General DALnet/IRC Tips to Follow

1 · General DALnet Policies

Mass Advertising

Mass advertising includes messaging channels or users with an advertisement, usually for a channel or website. Mass advertising will most likely result in a kill and if continued will result in a network ban. If you want people to join your channels, find another way. Methods of getting people to join your channel can include setting a nice topic to attract visitors or asking friends of yours to join.

For more information on the Mass Advertising policy please check out http://kline.dal.net/massads/mup.htm.

Cloning

Cloning is considered multiple connections from the same computer (host) to the network. Some servers may allow two connections, whereas others only allow one. Before connecting multiple clients you should check the MOTD (Message Of The Day, can be accessed by /motd) of the server you plan to use. Minor cloning will often result in a kill and larger incidents will definitely result in a network ban. Going around the technical definition of cloning by using multiple hosts will still result in the possibility of being banned from the server or network.

Harassment

Harassing IRCops or other members of DALnet's staff will result in a kill or possibly a network ban, depending upon the severity. If you are being harassed by another user, it is suggested that you try banning (if possible) and/or ignoring the harasser. If the harassment continues despite your efforts, you may join #OperHelp and ask for assistance there. Visit http://docs.dal.net/docs/netiquette.html for more information.

Open Proxies

Although in some cases necessary, open proxies are not allowed to have clients connecting to DALnet because they are often used by abusive users. Each DALnet server runs a wingate bot which scans connecting clients on ports 23 and 1080. If the scanner detects an open proxy on either port you will be disconnected from the server. For more information, please see http://kline.dal.net/proxy/index.html

Services Abuse

Services abuse can cover many areas, including registering too many nicks. Abuse is determined on a case-by-case basis, but if you use common sense you should be perfectly alright. If you have any questions regarding an issue about services abuse, email sabuse@dal.net.

Miscellaneous

Denial of Service attacks (i.e. "nuking" or packeting) and portscanning are not typically enforcable by DALnet, as they are not related to the network or IRC in any manner; however, if you were to attempt either on an IRCop, you will likely be /kill'd. If you suspect you are being DoS'd or portscanned, visit http://www.nohack.net.

2 · Server Policies

Bots

Most DALnet servers specify in their MOTD whether or not Bots (short for Robots, idle clients which sit on the servers and perform commands on their own) are allowed on the server. Also, most (but not all) servers specify what kind of bots they allow. However, some servers do not and in that case, just make sure you don't run any hostile bots (any bot which floods a user, clones, mass advertises, takeovers a channel/nick or makes a user disconnect from the internet/IRC is considered a hostile bot).

If you do not see a notice in the MOTD (accessible by /motd server.dal.net) about whether bots are allowed or not, you should not load your bot on it. If you want to use the server for your bot, type /admin and talk to the server's administrator. If a bot is found on a server which does not allow bots, the bot may be klined. For a listing of server policies regarding bots, see http://help.dal.net/faqs/Botsallowed.txt. Also, you can visit DALnet's BotFAQ at http://docs.dal.net/docs/botfaq.html.

3 · General Channel Guidelines

Flooding

Flooding is nearly always considered highly disruptive and inappropriate in IRC channels. This includes messaging a channel an excessive amount of lines within a short interval of time. Many channels have ops with scripts or bots that enforce a flooding rule (number of lines per number of seconds which are allowed) which often ban users who flood the channel. All channels have different rules set for flooding. To stay on the safe side try and stay away from messaging more than 3-5 lines in 10 seconds. A tip which may help you avoid being banned for flooding would be to try and type more text per line, rather than lots of seperate lines. Too many characters in a single line can also get you banned for flooding - a good rule of thumb would be to stay under 350 characters per line.

Repeating

The good thing about IRC is that it's text and not hearing based. People aren't blind, they see what you are saying and repeating yourself over and over won't help. However it may and will annoy people. If you have a question or a statement, state it once - there is no need to repeat - sooner or later someone will reply to you. As with flooding, most channels will probably ban for repeat. A good guideline would be to limit the same line beind repeated within a few minute period; people do need time to type, after all.

Op begging

You should NEVER ask to be opped in a channel. It will nearly always result in being kicked/banned and damage future chances to become an op in that channel. If you abide by the channel guidelines and are active in the channel, you will most likely become an op eventually. This is not to say that there are any standards for getting opped, each channel has it's own procedures for giving ops, which can range from whimsy to democracy.

4 · Conclusion

All the aforementioned recommendations and rules are easy to follow. When in doubt about something not covered here, just use common sense. Also, upon connecting to a server, be sure to read the MOTD for any server specific rules - the same goes for joining channels, try to read the topic for a list of rules (or a URL containing rules). If you're curious about "netiquette", see our document regarding it http://docs.dal.net/docs/netiquette.html.