a bot is assigned, the channel founder uses the following command:
/msg BotServ SET #channel GREET ON
For example: /msg BotServ SET #topgear GREET ON
Once the setting is turned on, the channel bot will display the personal greeting for any operator or founder who joins the channel. Operators and founders still have to set up their greeting message for it to appear in the channel (see Part Two).
How do you can turn greeting messages OFF for all channel operators?
To turn channel greetings back off, the channel founder simply changes the command setting from “on” to “off”:
/msg BotServ SET #channel GREET OFF
For example: /msg BotServ SET #topgear GREET OFF
Part Two: Setting up your personal greeting message
How do you add a greeting message for yourself?
To add a greeting, you use the following command:
/msg NickServ SET GREET [message]
For example: /msg NickServ SET GREET I come with Bacon!
After setting the message, the bot will announce the greeting when you join channels where you are an operator and the greeting option is turned on. For instance, when the user LordBaconCheeseburger joins #topgear, where he has ops, everyone in the channel sees this:
[23:49]<&Stig> [LordBaconCheeseburger] I come with Bacon!
How can you check what your greeting is set to?
If you want to check your greeting, use the INFO command on yourself:
/msg NickServ INFO [YourNick] ALL
For example: /msg NickServ INFO LordBaconCheeseburger ALL
The system will return information about your login, including the greeting you have set. Here’s the information for LordBaconCheeseburger, for instance. Note the bold line indicating the greeting message:
[23:54] -NickServ- LordBaconCheeseburger is TFlash NextGen
[23:54] -NickServ- Is online from: ~TFlash@somewhere.net
[23:54] -NickServ- Time registered: Apr 15 05:23:55 2011 UTC
[23:54] -NickServ- Last quit message: Quit: LordBaconCheeseburger
[23:54] -NickServ- E-mail address: LordBaconCheeseburger@somewhere.net
[23:54] -NickServ- Greet message: I come with Bacon!
[23:54] -NickServ- Options: Protection, Security, Private, Auto-op
How do you change your greeting message?
To edit your greeting message, just use the command again, with the revised version of the message. It may be useful to copy the original message into a text, revise it there, and then paste in the revision.
If I wanted to change the greeting message for LordBaconCheeseburger, for instance, I would use this command:
/msg NickServ SET GREET I come with Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato!
The new message will replace the old one.
How do you turn off your greeting message?
If you prefer not to have the bot greet you when you join channels, you can remove the message completely. To remove the greeting, use the command without any message information. The command would be:
/msg NickServ SET GREET
Note that you can only remove your own greeting message. To turn off all the greetings in a channel, the channel founder must use the BotServ command explained in Part One.
What makes a good greeting message?
Your greeting message can say whatever you’d like. Ideally, choose something appropriate for all the channels you join. If your greeting uses inappropriate language, the channel founder may ask you to change your greeting or remove you from the channel staff.
—Posted by tengrrl
Setting a Channel Entry Message
Apr 15th
A channel entry message appears to users, somewhat obviously, when they enter a channel. You may think of this as a channel greeting. It is one of three kind of greeting commands. I’ll explain the others, greetings that a bot announces to individuals as they join a channel, in my next post.
Where does a Channel Entry Message appear?
The channel entry message is a private message, sent as a /notice when someone joins a channel. It is the first message in the channel window. Here’s the current entry message from #help, for example:
-TheDramaLlama- [#help] Hello, welcome to #help. Please be patient, as the staff is often busy. Current wait is 2-15 minutes. Thank you for your cooperation and support. || Visit our website at http://www.geekshed.net and our forums at http://www.geekshed.net/forums/ || Feel free to ask for help however If something doesn’t concern you, keep quiet or be banned – yes, really
Who can change a Channel Entry Message?
The channel entry message can only be set, edited, or removed by the channel founder.
How do you set a Channel Entry Message?
To set a channel entry message, the channel founder uses the following command:
/msg ChanServ SET #channel ENTRYMSG [message]
For example:
/msg ChanServ set #topgear entrymsg All you have to do is follow some simple rules. Be nice, yield the right of way, and don’t run into anyone else. How hard can it be?
How do you edit a Channel Entry Message?
To edit the channel entry message, the channel founder uses the command again, with the revised version of the message. It may be useful to copy the original message into a text, revise it there, and then paste in the revision.
If I wanted to change the entry message for #topgear, for instance, I would use this command:
/msg ChanServ set #topgear entrymsg Some say our bot is the best on GeekShed and that he’s able to hack an IRC server with a toothpick and a bottle of brandy. All we know is, he’s called the Stig.
