IRC Hacks

Chapter 12. Channel Management Bots

Introduction: Hacks #73-77

Channel management is a high priority for some people. The last thing you want is to have your channel attacked by malicious users who are intent on leaving their mark in any way they can. Fortunately, this happens quite rarely, but you should be ready for it when it does happen.

All IRC channels have a topic, which can usually be changed by anybody. The first hack in this chapter shows how to restrict the ability to change the topic and how to implement a simple bot that can look after the topic for you.

Another way to protect your channel is to make it “invite-only” and use a bot to invite users into it. If you are a channel operator, you have the ability to kick people out of your channel; so one of the hacks also shows you how to create a bot that can hand out operator status to other users.

Eggdrops are one of the oldest types of bot still in active development. These are typically used to manage channels, so this chapter shows you how to set one up and get it to manage your channels for you.

Protect the Channel Topic

Set your channel’s topic to something inviting and friendly—and make sure it stays that way.

The topic of a channel is surprisingly important. Not only is it the first thing people will see when they join the channel, but it is also visible when users perform the /list command (see [Hack #16] ). If users don’t like the look of the topic, they certainly aren’t going to consider joining your channel. ...