How to OP on Chat

Create and control your own chat room by becoming a channel op.

The term “OP” is short for "room operator" or "channel operator" and refers to the person or persons charged with control of a chat room on the Internet Relay Chat network. As an op, you can do anything from creating a new chat room to controlling user access. You become an op in two ways, and regardless of which method you use, once you are an op, you'll have total control over the room via a series of commands that every channel operator should know.

Things You'll Need

• IRC chat program (installed)

Instructions

1. Start your Internet Relay Chat program and connect to an IRC server. The method of connecting differs from one program to another. Check your user manual for the connection procedure specific to your IRC client.

2. Click into the text input box at the bottom of the IRC client window once you are connected to the server of your choice. Type the command “/list” (without quotes) to display a list of available channels on the server. This lists all of the available chat rooms that have not been hidden. Review the list to see if the name of the room that you want to create and operate already exists. If the name is not listed, then the channel likely does not exist.

3. Type “/join #channelname” and replace "channelname" with the name of your new chat room. This will create a new channel as long as the name is not already taken. If the name is taken, you will pop into the existing channel instead, even if it has been hidden. When you create a new channel, you automatically become op for that channel.

4. Join an existing channel using the “/join” command if you wish to op in an existing channel, but note that only an existing op can give you op privileges in that room. Since you’ll have the same level of power as any other op in that channel, you are only apt to be added as an op if the present room operator knows and trusts you. Wait for the operator to give you op access before using operator commands on an existing channel.

5. Type “/mode #channelname” followed by the desired command in the text window to perform op commands in the chat room. For example, use “+b” to ban a user – “/mode #channelname +b [e-mail]” boots a user named [e-mail] from the chat room. The “+i” command makes the room invite only; “+s” sets the room to secret mode and removes it from the channel list; “+o username” makes the user that you type in place of “username” an op; and “+m” creates a moderated channel where only those granted op or "voice" access to the room may speak. See Resources for a page listing op commands.

Tips & Warnings

• Type “/mode #channelname” and replace “channelname” with the chat room name of your choice to find out if a particular channel exists rather than searching through the output from the “list” command.

• Giving another user op status will allow that user to boot you from the room and strip away your own op authority.

References

• IRCHelp.org: The New IRC Channel Operator’s Guide
• ICQ LLC: IrCQ-Net Help – Room Operators Guide

Resources

• Geek Shed Limited: IRCOp Commands