The Sims Wiki:IRC Channel

The Sims Wiki operates two IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels that allow people to communicate with each other via live chat over the Internet. Almost any topic is up for discussion in the channels as long as it's not overly inappropriate.

Channels are maintained by an IRC contact, a trusted member of the community selected to handle channel affairs, as well as providing a link between the wiki and the channels. The current IRC contact is K6ka.

If you're new to IRC, see our Getting started page. If you are having issues connecting to IRC, you may ask for assistance on the talk page.

See how much fun we have in the channel by taking a look at the IRC quotes.

Rules
There is an official policy for the IRC channels. In short, use your common sense and treat others how you wish to be treated; this will help keep drama and conflict to a minimum, and maintain a comfortable atmosphere between users. If you happen to witness something you shouldn't, be sure to tell an operator via a private message.

Chanops
If you're having a problem with a user or something else on IRC, you can query a channel operator, or "chanop". You can find out more about chanops here as well as requesting these rights here. In short, channel operators are much like "moderators" in any other public chat room, and each IRC channel has its own set of channel operators. The list of channel operators for each channel is located further down this page.

Voice
To help protect the channel against abuse and still permit non-malicious users from being locked out, trusted regulars of the channels may be voiced (+). Voice carries no special privileges or permissions other than the ability to speak on the channel when it has mode +m (moderated) set. If you are voiced, it does not make you a "superuser" of sorts; it is only done because we feel that you can be trusted not to disrupt the channel maliciously. To be voiced, you must have a NickServ account and have spent some time in the channel. Once you are added to the channel access list, you will be automatically voiced by ChanServ whenever you join the channel.

IRC channels have separate access lists; thus, getting voice in one channel does not automatically grant you voice in another.

Accessing the channels
The wiki operates two IRC channels on two different IRC networks. They are technically separate from each other and are run on different servers. To connect to these channels, you will need an IRC client. IRC is not part of the HTTP protocol, so by default your web browser can't connect to IRC on its own. You can choose to download and install the listed clients below, or you can use the "webchat" IRC clients that run in your web browser listed under the appropriate section below.
 * AndChat - a free IRC client for Android OS.
 * Chatzilla - a free IRC client for Firefox.
 * Colloquy - an IRC client for macOS.
 * HexChat - a popular free IRC client for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
 * IRCCloud - a web-based IRC client for Android, iOS, and any modern web browser.
 * mIRC - a client for Windows which isn't free but there is a 30 day free trial and you are able to purchase it if you wish.
 * Rooms - an IRC client for iOS which is not free.

freenode
The freenode channel is the oldest still-active IRC channel for the wiki, registered as #wikia-sims on irc.freenode.net. If you have an IRC client, click here to join #wikia-sims. If you do not wish to install an IRC client, you can use the webchat, which runs right in your web browser.

These users are channel operators on the freenode channel; if you have any issues, you can query them.
 * Chanops

ChatLounge
The wiki also operates a channel on the smaller ChatLounge network, registered as #TheSimsWiki on irc.chatlounge.net. If you have an IRC client, click here to join #TheSimsWiki. If you do not wish to install an IRC client, you can use the webchat, which runs right in your web browser.

These users are channel operators on the ChatLounge channel; if you have any issues, you can query them.
 * Chanops

IRC bots
These are bots that you may see on the IRC channels. Please remember that these are not humans.

freenode

 * ChanServ is freenode's channel services bot. It manages the registration of the channel on the network and controls access to the channel. ChanServ will never see channel messages; for help, please use the /msg ChanServ help command.
 * Mystique is the successor of the late "Deus ex machina" and has a number of leisure commands, most of which are documented here. Controlled by Lost Labyrinth.
 * Relay-TSW is an inter-network relay bot, and will post messages sent to our channel on freenode to the ChatLounge channel, and vice-versa. Controlled by MrBenC.
 * Ultron_DC is a Discord-to-IRC relay bot that will post messages sent to the #irc-relay channel on our Discord server, and vice-versa. Messages sent by this bot will also be relayed to ChatLounge via Relay-TSW. Controlled by Lost Labyrinth.
 * wm-bot is a bot used in several Wikimedia channels. It generates a statistics page for the channel, among other tasks. Information about the bot can be found at wm-bot. The bot's access to #wikia-sims is controlled by K6ka.

