SILENCE Command

Silence is an IRC command that originated from Undernet, yet most users do not know about it. It is basically another form of /IGNORE, but which stops the messages from a given user at the SERVER level, before they can reach the client. This only affects private messages, channel messages are still shown.

The command is as follows:

/silence [+]user@host   Add the user@host mask to the silence list (*!user@host) 
/silence -user@host     Remove the user@host mask from the silence list (*!user@host) 
/silence +nick          Add nickname based silence (nick!*@*) 
/silence -nick          Remove nickname based silence (nick!*@*) 
/silence                List the current silence list for you 
/silence nick           Show the silence list for the given nick (restricted to opers only)

It is possible to use wildcards as needed in the silence mask. You may need to use a /QUOTE command in front of the silence command if your client does not understand /SILENCE.

Prepending '!' to the mask or nickname will cause it to act as reverse silence (e.g. always allow users matching the mask to send you messages). This allows you to silence *!*@* and then add reverse silences for those who you would like to be able to message you.

Example: /silence +!JoeUser

There is a maximum of 50 silences at one time on DareNET. Also, a drawback is that you cannot specify the types of messages which are filtered (like you can with /IGNORE on many clients, rather all private messages from the specified nick/mask get suppressed). The upside is that the messages are stopped at the SERVER, and never make it to the client -- making it useful against private message floods.

Accounts

The /SILENCE command also supports account names using the +x hostname format to silence users by their NickServ account name. For example: /silence +*!*@accountname.user.darenet

NOTE: This will match any user that is logged into the specified NickServ account name, regardless of whether they have set umode +x or not. You can also have NickServ automatically add entries to your silence list when you authenticate! See /NickServ HELP IGNORE for more information.