Welcome to DareNET

Revision as of 04:24, 28 November 2012

What is DareNET?

DareNET is an inclusive, multi-purpose community centered around an IRC network. We're a group of people who love helping people connect with each other and have real conversations.

To help you get started, we created this brief guide for new users, so read on!

Connecting to DareNET

You can connect to our IRC network in one of two ways:

1. By using our webchat client, which allows you to connect to DareNET through your web browser,
2. or by using your favorite IRC client. A list of IRC clients for various operating systems can be found here.

Downloading and setting up an IRC clients is the preferred option for the majority of our users, though it does require a bit of effort on their part. Should you decide to go this route as well, the server you'll want to use to connect to DareNET is irc.darenet.org. Common ports are 6660-6669 and 7000. We support SSL/TLS-enabled connections on ports 6697 and 9999 -- see our Using SSL guide for more information.

I've connected, now what?

If you are completely new to IRC, you may want to read our Basic IRCd Commands guide, which will help you achieve simple tasks such as changing your nickname and joining a channel (chat room).

Once you've connected to the network, you'll probably want to register an account. Why register you ask? Well, your DareNET account allows you to use and take full advantage of all the great features we provide, such as our IRC services (i.e., C, N, V, etc.), build and customize a user profile on the site, post to the forums, create albums and share them with friends, prevent others from using your nicknames, register chat rooms (channels), and more.

Account Registration

Registering an account on DareNET is fast and easy. Simply point your favorite web browser to our account registration page, choose a username and password, enter your email address and you're all set!

NOTE: On DareNET, your account name is an arbitrary username independent of your IRC nickname (although, they can be the same, in some instances). It is how N, C and other services will recognize you on the IRC network, and is used to login to the website. In essence, it's how others will come to know and easily find you on DareNET. It is NOT nickname registration (don't worry, we'll cover that a little later in this guide), and cannot be changed.

Authenticating to N

Also commonly referred to as identifying to and/or logging into N.

Now that you have a registered account, you will need to authenticate to N to actually use it on the IRC network! There are a few different ways you can do this, all leading to the same result -- authenticating you to N. We'll explain the most commonly used commands for this below:

Where <account> is your DareNET username, and <password> is your account password. For example, let's say your username was JoeCool and your password was aPpLe321. To authenticate, using the command shown above, you would simply use: /msg N@services.darenet.org AUTH JoeCool aPpLe321 or /msg N@services.darenet.org AUTH joecool@gmail.com aPpLe321

Alternatively, you can use the more condensed versions of the above command:

/NS AUTH <username|email@domain.tld> <password>

-OR-

/AUTH <username|<email@domain.tld> <password>

If the command is used correctly, you will receive a notice from N similar to the following:

-N- Authentication as JoeCool successful. You are now logged in!
-N- Remember, DareNET's staff will NEVER ask you for your account
-N- password. The only place to receive assistance with account
-N- related matters on DareNET is in #help

In addition to the authentication methods shown above, we also support a "login-on-connect" method, which will automatically log you into N while you're connecting to the network. It will also exempt you from any DNSBL checks, and automatically set user mode +x (hiding your host/ip address). For more information on how to set this feature up for your IRC client, go here.

NOTE: Webchat users can use the "login-on-connect" method simply by selecting the "Login to N" checkbox on the connection details page, and entering their DareNET account username and password.

Nicknames

Here on DareNET, we allow users to register the nicknames they commonly use to their account. By registering your nicknames, you will be able to prevent others from using it -- securing your identify on the network. NOTE: You must be authenticated to your account and using the nickname you would like to register before using the command below:

/msg N REGNICK

If it's successful, you'll receive a notice from N similar to the following:

-N- Nick YOURNICK has been registered to you.

Hostmasking

One of the perks of being a registered user is that you can hide your IP address/host from other users. A little extra piece of mind! If this is a feature you would like to take advantage of, simply use the following command (make sure you have authenticated to N):

/mode yournickhere +x

Alternatively, you can have N automatically set you +x when you identify to your account. To do this, use the following command:

/msg N SET AUTOHIDE on

Securing your Account/Nickname

We have a few suggestions for securing your account, which include:

Suggestion #1:

Enable N's RECLAIM option for your account:

/msg N SET RECLAIM on

N's RECLAIM option protects your nicknames when you are not using them. Should another user try to use any nicknames registered to your account, N will automatically change their nickname to something more suitable.

Suggestion #2:

Add your own hostmask to your account's allowed hosts list:

/msg N ADDMASK <yourident@your.mask.here>

If you would like to add the host you're current using, simply omit the part after ADDMASK and just use: /msg N ADDMASK

Once you have performed the above command, you may delete the default mask set for your account by using the following command:

/msg N DELMASK *@*

The above steps protect your account by denying logins from clients who's host does not match one of the specified hostmasks for your account. Should you try to authenticate from a different hostmask that is not specified you will have to issue N's AUTHCOOKIE command to have a cookie sent to your email. Once you receive that cookie, you can then authenticate to your nickname and add the mask if you wish.

Channel Registration

As a registered user, you have the opportunity to register channels (chat rooms) with C, our channel services bot, which provides both useful and powerful features to aid channel owner's in maintaining and protecting their channel. For more information, please review our channel registration guidelines.

Misc. Information

Some more information that may prove useful:

Support Channel

Should you ever find that you need assistance with something that is related to DareNET, or IRC in general, you can always step into our official support channel, #help, where our trained support staff will be pleased to help you.

Nickname vs *Account

Most of the commands provided by N, C, or any other service on DareNET, allow for an account or online users to be referenced. When referencing an account, you should use *account (note the asterisk prefixed to the account name). For example:

<SomeUser> /msg N INFO *NiTeMaRe
-N- Account Information for NiTeMaRe
-N- ----------------------------------------
-N- Registered on: Tue Mar 18 07:44:30 2008
-N- Last seen: Right now!
-N- Infoline: NiTeMaRe is cool!
-N- ----------End of Account Info-----------

This signals to services to use the account name directly, useful for when a user is offline and you want to add/remove them from your channel's userlist, send them a memo or even do a N INFO on their account. If you do not prefix the account name with an asterisk (*), services will treat it as a nickname that is currently being used on the network, which may not produce the outcome you expect!

Associate a Mobile Number with your Account

You can associate a mobile number with your account to receive your memo's via a text message! We plan to expand our SMS offerings to other services in the future. Type /msg N HELP SET MOBILE on IRC for more detailed information on this feature.

Server-side Command Aliases

We support a number of server-side aliases for various Services' (i.e., C, N, etc.), for those whose IRC clients support them. For a list of such aliases, go here.