The new message will replace the old one.
How do you turn off Channel Entry Message?
To remove a channel entry message completely, the channel founder uses the same command without any message information:
/msg ChanServ SET #channel ENTRYMSG
For example, to remove the entry message from #topgear, I’d use this command:
/msg ChanServ set #topgear entrymsg
What kind of information should be included in a Channel Entry Message?
Your channel entry message can say whatever you’d like. You might share any of the following:
- State some channel rules.
- Link to additional information about the channel like rules, appeal information, etc.
- Note important news.
- Ask users to do something, like read a post in the forums.
- Share a greeting, such as wishing someone a happy birthday or congrats on getting a job.
- Post a joke or comment you want everyone to see.
Remember that the benefit of a channel entry message is that it allows you to share some additional information with people who join your channel. If you have more information than will fit in your channel topic, the entry message is a good way to say more.
—Posted by tengrrl
Manners and Polite Behavior on GeekShed
Mar 16th
When you connect to GeekShed, you are bound by the GeekShed Terms of Service, linked in the footer on every page. If you’re new to IRC, you should also know about netiquette, that’s the expected standards of behavior and common courtesies for online chatting. The word netiquette is a combination of net + etiquette. It’s the etiquette, or manners and polite behavior, for the network.
Good and polite users on GeekShed will follow these general guidelines:
- Be nice and helpful to new users. Everyone was new at some point.
- Do not type in all caps. That’s like shouting in the real world.
- Best to avoid AlTeRnAtInG cApS too.
- Do not flood channels or private messages with ASCII art. Ask first if you have something to share.
- Avoid calling people names or insulting them. Words like moron, n00b, and retard aren’t very nice.
- Ask before you send someone a private messages, notices, and or CTCP requests. It’s like whispering in someone’s ear without permission.
- AME and AMSG should used be sparingly, and only for very important messages. Broadcast messages that are sent to every channel you are in are considered impolite.
- Avoid changing your nick frequently. It gets annoying if you are changing to nicks like Steven|school, Steven|work, Steven|afk, Steven| shower, and Steven|eating. Just choose a nick, and stick with it. It’s unlikely anyone needs that much detail on what you’re doing.
- Read the online help on the website. You can find the answer to nearly every question on the site if you look for it.
- If you can’t find an answer, please ask. Don’t ask if you can ask a question. Just go for it.
- Make sure people understand your tone. On IRC, we can’t see your face or hear your voice.
- Avoid flame wars, trolling, and spamming.
- Remember that GeekShed has international users. Don’t make fun of people who have trouble with spelling or grammar.
In channels, try to follow these suggestions:
- Check the topic and entry messages for details on specific rules and the purpose of a channel.
- Spend some time idling and watching a channel before you jump into the conversation. Don’t just barge into a conversation.
- Keep channel business in the channel it belongs in. Do not bring a problem with one channel to another one. Check the Channel Bans Appeals page if you need to appeal a ban on another channel.
- Always ask before running scripts or away messages in a channel.
- Ask before sharing links in a channel—and be sure that any link you share is virus-free and appropriate for the age-level of the people in the channel.
- Don’t ask for ops or voice. Most people consider it rude.
What if someone isn’t being polite on GeekShed?
- If you are a channel owner, you can ask the person to leave or ban the user. Your channel can have whatever rules you like.
- If someone is being impolite to you personally, ask the person to stop. If that doesn’t work use the /ignore command. It’s usually something like this: /ignore nick. For example, to ignore the nick RudeUser, you’d type /ignore RudeUser — check the documentation for your IRC client for more details.
Generally, you should not report impolite users in #help. Just use /ignore. There is no network rule that says people have to be polite, so network staff will not reprimand people who are impolite.
Beware though.While netiquette is not a network matter, every channel can have its own rules. Being impolite and ignoring these guidelines may get you kicked or banned from channels that do not tolerate rude users.
—Posted by tengrrl
Can I Link Two Channels?
Mar 10th
One question that is routinely asked in #help is how a channel owner can forward users from one channel to another. They usually ask this because they have changed channel names, and there is no other method available to regular users (as opposed to those with access to the IRCd configuration files); however it is also useful if the group that the channel is used by is hosting an event, and to keep the main channel manageable, want to limit it to only X amount of people, and have users that join after that go to an overfill channel.