ChatLounge

 * Alice is a bot that looks up URLs pasted on the channel. It will report on the title of the webpage the URL points to, as well as the domain name. It also recognizes a number of other commands; type %list to view a list of them. Controlled by MrBenC.
 * ChanServ is ChatLounge's channel services bot. It manages the registration of the channel on the network and controls access to the channel. ChanServ will never see channel messages; for help, please use the /msg ChanServ help command.
 * Eve is a bot, built on the Limnoria bot framework. A list of available commands can be viewed by typing in " ". Controlled by MrBenC.
 * H is an anti-spam bot that can forcefully disconnect and ban users from the entire network. Controlled by MrBenC.
 * Margo is a mysterious bot whose functions are largely unknown. We're still waiting for its owner to tell us more about her. Controlled by MrBenC.
 * N is another anti-spam bot, like H. The only difference is that Narfi is connected to the European (EU) side of the network, while Hel is on the US side. Controlled by MrBenC.
 * Relay-TSW is an inter-network relay bot, and will post messages sent to our channel on freenode to the ChatLounge channel, and vice-versa. Controlled by MrBenC.

Relays
Both IRC channels are connected to each other via Relay-TSW, an IRC relay bot that will automatically propagate messages sent in one channel to the other. The bot is provided by MrBenC. Unlike traditional relay bots, however, where the relay bot only relays messages, Relay-TSW will also relay the entire user list of the freenode channel to the ChatLounge channel, and will populate the ChatLounge user list with pseudo-users that correspond to the names they have on the freenode channel.

To put this into perspective, imagine the following scenario:


 * Alice joins the ChatLounge channel.
 * Bob joins the freenode channel.
 * A traditional IRC relay bot will send the message "Bob joined #wikia-sims" to the ChatLounge channel. Relay-TSW, however, works a little bit differently: instead of sending a message, a "pseudo-user" by the name "Bob|fn" will appear to actually join the ChatLounge channel. Their nickname is suffixed by "|fn" to show that they are from the freenode network, and their username and hostname will match the one on freenode. They will appear in the user list for the ChatLounge channel, and when they speak, their messages will appear to come from this pseudo-user.
 * If Bob parts, quits, or changes their nickname, Alice will see those actions as being actual parts, quits, and nickname changes, rather than as regular IRC messages sent by a bot.

There are some caveats with this system, however:


 * The pseudo-user list will only appear on the ChatLounge network. As such, ChatLounge users will be able to see the user list of the freenode channel, but freenode users will not be able to see the user list of the ChatLounge channel.
 * Users on freenode are able to interact with IRC bots on ChatLounge, but ChatLounge users will not be able to interact with bots on freenode. (We encourage bot operators to place their bots on the ChatLounge channel to get around this limitation)
 * Users on ChatLounge can PM users on freenode by PMing the pseudo-user. These PMs will be sent as a notice by Relay-TSW. However, freenode users cannot PM ChatLounge users over the relay bot.
 * Chanops on ChatLounge can kick users on freenode by kicking the pseudo-user, provided the relay bot is opped on the freenode channel.

The freenode channel is also connected to the wiki's Discord server by Ultron_DC, an IRC-to-Discord relay bot. It functions like a traditional IRC relay bot and does not create pseudo-users due to the differences between IRC and Discord. Because the bot is not connected to the ChatLounge channel, it relies on Relay-TSW to continue the relay to the ChatLounge network. This creates an interestingly complicated system that consists of the following:


 * If a message is sent to the freenode channel, it will be relayed to ChatLounge via a pseudo-user, and to Discord via Ultron_DC.
 * If a message is sent to the ChatLounge channel, it will be relayed to freenode via Relay-TSW, which will then be relayed to Discord via Ultron_DC.
 * If a message is sent to the #irc-relay channel on Discord, it will be relayed to freenode via Ultron_DC, which will then be relayed to ChatLounge via a pseudo-user.

There are some caveats to this system of relaying messages:


 * Users on Discord cannot interact with IRC bots.
 * Users on IRC cannot interact with Discord bots.
 * Users on Discord cannot PM users on IRC, nor can users on IRC PM users on Discord.
 * If Relay-TSW goes down, the connection between the Discord server and the ChatLounge channel will be severed, but the Discord server will still be connected to the freenode channel.
 * If Ultron_DC goes down, the connection between both channels and the Discord server will be severed, but both channels will still be connected to each other.