blog: making IRC channels secret or private

_posts/2015-06-08-private_secret_channels.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+---
+layout: post
+comments: true
+title: "Private/Secret IRC channels"
+category: [english]
+tags: [english, irc]
+---
+
+*People often wonder about this and I thought that I could probably write
+ about this, how do you make IRC channel secret/private, either hiding it
+ from other people or not letting others in.*
+
+*Modes spbiI are standard and should be the same on all IRCds. I am also
+assuming that your network uses Atheme IRC Services or fork of it.*
+
+To make channel secret, there are two useful modes. You might also want to
+mlock them with `/msg chanserv help set mlock`.
+
+* +s — hides the channel from all channel lists (for non-opers)
+* +p — depending on the network does the same, but on some networks such as
+  freenode hides the channel only from whois (of those people who are umode
+  -i). Keep in mind that you always see channels that you are on or share
+  with other people in whois.
+
+Other nice modes that you may be interested in are:
+
+* +b — (ban) depnding on does your network support extbans, try
+  `/quote help extban`.
+* +r — on Charybdis prevents unidentified users from joining the channel,
+  you will want this with RESTRICTED.
+    * InspIRCd uses +R
+* + S — on Charybdis prevents users not using SSL/TLS from joining.
+    * InspIRCd uses +z
+
+And to make channel private, there are two ways, mode +i/+I and ChanServ
+RESTRICTED (auto-kban unauthorized users).
+
+With RESTRICTED you will want to prevent unidentified users from joining
+or you will get people attempting to join while unidentified and then
+banned immediately and unable to join after identifying.
+
+To use it,
+
+1. Give people who are supposed to be on the channel flags, I use +ViA
+   which means auto-**Voice**, **i**nvite oneself and can see **A**ccess
+   lists, you don't have to use these, but these are probably the most
+   safe flags and the users must have at least one account to not be
+   kbanned. `/msg ChanServ flags #channel account +ViA`
+2. `/msg ChanServ set #channel restricted on`
+3. You are ready, but you might also want to
+   `/msg ChanServ set #channel private on`, so people cannot use
+   `/msg chanserv access #channel list` to see who are the secret people
+   you let in (and who aren't on the channel between auto-kban).
+
+And last, mode +i and +I which are the oldest way to do this, but also the
+most difficult.
+
+First you set the mode +i and now everyone must be `/invite`d to the
+channel or they cannot join. Then you set +I like you would set a ban
+(read the `/quote help extban), here I assume you use Charybdis.
+
+To allow user with account `friend` you would `/mode +I $a:friend` and
+they are able to join freely without needing to be `/invite`d every time.
+
+You might also find the modes `+g` (Charybdis) and `+A` (InspIRCd) helpful
+as they allow everyone to use the `/invite` command.
+
+I said that +iI is difficult and I must probably explain why it's so.
+
+* It doesn't use services and the lists get emptied always when the channel
+  gets empty.
+* It's tied to whatever you give it, if you give it hostmask and that
+  changes, the person cannot get in anymore. Also if you gave it extban
+  matching to accountname and the person changes accountname, they are
+  again unable to join until the +I is updated.
+* *These were the reasons that came to mind at first, if you have others,
+  feel free to suggest them.*

pages/irc.markdown

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ links.*
     * [Keep the ops opped]({% post_url 2015-04-01-keep-the-ops-opped %})
     * [IRC over TLS is not pointless.]({% post_url 2015-04-22-IRC-over-TLS %})
     * [Forming irc:// or ircs:// links]({% post_url 2015-05-18-ircs_links %})
+    * [Making channel secret or private]({% post_url 2015-06-08-private_secret_channels %})
 * Oper
     * [Channels & Hostmask groups: A Basic howto]({% post_url 2015-01-10-channels-hostmask-groups-a-basic-howto %})
     * [Stay away from Anope IRC Services]({% post_url 2015-03-12-stay-away-from-anope %})