Channels (Chat Rooms)

In Chat Service, a channel is a virtual place where people meet to "talk" in groups or privately, usually about a particular topic. When a user joins a channel, the user can read anything that is typed to members of the channel.

Chat Service enables a system administrator to create permanent channels, called Registered channels, from System Manager.

There are two types of registered channels: one that starts when someone joins the channel, and one that is created automatically when the service starts. Any started channels that are not secret or hidden are visible from a chat client using the List or Listx commands.

Dynamic channels are temporary channels created from a chat client using the IRC Join command or the IRCX Create command.

Note   A channel host manages a channel from a chat client. The first person to join a channel automatically receives channel host status, and can share this status or not. A channel host is someone who has control over a specific channel. In IRC, a channel host is referred to as a channel operator, or chanop.

Channel Modes

You can configure four of the channel modes on the channel Access tab because they have to do with a channel's visibility to users. These modes are:

• Public.  All information about a public channel (except for text messages) can be obtained by non-members from a chat client using the IRC List command.
• Private.  Only the name, number of members and PICS property of a private channel can be obtained by non-members from a chat client using the IRC List command.
• Hidden. You cannot find a Hidden channel by using the standard IRC List command; however, if you know the exact channel name, you can obtain all of the properties of this type of channel from a chat client by using IRC and IRCX commands. A Hidden channel is the same as a Public channel except that it cannot be found by using a List or Listx command.
• Secret. Non-members cannot use queries to locate a secret channel.

You can configure additional channel modes on the channel Modes tab. Among the modes you can configure are:

• Cloneable.  A cloneable channel is a registered channel that duplicates itself when its member limit is reached. For example, when the cloneable channel "#TestChan" was created, the member limit was set at 10. The eleventh user who tries to join "#TestChan" is placed on a new channel called "#TestChan1." The twenty-first user is placed on "#TestChan2," and so on, up to a maximum of 99 clones. Each clone retains the properties of the original channel but is a separate channel.
• Moderated.. Moderated channels are often used for small chat events. A chat user joining a moderated channel cannot post messages to the channel without permission, but can see messages posted by the designated speakers. A channel host can use the following command to grant speaking permission to a specific user:

/MODE channel_name +v nickname

• Auditorium.. Auditorium channels are often used for large chat events, like celebrity chats. Because of the large user list, users cannot send messages to each other and can see only messages posted by the designated speakers. This limitation helps to maintain control of the event. Speakers, however, can see and send messages to any event participant on the channel. Only channel hosts are notified when participants join or leave an auditorium channel.

Channel Name

A channel name can contain between 1 and 200 ASCII characters. You can use any character except null, bell, carriage return, line feed, space, comma , and backslash. To prevent potential conflicts if the channel is cloned, avoid ending the name with a number.

Note   If the chat client supports IRCX protocol, the channel name may include double-byte character set (DBCS) characters. Names made up of DBCS characters are limited to 100 characters.

You must precede each channel name with a valid prefix (#, &, %#, or %&). A prefix consists of one or two characters that identify the type of channel.

• A number sign (#) or ampersand (&) denotes an IRC channel.
• A percent sign (%) followed by a number sign (#) or an ampersand (&) denotes an extended channel. Extended channels have names that contain unicode characters encoded in Transformation Format 8 (UTF-8)and these channels are visible only to clients supporting the IRCX protocol, such as Microsoft Chat version 2.5.

• Note   IRCX supports the use of unicode characters encoded in Universal Character Set (UCS) UTF-8. Because unicode provides an extended character set, users running an IRCX-compatible client can participate in chat sessions in any language.

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