256 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
256 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
/************************************************************************
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* IRC - Internet Relay Chat, doc/MANUAL
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* Copyright (C) 1990, Karl Kleinpaste
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*
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* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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* the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
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* any later version.
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*
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* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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* GNU General Public License for more details.
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*
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* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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* along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
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* Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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*/
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Date: 04 Apr 1989
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Author: Karl Kleinpaste
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karl@cis.ohio-state.edu
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Last modification: 15 May 1992
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by Mauri Haikola
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mjh@stekt.oulu.fi
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Modified for undernet: 7 Feb 1995
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by Carlo Kid
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carlo@runaway.xs4all.nl
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INTERNET RELAY CHAT
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a real-time conversational system
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* 1: Irc - replacement for talk(1)
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Irc is a functional replacement for and improvement to talk(1). Talk
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is an old, primitive, atrocious, minimalist sort of keyboard/screen
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conversation tool, using a grotesque, machine-dependent protocol.
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Irc does everything talk does, but with a better protocol, allowing
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more than 2 users to talk at once, with access across the aggregate
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Internet, and providing a whole raft of other useful features.
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* 2: Entering Internet Relay Chat
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To enter Internet Relay Chat you need to run a client, which will start
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connecting to its default server. The best clients are the clients
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conforming to 'ircII' but those are all unix clients. More info on
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clients can be achieved from ftp.undernet.org:/pub/irc/docs/underfaq.1
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* 3: How much can be seen from here
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The universe - seriously.
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This is most formally called Internet Relay Chat. Server hosts are
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connected via a tree structure. The various servers relay control and
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message data among themselves to advertise the existence of other
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servers, users, and the channels and other resources being occupied by
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those users.
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* 4: Structure
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There is quite a lot of structure to the operation of irc, as
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compared to crufty old talk(1). Since so little could be done with
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talk(1), it needed little structure. But to keep track of people
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spread literally around the world (the system was written by Jarkko
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Oikarinen of Finland, usually seen on the system as `Wiz'), the
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structure is useful so that one can speak to exactly those people with
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whom one wishes to speak.
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** 4.1: Nicknames
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All users of irc are known to the system by a `nickname.' By
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default, one's nickname is one's login name. Nickname clashes are not
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allowed; this is enforced by the servers. If one's intended nickname
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clashes with someone else as one enters chat, one will not be able to
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complete entry to irc until one changes one's nickname to something
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else.
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** 4.2: Presence on a channel
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Fundamental to the operation of irc is the concept of a channel. All
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users are `on a channel' while inside irc. One enters the `null
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channel' first. One cannot send any messages while not in any
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chatting channel unless one has set up a private conversation in some
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way. The number of channels is essentially unlimited - whatever will
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fit in a string of some ungodly length, that must start with a # sign.
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** 4.3: Main modes of channels
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Public
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This is the default mode for a channel. When one is on a public
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channel, one can be seen by all other users (if one's own user mode
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permits this). Anyone can notice users on a public channel and join
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such a channel's conversation.
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Private
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This means that, although anyone can see that one is using chat, no
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one can tell what channel one is using unless one is already on that
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channel with oneself. Since the number of potential channels is in
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the billions, this is quite some security - all one gives away is the
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acknowledgement that one is using chat.
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Secret
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While one is on a secret channel, no one who is not on one's channel
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with oneself can even see that one is there. One's name does not show
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up in a list of active users. The only indication of one's presence
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is that, when entering chat, all new users are told that there are "N
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users on P servers." If one checks on all users and finds less than N
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of them, one knows that others are hiding on secret channels. But a
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secret channel user still cannot be found except by brute-force
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checking through all channels, a hopeless proposition in the face of
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the huge number of possible channel names. Security through obscurity
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finally means something. Of course, making a channel like '#test' secret
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gives a huge change to be discovered anyway.
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Changing the mode
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The mode of a channel (private, secret, invite-only, moderated,
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topic-limited, person-number-limited, no-messages-to-channel, ban
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someone from channel) is set by the channel operator, who is the
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first person to join a channel, or someone who has had channel
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operatorship bestowed on them by another channel operator.
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*** 4.4: Conversations not using channels
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It is possible to conduct conversations with others without using the
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formalized channel structure. Doing so requires that two people set
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themselves up for private conversation using special commands; see
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User Commands below.