In any case, linking two channels together is very easy, as it only involves setting two channel modes – the first sets a limit of X people that can be in the channel, and the second sets the channel to send people to after X people have joined the main channel. Also, you are not limited in the number of channels that can be linked together, with the exception that a channel can only forward users to one channel. #Chan1 can forward to #chan2, which can forward to #chan3, etc.
If you are linking an old channel to a new one (i.e. you’ve moved channels), the number must be 1, and there must be someone in the channel for it to work (note: botserv bots do not count. It can be a bot that you run though). If you have linked a primary channel to an overfill one, the number can be anything equal to or greater than 1.
NOTE: Linked channels do not share the same permissions, you will need to add people to the aop/sop/hop/vop lists in each channel.
Should you have any questions about linking channels, feel free to leave a comment here, or to join #help and ask in there.
In any case, linking two channels together is very easy, as it only involves setting two channel modes – the first sets a limit of X people that can be in the channel, and the second sets the channel to send people to after X people have joined the main channel. Also, you are not limited in the number of channels that can be linked together, with the exception that a channel can only forward users to one channel. #Chan1 can forward to #chan2, which can forward to #chan3, etc.
lSo if I wanted to forward my channel #Inara to #Adria, I would do the following:= Channel may hold at most of users [o] (This mode is a lowercase L, not a capital i)
L= Channel link (If +l is full, the next user will auto-join ) [q]
/mode #Inara +lL 1 #Adria. If I wanted to always have the channel set like that, so that nobody could change it, I would use chanserv’s mlock option, and do: /msg chanserv set #Inara mlock +lL 1 #Adria.If you are linking an old channel to a new one (i.e. you’ve moved channels), the number must be 1, and there must be someone in the channel for it to work (note: botserv bots do not count. It can be a bot that you run though). If you have linked a primary channel to an overfill one, the number can be anything equal to or greater than 1.
NOTE: Linked channels do not share the same permissions, you will need to add people to the aop/sop/hop/vop lists in each channel.
Should you have any questions about linking channels, feel free to leave a comment here, or to join #help and ask in there.
GeekShed Management Script
Jan 5th
GeekShed has an officially supported management script written by the GeekShed staff along with users Zetacon and GrimReaper. It offers a range of features including canned messages to help people with common questions as well as some decent channel and nickname management features.
We have checked out the tags directory at http://www.geekshed.net/gs-script/ so you can find each version of the script. We recommend using the latest version (i.e. the one with the highest version number). The script is the one ending in .mrc. The .sig file is the GPG signature of the script and has been included from versions 1.8 for posterity. Public key Phil Lavin (Freelance Programmer) can be found on major key synchronizing servers.
Load it into the remotes section of your script editor just like any other script or place it in your mIRC install dir and type:
We have checked out the tags directory at http://www.geekshed.net/gs-script/ so you can find each version of the script. We recommend using the latest version (i.e. the one with the highest version number). The script is the one ending in .mrc. The .sig file is the GPG signature of the script and has been included from versions 1.8 for posterity. Public key Phil Lavin (Freelance Programmer) can be found on major key synchronizing servers.
Load it into the remotes section of your script editor just like any other script or place it in your mIRC install dir and type:
/load -rs gs-chanscript.mrcAny problems, come see us in #help on irc.geekshed.net
Topic RSS
Oct 24th
EDIT: You can also do this with Javascript now! See http://www.geekshed.net/2011/03/channel-topic-on-your-site-using-javascript/ for info.
We have setup the following RSS feeds that track topic changes.
For the current topic of every channel on the network use: feed://rss.geekshed.net/
For a feed that returns the current topic of any channel you specify replace, “help” with the channel name you want: feed://rss.geekshed.net/?type=single&channel=help
For a feed that returns the last 10 topics of any single channel you specify replace, “chris” with the channel name you want: feed://rss.geekshed.net/?type=singlehistory&channel=chris
For example, you could use this free script to display your chat’s current topic or history of topics on your web site.
Note: Do not include the pound sign in your channel name.
The GeekShed topic RSS service also supports switching of topic and main body. This may help with ease of use in some RSS readers.
To use the new switch feature, simply tag &switch onto the end of your RSS feed URL. For example: http://rss.geekshed.net?type=singlehistory&channel=help&switch
To use the data from this RSS feed to put the current topic on your website, use the following code:
<?php
// Edit This
$chan = 'phil';
// Don't edit this
$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://rss.geekshed.net/?type=single&channel='.$chan);
?>
<!-- Edit this HTML to suit your layout -->
#<?php echo $chan; ?> Topic: <?php echo htmlentities($xml->channel->item->description); ?>
