 Getting Started |
| Room Properties |
| Sync Backgrounds |
| Kicking and Banning |
| Ip Addresses and Host Masks |
|
How To Set An Effective Ban |
Hosting a Comic Chat room can be fun, rewarding and a learning experience. Each host will develop their own style. Learn by watching other hosts and asking questions. Become familiar with the guidelines for your server and chat room. Discuss situations with other hosts and get a feel for what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Get to know the chatters who frequent your chat room. Be flexible and most of all, don't forget to have fun!
Being a good chat room host involves more than just a gavel and kicking out people who disturb the 'flow' of a room. Patience, understanding and a good rapport with chatters will go much further to help you attain your goals than a heavy handed gavel or a show of power. Respect is earned and not a given for hosts so be fair and consistent.
Every server will have their own rules and guidelines to set the 'tone' and 'direction' for the server and for the chat room. Some rooms are governed with more attention to detail while others are more open to interpretation. Hosts can be, and often are, the chat room 'welcoming committee'. These are the first people that newcomers will talk to. Be warm, friendly and helpful and chatters are bound to return.
Most chat rooms are a meeting place for people from all over the world. We need to keep in mind that cultures and values are different from country to country. The goal of most Hosts is to provide a relaxing atmosphere free of harassment. In most chat rooms, treating people with respect and kindness is the ultimate objective for the room. We want chatters to feel comfortable and return to the room.
These guidelines and suggestions are aimed at Hosts who are using MS Chat 2.5. Directions for other chat clients may vary. Chat clients, such as mIRC or pIRCh, do not allow for some of the directions included here, such as synching backgrounds in Comic Chat. You must be gavelled or op'ed for most of these commands to work.
Getting Started
Getting your gavel is different depending on what software your server is running.
On an IRCD server (such as Annex), you need to be in text mode to gavel up. Type this into your typing edit box:
/msg [bot] op [#RoomName] [Password]
Spacing of the words is very important. Sometimes this doesn't work and only the computer gawds know for sure why so you could open a whisper box to whisper to the bot. Bots on Annex are called Cafe Bot and are used to hold the room open when not in use. So the specific command for Annex would go like this:
/msg Cafebot op [#RoomName] [Password]
A Host can make a macro to become gavelled in a room. If you dont know how to make a macro, click here. In fact, Hosts can make good use of macros. For example, word filters (although impersonal) can be useful in a busy room.
On an IRCX server (such as IRCX-City), You will need to get your gavel BEFORE you enter your room. Connect to the server and in your status window, enter this:
/join #[RoomName] [Password]
Once again, it is important to remember the proper spacing. If you find that you don't have a status window, go to 'view' and make sure there is a check mark beside status window.
Or, you can connect to the server and go to 'room/enter room' and enter your room name and password.
Once you are op'ed or gavelled, you may want to op or give a gavel to your friend. In Comic Chat this is as simple as right clicking on their name and selecting 'host'. You can also accomplish this through the tool bar ('members/host/host'). The IRC command for this is:
/mode #[RoomName] +o [Nickname]
MS Comic Chat has made the user interface as easy as possible and most tasks can be accomplished without using an IRC command. However, as hosts, I think it is important to learn these commands to give you greater control and understanding of your chat client. These commands are also an integral part of using mIRC or pIRCh. Therefore, I will be including some of the IRC commands here. To get a more complete list, check the Comic Chat help files.
Auto Greetings
Hosts can set an auto greet for newcomers to the room by going to 'view/macros/define macro' and selecting the/general tab. You can change the default greeting to whatever you want and you can set it to say it out loud or whisper it. Please note that you must be op'ed or gavelled for this auto greet to work.
Room Properties
Anyone can view the room properties by right clicking on a blank space in the main window and selecting 'room properties', but you must be a host to change any settings.
Clicking on 'room properties' as shown in the image above will bring up the image below:
There are many interesting things that can be done with room properties.
Chat Room Topic: It is not necessary to enter any information here however a short description of your room is good to put here. It will show up in the room lists.
Moderated: This makes a moderated room where only hosts can speak.
Set Topic Anyone: This means that anyone can modify the chat room topic.
Invite Only: This will set the room so that only chatters who are invited can enter.
Hidden: This will hide your room on the room list.
Private: Will make your room private. Users trying to connect will get a message saying "private room".
Set Maximum Users: This will set the maximum number of chatters alllowed in the room at any one time.
Optional Password: This sets a password for your room. Your regular chatters and anyone else entering the room will be asked for that password.
IRC commands can also be used to set room properties without bringing up the image above. See the MS Comic Chat help files for more information on this.
Sync Backgrounds
Being able to sync backgrounds in comic chat is one of the most fun and helpful things a Host can do for a newbie. This will enable backgrounds to be downloaded. To sync backgrounds go to "member/host/sync background". Whatever background you are using will be downloaded by the chatters in your room providing the background is posted on a web site.
Kicking and Banning
To see the ban list use this command (You must be op'ed or gavelled to make any changes to this list):
/mode #[RoomName] b
That command will bring up this window:
Please note that the ban format used as an example here is not a great one! When you place a ban on someone it will be in this format and should be edited for effectiveness but more on that later.
