Why You Should NOT Become a Channel Operator

by Joseph Lo aka Jolo, updated Aug 18 2008.

This little rant is a companion piece to the longer New IRC Channel Operator's Guide, which is the nuts and bolts guide on how to run your channel without the rant. :)

The Cold Hard Facts

We used to lead off the New IRC Channel Operator's Guide with this rant, but it seemed too harsh. Well you know what, life can be harsh! So if you want the whole truth, read on!

Did you know that just the four largest networks [ext. link] together have over 300,000 people on over 180,000 channels? You have to ask yourself, can you really contribute something new by starting yet another channel, and if you do, what is going to draw people to your new/small channel instead of those countless existing ones?

Running a channel sounds like fun, but there can be serious downsides. It can be very frustrating and may even result in security problems like "hacking" or denial of service attacks against you. The truth is, you will probably have a lot more fun and meet more people just by chatting on well-established channels run by others.

It really all boils down to this. If you have a group of trusted friends and want a new place for them to chat, and at least some of you are experienced running channels, then you can start a new channel together. But starting a channel by yourself, or even with a few bots, is likely a futile waste of time.

Pop quiz: Are you ready for ops?

People often say, "I'm ready because I have been chatting for years!" Pardon the analogy, but that's a bit like the sports fan who thinks he can dunk just because he has been watching NBA games for years. Being an op requires a lot of patience, experience, resources, and knowledge. Just chatting on IRC does not necessarily make you ready.

You don't need to be an expert to be an op, but you should not be new to IRC. You should already be very familiar with the classic IRC help guides, especially the IRC tutorial which covers all the basic IRC commands. Or just test your knowledge with these questions, listed in increasing order of difficulty:

• Do you know how to use basic IRC commands, such as /msg, /notice, /join, /part, /who, /whois, /list, /ignore?
• Do you know how to use more advanced IRC commands, such as /topic, /mode, /kick? What are the channel mode letters n, t, s, l, i, k, b, m, o, and v?
• What is the difference between a channel operator and IRC operator? Does your current network have services, and if so, how do they work?
• Have you ever held ops on somebody else's channel, preferably one with at least 10 active people 24/7?
• Have you ever dealt with trouble on IRC such as spamming or flooding?
• How do you set bans to keep out a troublemaker who changes their nickname, username, or dynamic hostname?
• What is a trojan horse, denial of service attack, or channel takeover? Have you dealt with any of these problems?
• What is a bot or script? How can bots/scripts help to maintain ops or enforce bans?
• What is a shell access account? How do you get one? What are the advantages compared to a home Windows machine?

If most of the above sounds like technical mumbo-jumbo, then I won't lie to you - the truth is, you have a lot of catching up to do. That's after all why we wrote the main guide. After all, everybody has to start somewhere.

Good luck, you're going to need it! :)

Return to New IRC Channel Operator's Guide.

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