What is a bot?

A (ro)bot is a set of scripted IRC commands which runs as an automated program. Bots are banned on EFnet because they waste a connection and are often used maliciously.

If you have a question about a specific bot, ask the owner of that bot. You can’t set up a bot unless you know how to use vi, grep, emacs, gz, gcc, cc, zcat, make, tar, and compress. If you don’t, you can’t set one up. There is a lot involved in creating a bot. It is not recommended that you try it.

IRC ops conduct regular bot checks, and if they find your bot (which they will, sooner than you think), you and your bot will both be banned - you won’t even be able to chat!

Using a bot will get you kicked and banned from IRC!

Please do not ask any of the EFnet #IRChelp ops anything about bots, as we will not help you.

Without a bot, how do I keep my channel open 24/7 when I’m not on IRC?

Channels cannot be registered or owned on EFnet - it’s first come first served. The only way to keep a channel open and maintain your ops is to never log off. It takes a long time and lot of friends to build up a channel to the point where it becomes occupied around the clock.

Without a bot, how do I defend my channel against takeovers?

You can defend your channel very effectively by getting a channel protection script which will give ops to people you trust and deop others. We are working on providing a channel protection script which will give you the tools to defend against takeovers. Check back with us soon.