There are three ways to kick and ban someone who is being disruptive. First, you can right click on their name and select kick or ban/unban. A ban will not remove a person from the room but will prevent them from re-entering once they do leave. Alternatively, you can go to the tool bar and select, 'member/host/kick (or ban/unban)'. After both these choices you really should edit the ban to make it effective. The third choice, and in my humble opinion the best because it works with all IRC clients, is to use the IRC command:
/kick [RoomName] [Nickname] [Reason]
/mode [RoomName] +b [Nickname user@host]
Using -b will remove a ban.
IP Addresses and Host Masks
IP stands for internet protocol. Every computer that is connected to the internet is assigned an IP address by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can think of an IP address as the same as your house address. In order to deliver mail, the postman needs to know exactly what house you live in. Ip addresses on the internet show basically the same thing.
An IP address is made up of four sections or octets. . Each of these sets of numbers define something about a computer and its user, in terms of network location (i.e. what ISP does this person use, or what is this person's geographic location).
Ip addresses can be numeric, ie: @24.101.87.56
Or alphanumeric, ie: @host.beginner.es
In actual fact, both these addresses are representative of binary code which looks like this:
That number would be almost impossible for us to remember so we use the numeric and alphanumeric numbers instead.
As hosts on Annex, we don't have access to an ip address (although system administrators do) so this is what my id might look like (as displayed in comic chat):
Sniffles's identity:Sniffles@ =CrSRL202078z86v9t-JM432069291617.cpe.net.cable.rogers.ca
Sniffles's identity: displays the nickname.
Sniffles@ displays the user name.
=CrSRL202078z86v9t-JM432069291617 is the host mask used by Annex to 'mask' the real numeric ip. The information that the server displays as this part of the identity changes every time a user connects, even if the actual value (or ip address) does not.
.cpe.net.cable.rogers.ca is the dns (Domain Name Service) name (sometimes called an alias) used by the users ISP. The DNS system is, in fact, also a network.
How To Set An Effective Ban
A ban prevents a user from connecting to a server or chat room based on their ip address or host mask. You can not ban chat clients such as MS Chat or mIRC. A ban will not be effective if a user changes their Internet Service Provider. To set a ban we will need to use a wildcard which is represented by an asterisk (*).
Effective Bans
*!*@24.101.87.*
Please note that the last octet in this ip address refer to a specific computer so making the last octet a wildcard effectively bans that persons' computer. The first two wildcards here (*!*) ban the nickname and the userid. The proper placement of your asterisks and periods is essential here. *!*@*.domain
This will ban anyone from a particular domain and maybe geographic area. The first two *'s represent the nickname and userid. The third asterick represents the host mask used by the server. So, for example, to ban me you would use this:
*!*@*.cpe.net.cable.rogers.ca
The only problem is that this would ban all users from Rogers Cable in a specific area. For example the "cpe" in my address refers to a specific geographic location. Smaller Internet Service Providers may not have geographic information in their DNS name. However, until a Sysop lets you know the numeric ip, this is probably your best bet.
*!user@*.domain
If you don't want to ban the whole domain you could use this ban. This would ban whatever nickname the person uses and unless they change their userid, it would be effective. However, most savvy computer users could change their userid in a flash. *!Sniffles@*.cpe.net.cable.rogers.ca
Ineffective Bans
nickname!user@host.domain
To get around this ban all a user has to do is change their nickname and/or reconnect to the server. Enough said. lol
nickname!*@*.domain
This ban has set a wildcard for the userid and the host mask but if a user changes their nickname the ban will not work.
nickname!*@host.domain
Once again a wild card has been set for the userid but this ban includes the host mask which changes every time a user connects. All they would have to do to get around this ban is to change their nickname and reconnect to the server.
*!*@host.domain
This has set a wildcard for the nickname and the user id but has left the host mask which, as noted above, changes every time a user connects. << Go Back To Advanced Configuration <<
If you have any questions or comments about my site, E-mail me.
Comic Characters
Placing a ban on a chatter will take away their ability to post anything in the room. They will stay in the room until you kick them out so place the ban and then kick.
Users of services like AOL are very difficult to ban because their ip changes everytime they log on to a server. Banning the whole domain is effective but will keep away ALL users from AOL.
It is extremely crucial to pay attention to the placement....the periods have GREAT significance to your ban. Miss one, and your ban will not hold. It is also important to work closely with systems administrators to set effective bans if you find they are not working.
It is helpful to know the difference between a static ip and a dynamic ip. Static ip's always remain the same. Most people with static ip's pay more for their internet connection. Dynamic ip's can and do change anytime. Remember that for our purposes on Annex and on most Comic Chat servers, the host mask will change every time a user connects while their dns name will remain the same unless a person changes their Internet Service Provider.
Again, in my case the ban would look like this:
If you look at the bans I have listed above you will notice that the ineffective ones include the nickname and/or the host mask. These elemets are too variable to count on banning a disruptive user effectively.
