Hack 10 The QuakeNet L Channel Bot

ChanServ and NickServ aren't always available. When on QuakeNet, use the L bot to manage your channels.

QuakeNet provides some service bots for you to use so that you can maintain a channel on their servers. The two channel management bots are called Q and L. The Q service provides a few more features than the lighter L bot, but requires a little more effort to request it to join your channel. If you just want a channel for a few friends to chat in or for a small gaming clan, then L is the bot for you. The L bot will allow you to auto-op, voice friends or clan members, and keep your channel open and protected.

You can connect to QuakeNet by typing /server irc.quakenet.org in your favorite IRC client.

This is a quick guide to getting and configuring an L bot. Detailed information and help about these bots can be found at http://www.quakenet.org.

2.7.1 Create an Account

First you need to create an account with Q. All L account information is dealt with through Q, so you need to be authed with Q whenever you want to do anything with an L bot.

Imagine your nickname is ChatterBox and you want to register your nickname. You can do so by sending a private message to Q, like so:

/msg Q HELLO  chatterbox@wanttochat.com chatterbox@wanttochat.com 

Q will respond with the following:

-Q- Hello, ChatterBox. A new user account has been created for you, with nick ChatterBox.

-Q- OK, Your login information has been sent to "chatterbox@wanttochat.com".

        please check your email for further instructions.

When you receive the email, you should change the password as instructed in the email.

Let's say that your password is "password". Now you can auth with Q:

/msg Q @CServe.quakenet.org AUTH ChatterBox password 

If you used the correct password, Q will respond with:

-Q- AUTH'd successfully.

Now that you are authenticated with Q, you can set up your L bot.

2.7.2 Getting L

To get an L bot to join your channel, you must meet the requirements set by QuakeNet. These requirements may change occasionally as they improve the service, so check the L FAQ on http://www.quakenet.org for the current details.

To prevent unnecessary requests, you need to join the channel that you want and make sure you have at least three friends in there. You will then need to wait for about two hours. Then you must log in to the QuakeNet web site with your Q auth details and request L for your channel from the Services link. If the request was successful, you will be informed, and L will join your channel shortly afterward.

2.7.3 Setting Up L for Your Channel

You will probably want to allow friends or clan members to receive channel operator status when they join the channel, providing they are authed with Q. You can make your authenticated friend ChitterBox automatically receive operator status when he joins your new channel (#mynewchan) by sending this private message to L:

/msg L chanlev  #mynewchan ChitterBox  +ao 

If all went well, L will respond with:

-L- Done.

At the end of the private message, you can specify a number of flags:

+n

Owner of the channel

+m

Master of the bot

+o

Operator

+v

Voice

+g

Voice even if opped

+a

Automatically apply the given flags

In the previous case, the flag +ao means to apply operator status when the user joins the channel.

You can check the users for your channel and what access rights they have by typing:

/msg L chanlev #mynewchan

L will respond with something similar to this:

-L- Users for channel #mynewchan

-L- Authname         Access flags

-L- -----------------------------

-L- ChatterBox               amno

-L- ChitterBox                 ao

-L- End of chanlev for #mynewchan

You can see the access flags you just added for the user ChitterBox.

You can add a welcome message for your channel by sending a private message to L:

/msg L welcome  #mynewchan Hi! This is my new channel :) 

Again, if this worked, L will respond with:

-L- Done.

When people join your channel, they will now receive a notice from L:

-L- [#mynewclan] Hi! This is my new channel :)

That's all there is to it, really. Now your channel has a service bot in it, and the channel is reserved for you so you can be found easily by staying in that channel. You can tell your friends about the channel or advertise on your web page for people to join.

—Alex North