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** 5: Getting help
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Type "/help." Follow the instructions. Since this is a client feature
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it might not work for you, in which case you'd have to consult your
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local irc guru or someone on the net.
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** 5.1: User commands
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In most clients, commands must start with a '/' (for example: /join #test).
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The most important commands supported by irc are:
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help quit who whois
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list topic join part
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links msg invite silence
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names stats nick away
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info clear query ignore
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mode
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*** 5.1.1: /quit [comment]
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/quit exits chat. Optional comment may be included; see above.
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*** 5.1.2: /who [#channelname_mask | user@host.mask]
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/who returns information on who is using chat. /who without arguments
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prints info on all users that can be seen. Users of public channels
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show up with their channel identified. Users of private channels
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appear, but they are specified as being on a private, unspecified
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channel. Users of secret channels and users whose user mode is +i
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(invisible) do not appear at all.
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Giving a channel name as an argument to /who returns only those users of the
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specified channel. This still doesn't show users of secret channel or
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invisible users one is actually on the same channel with them. Users
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of private channels are shown, if an exact channel name is given.
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*** 5.1.3: /whois <nickname>
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This returns information about individual users. Type "/whois nickname"
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to get information on the login name and host from which the nicknamed
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user comes.
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*** 5.1.4: /topic <some topic string>
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Channels can be given off-the-cuff "topics." Saying "/topic some
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string of text" will associate that topic with the current channel.
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*** 5.1.5: /list [#channel.mask]
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/list will give lists of active channels, the number of users of each,
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and the topics therewith associated. Again, secret channels do not
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appear and private channels only appear as Prv.
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*** 5.1.6: /join <channel>
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/join <#channel_name> is the means to enter a channel. Give the channel
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name as an argument. If this is a secret or hidden channel, /who
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commands will show oneself and any other users of one's channel.
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One's arrival on a channel is announced to the rest of the users
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already on that channel. Silent, anonymous "lurking" is not
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supported.
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*** 5.1.7: /msg <nick> <some text string>
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A single message can be sent privately to a certain user with /msg.
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Type /msg nickname and the text to be sent. It will be sent privately
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to the indicated nickname.
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*** 5.1.8: /invite <#channel> <nick>
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If there is a user online to whom one wishes to speak, one may invite
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that user to join oneself on a certain channel. One types "/invite
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nickname" with an optional channel name. The receiving user gets a
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one-line message indicating the sender and the invitation. The
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receiving user is free to ignore the invitation, of course.
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*** 5.1.9: /ignore <nick!user@host.mask>
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If one wants to ignore messages sent by some other user or users, it
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may be done with /ignore command. One can ignore someone by their
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nickname, or by their user@host data. Wildcards may be used. /ignore
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is only intended to ignore annoying public messages (messages sent to
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a channel), to stop flooding (a huge number of messages per second)
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you have to use banning for channel messages, and /silence for private
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messages. /mode <your nick> +d stops all messages to ALL channels.
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*** 5.1.12: /silence [nick!user@host.mask]
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This command effectively stops private message flooding at the server
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of the flooder. You can use "/silence nick" to get a list of the
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silence masks of 'nick'. This command is undernet specific and therefor
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not supported by all clients unless you add specifically a line to your
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clients configuration file.
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*** 5.1.11: /nick <new_nick>
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One can change nicknames by issuing "/nick new-nickname." All users
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on one's channel will be informed about the change. NOTE: If one enters
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chat with a nickname clash (e.g., one's login name is the same as
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someone else's, and the other user got there first), the system will
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not let one enter until one issues a /nick command with a unique
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nickname.
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*** 5.1.12: /mode #channel <lots of parameters>
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This command can be used for altering the various modes of a channel
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(see the explanation of channel modes above). /mode command can only
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be issued by channel operators. Please use /help, or the manual of
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your client to find out about this command.
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* 6: Questions, problems, troubles?
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If you have problems, please get and read the FAQs from
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ftp.undernet.org:/pub/irc/docs/underfaq.1 and underfaq.2.
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You can also ask for help on some of the operator channels on irc,
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for example #wasteland. They will be able to assist you in whatever
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problems you are having with IRC.
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