SkipIRC - User Guide

SkipIRC: Guide for IRC users

Introduction

SkipIRC is a significant upgrade in many respects from the previous network at synIRC, rolling up the collective updates of the last 15 or so years of IRC development and bringing them to you. Fully IRCv3-compatible clients will see1 quality-of-life improvements like reactions, threaded replies, and the ability to edit and delete messages. In addition, a number of new usermode features and unparalleled flexibility for us to create the environment we need to best serve the community are made possible by this move to our own network.

What follows is a list of minor changes to features, and then new features to SkipIRC.

Changes from synIRC

While most of the IRC experience will be the same on the new network, some commands and modes have slightly different syntax from previous.

VHOSTs can no longer include ident name

On synIRC a requested vhost could be done in the form of fancy@vhost.for.me. This has been advised against for a long time and is no longer available in SkipIRC.

What you can do now is a vhost of vhost.for.me and use your IRC client's settings to set a username (sometimes called an ident name, different from your nickname) of fancy and end up with the same net result.

Thus, the command for requesting a vhost has changed.

Old:

/hs request fancy@vhost.for.me

New:

/hs request vhost.for.me

If an @ is present in your request it will be rejected as invalid. Note IRCCloud users cannot adjust their ident name as it's how you are uniquely identified to the world.

Secure-capable clients may disconnect while cycling to a secure connection

If you try to connect to irc.scpwiki.com and immediately disconnect, please give it 30-60 seconds to attempt a reconnect. What may be happening is your client supports a more secure connection than what you specified, our network informed your client it was available, and the client will reconnect on the more secure connection.

You can avoid this in the future by connecting with SSL enabled on port 6697, and if your client supports it, making use of SASL.

IRCCloud users please note that port 6667 unsecured appears to time out and not reconnect. This appears to be a bug in IRCCloud, instead use port 6697 and check the Secure checkbox.

Helpop syntax changed

Before: /helpop ?umodes
After: /helpop umodes

Or just /helpop for a full list of help docs.

(This list is subject to revision as more differences are noted through user testing and experience.)

New Features

With that out of the way, a whole slew of new features are available to you.

IRCv3 Support

Though still in draft, IRCv3 is mature enough that several popular IRC clients and servers are incorporating its features. This includes things like threaded replies, reactions, and the ability to edit and delete posts. Most of the features currently are only supported on IRCCloud's desktop product, but some more subtle ones for security are more broadly supported.

To a user that does not have these features enabled, they will not see anything. Threaded replies will appear as normal channel messages; reactions, edits, and deletes won't happen at all. In official channels, the majority of chat staff will not have these features enabled, and so any assorted dorkery attempting to abuse these features 1. Will not work for more than half the users in a channel and 2. Will probably result in your account receiving disciplinary action. This is a trial for us, and if it is too problematic we will be rolling back this support until there's a greater level of maturity in the spec.

You can see what features are supported by your client here.

SASL Support

The most requested feature on synIRC has been enabled. SASL allows you to pre-authenticate (IDENTIFY) with services on connection. Your hostmask will be automatically applied, your ajoin list will automatically kick in, and so on. Enabling SASL is different for every client so please consult your IRC client's documentation.

We also support SASL External. It's an advanced feature, so users who wish to use this feature are responsible for configuring their clients to supply a key. Once that's done, you can type /ns help cert for further instructions, and remember that you can see your cert fingerprint by running /whois on yourself. (If this doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry! This feature is entirely optional.)

PM Screening Mode - +g

Usage:
/mode bluesoul +g

/accept +exampleuser

/accept -exampleuser

Purpose:
Allows you to screen unwanted PMs by maintaining a whitelist of people who may PM you.

Sample Usage:

[13:11:48] * bluesoul sets mode: +g
(example user does /msg bluesoul hello and receives this:)
13:12 [716]bluesoul is in +g mode (server-side ignore).
13:12 [717]bluesoul has been informed that you messaged them.
(I receive this:)
[13:12:10] exampleuser exampleuser@example.host is messaging you, and you have user mode +g set. Use /ACCEPT +exampleuser to allow.

Notes:
The original message does not come through after the /accept (as the user was ignored), so you will need to message them back and ask them to repeat themselves if you wish to get the message. You can /accept a user pre-emptively (and should, if you wish to use this mode!). To unaccept a user, use /accept -exampleuser.

Common Channels Required To PM - +c

Usage:

/mode bluesoul +c

Purpose:
Ignores PMs from users who do not share at least one channel in common with you.

Sample Usage:

[13:22:10] * bluesoul sets mode: +c
(example user does /msg bluesoul hello with no channels in common and receives this:)
13:23 [531]bluesoul You cannot send messages to this user whilst they have the +c (deaf_commonchan) mode set.
(if there is at least one channel both users are joined on, the PM goes through as normal)

Cycle Channel - /cycle

Usage:

/cycle #channel

Purpose:
Parts and re-joins a channel. Using /cycle #channel instead of /part #channel and /join #channel allows you to bypass limits, invites, and keys.

Hide all channels - +I

Usage:

/mode bluesoul +I

Purpose:
Hides all channels you are in from a /whois directed at you. IRCOps can still see what channels you are in.

New Services

ALIS

ALIS is a channel listing service with more flexibility than the typical /list command.

Help: /alis help or /msg ALIS help

GameServ

GameServ has a few basic commands for dice rolling, name generation, and lottery selection from a channel.

Help: /gameserv help or /msg gameserv help

GroupServ

GroupServ is an entirely new concept for our network. GroupServ lets users join an arbitrary group, receive messages and access permissions via the group, set an official channel, and a ton of other things.

Help: /gs help or /msg groupserv help

InfoServ

InfoServ is a tool used by network administrators to publish info rapidly to be consumed on connect, notice or message depending on severity. When we use InfoServ, you'll know.

RPGServ

RPGServ is a roleplaying channel finding and publishing service. It lets you specify things about your game and others can search on those criteria to find you.

Help: /rs help or /msg rpgserv help

StatServ

StatServ provides stats for nerds that need to know things about the network like netsplit status and channel counts, but don't know how to get it via other commands.

Help: /ss help or /msg statserv help

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